Grandmaster D. Gukesh played out a creditable draw against top seed Fabiano Caruana but slipped a rung to the joint second position on a day when two other Indians endured frustrating losses in the Candidates Chess Tournament's 11th round here.
Nerves finally came into play as R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi lost their way against American Hikaru Nakamura and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively.
But 17-year-old Gukesh held his own against Caruana. In the other encounter, Frenchman Firouza Alireza proved superior to Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan.
