 Who can forget the tremendous performance Murli Karthikeyan had in Gibraltar Masters 2019? He termed it as one of his career's best. Things are looking up this year as well as he moves on to 5.5 points. He joins us in our studio. Karthi, a draw with the black pieces today against David Navara. A good result, but the game was also quite solid. Yeah, it was very solid. I mean neither of us got any chances. He got some slight chance, but it was not very used. Maybe some slight pull. This position still looks a little dynamic, but everything got traded off very quickly. Yeah, I think he traded off very soon because still there was no threat for me. I was just quite solid here, but no potential threats for me with black. I think he traded off very soon here. I mean he played Rb8. I think this was not necessary. In some lengths my idea was to play Qf5 check, so I think g4 was quite annoying. At least during the game I thought this is quite annoying for me. Because after Bc6, he has two choices. Maybe he can go with this in-game. Qf5, Bf5, Rd1, Rd1. At least he controls the d5. He controls the d5 and I thought I have to sit like this. I thought he has very good chances here because my pieces are stuck to this difference and he can just stay spend in the king side. So I thought this position is quite unpleasant for me. So this was in case of g4. Maybe even he can play Qa5 here as well. But here the problem was like take, take and somewhere I had Rd5 as well. And Rd5 as well. Even in the g4 line I had Rd5 but I thought there was some difference in g4. And e4 you have Rd5. Right now e4 is anywhere not possible. If he plays Rd5 maybe I can take also ed5 then play Rd8 and target the e2 pawn. Should be easy to hold for black without too many difficulties. Yeah and black has no weaknesses so I think it should be comfortable for black. So your preparation worked today? Actually I didn't expect this line. I mean this mow order. So I had to go for this line. I thought he might go for... I thought he might go for Qc4. This is another variation here and cd4, Qd4. I thought he might go for this but this is equal as well. So I thought he might try this one. So after dc5 I thought that okay this is like going to be solid for black. And I remember that cd4 is the main line but I thought okay he must have prepared like something new for this. So that's why I think it should be something quite solid. So smart preparation to divert from what you thought he might be better prepared. Now Karthi last year you had a tremendous Gibraltar Masters. You beat Maxime in the last... Yeah I bet it's 3-2700 in a row. So that was unforgettable. Absolutely unforgettable. In fact you told us it was maybe one of your top performances. And right now you're on 5 and a half? Yeah I'm in 5 and a half. How are you evaluating your play so far? Are you happy with the way games are going? In the middle of the tournament I think I didn't play well. Like the rounds 4th round... 4 to 6 rounds. I mean sorry 4th round and 5th round and 6th round. These 3 rounds I think I didn't play well because I had so many chances in those games. So I felt that I didn't play in those games. Apart from that there are many other games I think I played well. Quite well. Even with Maxime I had some chances in some portions. But I just went for the most human move. And it was a draw because everything got blocked. So I think the rest of the games I played well. Right now the other Indian who's been making big news is Pragnananda. And you and Praga are very close friends. You also practice together a lot? Yeah we practice a lot. We will stay in one place and we will practice together. Because we don't want to travel and waste time in that. So we will stay in some place maybe either in Rameshwar's house or maybe in my house. Here also you are staying? Yeah here also we are staying together and we are preparing together. So you know it's always fun to prepare together. Like with known friends. And then do you follow each other's game while you are playing? Yeah I mean now Arun is not playing anything. So he will check our games and he will tell us what are the moves we must do after the game. So he will be helping from his home. So it's always nice to have some friends who can help during your tournament. And Pragnananda is having a fantastic run right? Yeah he is having a fantastic run. I mean like he was playing consistent with chess. Okay first round he told me that he tried to ward. There was a draw but somehow he couldn't like take the draw with low rate. So he told that he tried more and it got backfired. Okay he is young and he is learning this thing. So I think one day he will be in the top as well. That's so nice to hear. And Karti good luck for the remaining games. We hope to have you back with us in our studio after another tremendous Gibraltar Masters. Thank you very much. Thank you Karti.