World champion D Gukesh’s rough run continued as he lost his third straight game, falling to 16-year-old Turkish Grandmaster Ediz Gurel in the seventh round on Thursday.

Having already suffered defeats to the USA’s Abhimanyu Mishra and Greece’s Nikolas Theodorou, the rest day did little to halt Gukesh’s slide. He blundered a bishop in the endgame, extending his losing streak.

The Indian grandmaster now has just three points from seven rounds and must win all remaining matches to stay in contention.

Gukesh appeared visibly shaken by the defeat. He held his hand to his head in disbelief before lowering it completely, his confidence seemingly in tatters, as he shook hands with Gurel in a sportsmanlike acknowledgment of the loss.

Meanwhile, Indian GM Nihal Sarin grabbed a share of the lead after a thrilling victory over overnight leader Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran. He is joined at the top by German GM Matthias Bluebaum, who defeated Arjun Erigaisi. Both have 5.5 points.

Seven players, including Vidit Gujrathi, Iranian-French star Alireza Firouzja, Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Americans Hans Niemann and Abhimanyu Mishra, are in joint second place with five points each. They all won their respective matches in the seventh round to move within half a point of the lead.

R Praggnanandhaa defeated Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein to move to 4.5 points, joining 10 others that also includes Erigaisi and Pranav Venkatesh.