Tukhaev Adam emerges 9th Chennai Open 2017 Champion

Ukrainian Grandmaster Tukhaev Adam (8.5) with a quick draw in the top board against GM Czebe Attila (HUN) emerged the champion, after the 10th and final round, in the 9th Chennai Open Grandmaster Chess tournament 2017 for the Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam Trophy at Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today.

Tukhaev takes the winner's purse of Indian Rupees 200,000 (Euros 2735) along with the Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam trophy. The second spot was shared by top seed GM David Alberto (ITA), GM Czebe Attila (Hun), GM Malakhatko Vadim (BEL) and IM Nitin S (IND) at 8.0 points apiece.

The total prizes amounting to Indian Rupees 1,100,000 (Euros 15045) were distributed to top 60 prize winners by Dr Rajendra Kumar, I.A.S., Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Government of Tamil Nadu. Present in the dais were Shri K Shankar Vanavarayar, Joint Correspondent, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE (World Chess Federation), Shri B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Shri V Hariharan, Gen Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

Final Placings (Indians unless specified) (1) Tukhaev Adam (Ukr) 8.5, 2-5 David Alberto (ITA), Czebe Attila (HUN), Malakhatko Vadim (BEL), Nitin S (IND) 8.0, 6-10 Bernadskiy Vitaliy (UKR), Horvath Adam (HUN), Sivuk Vitaly (UKR), Grover Sahaj (IND), Deviatkin Andrei (RUS) 7.5 pts.


(L to R) Runner Up GM Alberto David (Italy), Champion GM Tukhaev Adam (Ukraine)

Chennai Open 2017 Champion GM Tukhaev Adam (Ukraine)

(L to R) Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE, Dr Rajendra Kumar, I.A.S., Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Government of Tamil Nadu, Champion GM Tukhaev Adam of Ukraine, Shri K Shankar Vanavarayar, Joint Correspondent, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore.

GM Tukhaev Adam leads Chennai Open 5/5

Ukraine Grandmaster Tukhaev Adam (5.0) moved into sole lead after the fifth round of the 9th Chennai Open Grandmaster Chess tournament 2017 for the Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam Trophy at the New Media Hall, Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today.

Scoring his fifth win on a trot, GM Tukhaev Adam (5.0) accounted for overnight leader Indian Grandmaster Laxman R R. Following the leader half a point behind at 4.5 points were GMs Grover Sahaj (India), Malakhatko Vadim (BEL), David Alberto (Italy), Czebe Attila and Horvath Adam (both Hungary) among others.

The top board game of the game between GMs David Alberto and Czebe Attila ended in a hard fought draw. Peace on top, helped Tukhaev Adam inch ahead into lead, thanks to his win over Indian GM Laxman R R.

The number of upsets at half way stage, showed the strength of Indian juniors, who pushed the Grandmasters to the edge. The first round saw lower rated Indian juniors Sooraj M R and Rohith Krishna S defeating GMs Deviatkin Andrei and Venkatesh M R respectively. In the third round, Senthil Maran K brought down GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy of Vietnam, while GM Jacek Stopa (Poland) shed half a point when he let down his caution a bit aginst Tiwari Arjun.

This annual Chennai GM tournament attracted 317 players from 17 countries, including 16 Grandmasters, 2 Woman Grandmasters, 17 International Masters and 4 Woman International Masters, among a total of 62 titled players. Grandmaster Alberto David (Italy) with an ELO rating of 2569 is the top seed. GM David has played back to back tournaments in Mumbai and New Delhi, before arriving in Chennai to complete a hat-trick of tournaments in India.

Earlier the tournament was inaugurated by Arjuna Awardee International Master Manuel Aaron who made the symbolic first move against Grandmaster Alberto David. Present in the dais were Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE (World Chess Federation), Shri B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Shri R Anantharam, Tournament Director, Shri V Hariharan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association. Five rounds remain to be played in this Rupees 11 lakhs prize money (approx Euros 15091) event that concludes on 25th Jan, 2017.

