New Delhi: The upset galore in the premier group of 14th edition of Parsvnath Delhi International Chess festival continued as R A Pradeep Kumar caused another flutter accounting for Grandmaster Artur Gabrielian of Russia in the fourth round that concluded here.
Playing with black pieces, Pradeep Kumar continued the rampage by lesser known Indians in the fray by winning a fine game. The Indian took his tally to an excellent 3.5 points following his third victory in four games and stands a good chance to obtain his International Master norm from here.
Russian Grandmasters Ivan Popov and Anton Demchenko along with VItaly Sivuk of Ukraine emerged as the co-leader in the premier event with four points out of a possible four games.
As many as 11 players share the fourth spot on 3.5 points apiece and the highest rated Indian among them is local Grandmaster Vaibhav Suri who put it across Ankit Gajwa in a neat game.
Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad meanwhile continued his dream run in the tournament. After beating Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Belous in the second round, Chandra Prasad added another Grandmaster scalp at the expense of Valeriy Neverov of Ukraine and then in the fourth played out a draw with another Ukrianian Grandmaster Vitaliy Bernadskiy.
Having beaten two Grandmasters and drawn with one, Chandra Prasad is in the thick of things and has an excellent chance to obtain a Grandmaster norm. Given the fact that Chandra Prasad is an untitled player yet, this would be a commendable feat for the 19-year old – almost unthinkable in recent times.
11-year old Nihal Sarin also came up with a sparkling effort to add to the woes of Vladimir Belous here. The Kerala boy was as his nonchalant best in holding the Russian Grandmaster to a draw.
In another notable result, Srijit Paul held Dutch Grandmaster Sipke Ernst to a draw while Mehar Chinna Reddy defeated Grandmaster-in-waiting Narayanan Srinath.
Important Results Round-4 (Indians otherwise stated) :-
GM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam (3) lost to GM Ivan Popov of Russia (4); Himal Gusain (3) v GM Anton Demchenko of Russia (3); IM Rahul Sangma (3) lost to GM Vitaly Sivuk of Ukraine (4); Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad (3.5) drew with GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy of Ukraine (3.5); GM Boris Grachev of Russia (3.5) beat IM Nitin S (2.5); GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine (3.5) beat IM Visakh N R (2.5); GM Mikhail Mozharov of Russia (3) drew with IM Himanshu Sharma (3); GM Adam Tukhaev of Ukraine (3.5) beat Rakesh Kulkarni (2.5); GM Vaibhav Suri (3.5) beat Ankit Gajwa (2.5); GM Artur Gabrielian of Russia (2.5) lost to Pradeep Kumar R A (3.5); Srijit Paul (3) drew with GM Sipke Ernst of Netherlands (3); Mehar Chinna Reddy (3.5) beat IM N Srinath (2.5); GM Attila Czebe of Hungary (3.5) beat Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (2.5); IM Rathnakaran K (3) drew with Prince Bajaj (3); GM Sriram Jha (3.5) beat Rahul Srivatshav P (2.5); Srija Seshadri (3) drew with IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh R (3); IM Sayantan Das (3.5) beat Niranjan Navalgund (2.5); GM Alberto David of Italy (3) beat WIM Michelle Catherina (2); Nihal Sarin (2.5) drew with GM Vladimir Belous of Russia (2.5); Santu Mondal (2) lost to GM Lalith Babu M R (3).
Round-3 :-
IM Visakh N R drew with GM Boris Grachev; GM Ivan Popov beat IM Ravi Teja; GM Anton Demchenko beat IM Somak Palit; IM Himanshu Sharma drew with GM Yuri Solodovnichenko; GM Vitaly Sivuk beat IM Rajesh VAV; Rakesh Kulkarni drew with Mikhail Mozharov; Ankit Gajwa drew with Adam Tukhaev; GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy beat Aradhya Garg; GM Sipke Ernast drew with Mehar Chinna Reddy; GM Valeriy Neverov lost to Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad; Himal Gusain beat GM Marat Dzhumaev; GM Nguyen Duc Hoa beat IM Chakravarthi Reddy M; IM Rahul Sangma beat Praneeth Surya; Utkal Ranjan Sahoo drew with GM Sriram Jha; Rahul Srivatshav drew with IM Sayantan Das.
