Saumil Padhya playing GM Adhiban Baskaran

Sowmya holds Tiviakov, Adhiban among leaders

Pune based Woman Grandmaster Sowmya Swaminathan snatched half a point against the top seed Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov of The Netherlands in an exciting third round game in the Apollo Engineering College Commonwealth Chess Championships 2012 at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Chennai here today.

Woman Grandmaster Sowmya Swaminathan

Leading the table with 3.0 points from as many rounds are Grandmasters Ahmed Adly (Egypt), Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukraine), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan), B Adhiban, S P Sethuraman, M R Lalith Babu, Arun Prasad and Deepan Chakkravarthy (all India) among others. Top seed Sergei Tiviakov stays half a point behind at 2.5 points.

The top board Scandinavian game saw both Sowmya and Tiviakov battling for the initiative. The unorthodox play by black kept Sowmya in the back foot, but slowly she found herself pressing for an advantage. Tiviakov gave nothing away and precise play saw Sowmya repeating the moves and signing peace after 81 moves. "I appeared to have a good position, but somehow could not convert it to my favor", said Sowmya after the game.

Grandmaster SP Sethuraman 

In the second board, former World Junior Champion Ahmed Adly scored the quickest win of the day as his Indian opponent Deepak Katiyar failed to see a nice intervening combination and gave up after 27 moves.

The top boards had fewer surprises today, with experienced Kerala player O T Anil Kumar holding his own against local star Grandmaster M R Venkatesh, while Velammal School boy and National Under 17 Champion Navalgund Niranjan held Grandmaster Alexander Fominyh of Russia to a draw.

Woman Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes

Further down, Atul Dahale brought down International Master Oliver Dimakiling of The Philippines in a marathon game that lasted 73 moves.

GM Ahmed Adly - Deepak Katiyar

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.O-O Be7 5.d3 O-O 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.e4 dxe4 8.dxe4 e5 9.Qe2 c5 10.Nc4 Qc7 11.Ne3 Re8 12.c4 Rb8 13.a4 b6 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.cxd5 a6 16.Be3 Bd6 17.Rfc1 Qd8 18.Nd2 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.Nb3 Qe7 21.Na5 Bb7 22.Qxb5 Ba8 23.Qe2 Nb6 24.Qa6 Rec8 25.b4 Rc7 26.bxc5 Bxc5 27.Nc6 1-0

IM Oliver Dimakiling - Atul Dahale

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 e6 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.O-O a6 7.Re1 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.d3 Bb7 10.e4 Be7 11.d4 d6 12.a3 O-O 13.Rb1 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Nd7 15.Be3 Rc8 16.Rc1 Re8 17.b4 Rc7 18.f4 Qa8 19.Qd3 Bf8 20.Bf2 Rec8 21.Rc2 g6 22.Ree2 e5 23.Nb3 f5 24.Be1 fxe4 25.Qd1 Rxc4 26.Rxc4 Rxc4 27.Bh3 Rc7 28.Be6 Kh8 29.f5 Qe8 30.Bf2 Rc3 31.Nd2 Nf6 32.Nf1 e3 33.Bxe3 Qc6 34.Bg5 Qh1 35.Kf2 Ne4 36.Rxe4 Qxe4 37.Ne3 Rd3 38.Qe2 Qd4 39.Kf1 Rd2 40.Nc2 Rxe2 41.Nxd4 Rxh2 42.Ne2 Be4 43.f6 h6 44.Be3 Bd3 45.Bg4 h5 46.Bg1 hxg4 47.Bxh2 Bxe2 48.Kxe2 d5 49.Bg1 d4 50.Kd3 Kg8 51.Ke4 Bh6 52.Kxe5 d3 53.Ke6 d2 54.f7 Kh7 55.Be3 d1Q 56.Bxh6 Qe2 57.Kd7 Qd3 58.Ke7 Qe4 59.Kd6 Qd4 60.Ke6 Qc4 61.Kf6 Qc6 62.Ke7 Qc7 63.Ke6 Qc8 64.Ke7 Kxh6 65.f8Q Qxf8 66.Kxf8 Kg5 67.Ke7 Kf5 68.Kd6 Ke4 69.Kc6 b5 70.Kb6 Kf3 71.Kxa6 Kxg3 72.a4 bxa4 73.b5 0-1

Round 3 Results (Indians unless specified)

Sowmya Swaminathan 2.5 drew with Sergei Tiviakov (Ned) 2.5, Adly Ahmed (Egy) 3 bt Deepak Katiyar 2, Padhya Saumil 2 lost to B Adhiban 3, Deshpande Aniruddha 2 lost to Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukr) 3, Sidhant Mohapatra 2 lost to Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 3, M R Lalith Babu 3 bt B Kumaran 2,A G Nimmy 2 lost to SP Sethuraman 3, M R Venkatesh 2.5 drew with O T Anil Kumar 2.5, J Saranya 2 lost to S Arun Prasad 3, P Priya 2 lost to J Deepan Chakkravarthy 3, Navalgund Niranjan 2.5 drew with Alexander Fominyh (Rus) 2.5, Oliver Dimakiling (Phi) 2 lost to Atul Dahale 3