Gareyev, Laxman, Deepan, Tukhaev among leaders in Chennai Open 2018

Top seed Grandmaster Gareyev Timur of USA shared the lead with 4/4 score after the fourth round of the 10th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament 2018 for Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam Trophy at The Vijay Park Hotel, Chennai here today. Gareyev, a Guinness record holder in simultaneous blindfold chess, has been playing his fourth-tournament-in-a-row in Indian circuit viz., Bhopal, Mumbai, Delhi and now Chennai Open GM tournament.


GM Timur Gareyev, B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE, P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Guest International Master Manual Aaron

Joining Gareyev on top of the table were GMs R R Laxman, Deepan Chakkravarthy J (both India), Tukhaev Adam (Ukraine), IM LlanezaVega Marcos (Spain) and FIDE Masters Karthik Venkataraman (India) and Hafiz Arif Abdul (Indonesia) respectively.


Joint leader Grandmaster R R Laxman (India)

In a well contested Pirc game Laxman showed aggression, when the situation so demanded, coming up with success in 58 moves. Speaking about the game, Laxman said, "My position was getting passive and I counter-attacked to stay on course. My aggression on king-side 21.g4, caught GM Sivuk Vitaly off-guard and I managed to come up better in complications".

Earlier, local star Woman FIDE Master J Saranya held Grandmaster Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine to a draw in the second round, while World Under 12 Champion Divya Deshmukh got her first GM scalp taming Grandmaster Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam in the third round.

Chennai boy Thrish Karthik set the tone for inaugural day, scoring an upset win over Grandmaster Suat Atalik of Turkey in the first round while, top seed GM Timur Gareyev of USA scored a comfortable victory in the top board. The second board saw Russian Grandmaster Ivan Rozum shedding half a point to lower rated Harshal Patil.

In a Kings Indian Defence game that lasted 75 moves, Thrish got the better of GM Suat Atalik of Turkey. An end game lapse in the fourth hour saw Suat Atalik going an exchange down, which Thrish Karthik converted precisely in his favor.

The 10th edition of Chennai Open GM tournament was inaugurated by Arjuna Awardee and International Master Manuel Aaron, who made the first move against top seed GM Timur Gareyev. Present in the dais were Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE, Shri P Stephen Balasamy, Gen. Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Shri R Anantharam, Technical Director, Shri Nitin Shenvi, Chief Arbiter and Shri B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

Offering GM and IM Norm possibilities, this ten round Swiss tournament, attracted 267 entries from 22 countries. The field included 16 Grandmasters and 19 International Masters, among 59 titled players. This prestigious annual Chennai chess festival, organized by Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, carries a total prize money of Rupees 1100000 (Euros 14100) spread over 50 cash prizes. The winner gets the glittering Chennai Open 2018 trophy along with the cash award of Rupees 200000 (Euros 2563).

Important Results (Round 4) (Indians unless specified) : Gareyev Timur (USA) 4 bt Sangma Rahul (3), Tiviakov Sergei (NED) 3.5 drew with Saravana Krishnan P (3.5), Tukhaev Adam (UKR) 4 bt Muthiah AL (3), Laxman R R (4) bt Sivuk Vitaly (UKR) 3, Karthik Venkataraman (4) bt Gajwa Ankit (3), Rozum Ivan (Rus) 3.5 bt Dixit Nikhil (3), Solodovnichenko Yuri (UKR) 3.5 bt Harikrishnan A Ra (2.5), Pruijssers Roeland (NED) 3.5 bt Mithil Ajgaonkar (2.5), Shetty Rahul (3) drew with Czebe Attila (HUN) 3, Kushagra Mohan (3) drew with Nitin S (3).

Important Results (Round 3) (Indians unless specified) : Vignesh B (2) lost to Gareyev Timur (USA) 3, Pranav V (2) lost to Tiviakov Sergei (NED) 3, Praveen Kumar C (2) lost to Tukhaev Adam (UKR) 3, Sivuk Vitaly (UKR) 3 bt Maheswaran P (2), Tran Tuan Minh (VIE) 3 bt Ajay Karthikeyan (2), Harikrishnan A Ra (2.5) drew with Pruijssers Roeland (NED) 2.5, Horvath Adam (HUN) 3 bt Masango Spencer (ZIM) 2, Murali Krishnan B T (2) lost to Karthik Venkataraman (3), Deepan Chakkravarthy J (3) bt Bhambure Shantanu (2), Mithil Ajgaonkar (2.5) drew with Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (TJK) 2.5, Czebe Attila (HUN) 2.5 drew with Phoobalan P (2.5), Divya Deshmukh (2.5) bt Nguyen Duc Hoa (VIE) 1.5, Divya Lakshmi R (1.5) lost to Erigaisi Arjun (2.5).

Important Results (Round 2) (Indians unless specified) Gareyev Timur (USA) 2 bt Mrudul Dehankar (1), Tiviakov Sergei (NED) 2 bt Bala Kannamma P (1), Saranya J (1.5) drew with Solodovnichenko Yuri (UKR) 2, Tukhaev Adam (UKR) 2 bt Tarini Goyal (1), Thanki Hemal Karsanji (1) lost to Sivuk Vitaly (UKR) 2, Manu David Suthandram R (1) lost to Tran Tuan Minh (2), Pruijssers Roeland (NED) 2 bt Chaithanyaa K G (1), Mythireyan P (1.5) drew with Karthikeyan P (1.5), Nguyen Phuoc Tam (VIE) 1 lost to Horvath Adam (HUN) 2, Karthik Venkataraman (2) bt Rajarishi Karthi (1), Balkishan A (1) lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy J (2).

Important Results (Round 1) (Indians unless specified) Kumar S lost to Gareyev Timur (USA), Rozum Ivan (RUS) drew with Patil Harshal, Lakshmi C lost to Tiviakov Sergei (NED), Soloedovnichenko Yuri (UKR) bt Kumthekar Shubham, Ghelani Dhairya lost to Tukhaev Adam (UKR), Sivuk Vitaly (UKR) bt Godson Merlin E, Atalik Suat (TUR) lost to Thrish Karthik, Kanishk S K lost to Pruijssers Roeland (NED), Karthikeyan P bt Rohit S, Deepan Chakkravarthy bt Samdani Sahil Sagar.

 

 


Top board game between GM Gareyev Timur (USA) & IM Sangma Rahul (India)