NEW DELHI: An improved performance from Parimarjan Negi made Kateryna Lahno see sense in settling for a draw in the third game of the Amity Grandmasters Challenge at the Russian Centre here on Tuesday.

The 43-move deadlock kept Kateryna 2-1 ahead in the six-game match with classical time control. In all, 18 games will be played between these two teenage sensations from the chess world.

Brave move

Having suffered a loss in the second game, Negi dared to opt for the opening lines of Sicilian Najdorf that had landed him in difficulty in the opener on Sunday.

Kateryna reeled off the first 12 moves in quick time but Negi managed a position he liked but not before investing too much of time.

Eventually, the time shortage made the youngster hurry his moves and in the process let slip his chances of winning.

Negi sacrificed a pawn in the centre and later traded a rook for a bishop and an advanced central pawn to keep alive his chances.

But Kateryna was quick to sense danger and promptly returned the rook for a bishop and pawn on the queenside to force a draw.

"I missed some good moves that Kateryna played and was quite unsettled at one point," was Negi's admission.

Scherbakov lauds Negi

Kateryna was pleased with the result and said, "things are okay up till now but there are so many games left. It's going to be tough." Kateryna's Russian trainer Ruslan Scherbakov lauded Negi's approach on this day. "I think Parimarjan played quite well. Kateryna was slightly worse at some point but Parimarjan made some mistakes in time pressure."

On Wednesday, Negi plays white in the fourth game.

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