Senthil Maran K - GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bg4 5.Ne5 Bf5 6.Nc3 e6 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.c5 Qc7 9.f3 Nbd7 10.g4 Bg6 11.h4 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.h5 Nxc5 14.Qd1 Bxh5 15.Rxh5 g6 16.Rh3 Qxe5 17.f4 Qc7 18.Qd4 e5 19.Qxe5 Qxe5 20.fxe5 Ne6 21.Bh6 Bxh6 22.Rxh6 O-O-O 23.O-O-O Ng5 24.e4 dxe4 25.Bg2 Rxd1 26.Kxd1 Kd7 27.Nxe4 Nxe4 28.Bxe4 Ke6 29.Ke2 Kxe5 30.Ke3 a6 31.g5 f5 32.gxf6 Kxf6 33.Bxg6 1-0

GM Stopa Jacek - Tiwari Arjun
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 h6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.c3 e5 6.Nf3 d6 7.Nbd2 Nd7 8.Bd3 g6 9.O-O Bg7 10.a4 a5 11.Nc4 O-O 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nfxe5 dxe5 14.b4 axb4 15.cxb4 Rd8 16.Qc2 Be6 17.Na5 Ra7 18.Qxc7 Rxa5 19.bxa5 Rxd3 20.Qxb7 Bf8 21.a6 Bh3 22.gxh3 Rxh3 23.f4 Bc5 24.Kg2 Rxh2 25.Kxh2 Qh4 26.Kg2 Qg4 27.Kh2 Qh4 1/2-1/2

Sooraj, M R - GM Deviatkin, Andrei
1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 e5 6.Ngf3 Ne7 7.O-O O-O 8.Qe2 Re8 9.Re1 d4 10.Nc4 f6 11.Bd2 Bg4 12.a4 Qd7 13.h3 Be6 14.b4 Na6 15.Kh2 Rad8 16.Reb1 Nc7 17.Ng1 Nc8 18.f4 Bxc4 19.dxc4 exf4 20.gxf4 d3 21.cxd3 Qxd3 22.Rd1 Qxe2 23.Nxe2 Nd6 24.Be3 Nxc4 25.Bxa7 f5 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Rc1 Nd6 28.Bb6 Rd7 29.Rd1 Nce8 30.e5 g5 31.exd6 gxf4 32.Nxf4 Be5 33.Kg3 Nxd6 34.Kf3 Kf7 35.h4 Ke8 36.Bh3 Rf7 37.Nd3 Bc3 38.Nc5 Rf6 39.Bc7 Nc4 40.Rd8 Kf7 41.Nxb7 Nd2 42.Rxd2 Bxd2 43.a5 Rh6 44.a6 Rxh4 45.a7 Rxh3 46.Kg2 Ra3 47.Ba5 f4 48.a8Q f3 49.Kf2 Bg5 50.Nd6 Kg7 51.Qb7 1-0

GM Venkatesh M R - Rohith Krishna S
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Nde2 a6 8.Ba4 g6 9.Bg5 Bg7 10.f4 O-O 11.O-O b5 12.Bb3 Qb8 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.e5 Bg7 15.Ne4 Bf5 16.Nf6 Kh8 17.g4 Bxf6 18.gxf5 dxe5 19.Kh1 Rd8 20.Qe1 Qb7 21.Ng3 exf4 22.Rxf4 Re8+ 23.Qf2 Nd4 24.Kg1 Nxf5 25.c3 Bg5 26.Rf3 Nh4 27.Rd3 Rad8 28.Rad1 Rxd3 29.Rxd3 Re3 30.Rd5 Re1 31.Qxe1 Nf3 32.Kf2 Nxe1 33.Kxe1 Bh4 34.Ke2 c5 0-1

Results (Round 5) (Indians unless specified) David Alberto (ITA) 4.5 drew with Czebe Attila (Hun) 4.5, Laxman R R (4) lost to Tukhaev Adam (UKR) 5, Malakhatko Vadim (BEL) 4.5 drew with Sekar B (4.5), Mahalakshmi M (3.5) lost to Bernadskiy Vitaliy (UKR) 4.5, Sivuk Vitaly (UKR) 4.5 bt Sidhant Mohapatra (3.5), Horvath Adam (HUN) 4.5 bt Harikrishnan A Ra (3.5), Stopa Jacek (POL) 4.5 bt Deshmukh Anup (3.5), Grover Sahaj (4.5) bt Shetty Rahul (3.5), Shyaamnikhil P (4) drew with Nasybullina Alfia (RUS) 4, Mithil Ajgaonkar (4.5) bt Saptarshi Roy (3.5).

LIVE games webcast through
https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2017-chennai-open


(L to R) Guest of Honor Arjuna Awardee Manuel Aaron, B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE, V Hariharan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, S Paul Arockia Raj, International Arbiter, R Anantharam, Tournament Director, Grandmaster Alberto David (Italy)


Gukesh D playing GM Laxman R R (both India)


GM Horvath Adam (Hungary) playing Jaiswal Puneet (India)


GM Stopa Jacek (Poland) playing Tiwari Arjun (India)


GM Tukhaev Adam (Ukraine) leads the tournament 5/5


GM Malakhatko Vadim (Belgium)


GM Vitaly Sivuk (Ukraine)


Top seed GM Alberto David (Italy)