Hyderabad: Chennai based Grandmaster Sethuraman S P and Ukrainian Grandmaster Vladislav Borovikov taken the joint lead with four half points after the end of fifth round matches of the ongoing 2nd Hyderabad International Grandmasters Chess Tournament here at Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium, Yousufguda on today.
The tournament sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Mahindra Ecole Centrale, Andhra Bank, Petronet LNG Ltd and Airports Authority of India witnessed keenly fought matched in the fifth round encounters. Playing white side of Alekhine’s Defence game, Sethu exploited the weakness in the King side of Grandmaster Lalith Babu to garner full points after 41 moves while Vladislav defeated Azerbaijan Grandmaster Azer Mirzoev in a Slav defence game that lasted 37 moves to join Sethu at top of point table.
Meanwhile the top board battle between Georgian Grandmasters Merab Gagunashvili and Levan Pantsulaia ended in a peace treaty after mandatory 25 moves while the second board match between Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Grandmaster Alon Greenfeld of Israel produced some exciting moments in the game but Greenfeld failed to convert the advantageous position to a decisive result and agreed to split the point after 64 moves.
Sixth round of the tournament will be played tomorrow afternoon.
Earlier the ‘B’ category of the event for players below 2100 rating event which attract 221 players from across India and Nepal was inaugurated by Shri. Suresh Mishra, Vice President Vivimed Labs Ltd in presence of Group Captain J Rajendra Vishisht Seva Medal, Chief Administrative Officer Air Force Station New Delhi, Shri. K Kanna Reddy, General Secretary Andhra Pradesh Chess Association, Shri. J Ramalaxmaiah, Vice President Andhra Pradesh Chess Association and International Master Lanka Ravi, Organising Secretary.
In the opening round, Andhra Pradesh lad Raja Rithvik held second seed Ketan Khaire of Maharasthra while Tamilnadu youngster Aditya S shocked fourth seed Anurag Jaiswal of West Bengal. In another upset Tulasi Ram Kumar of Andhra Pradesh outwitted sixth seed and state mate B Kranthi Kumar.
Second round of the Category B event with a prize fund of Rs. 5 lakh is in progress at the time of report.
Category ‘A’ Important Results (Round-5) (Indian’s otherwise specified) :-
GM Merab Gagunashvili of GEO (4) drew with GM Levan Pantsulaia of GEO (4); GM Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (4) drew with GM Alon Greenfled of ISR (4); GM Sethuraman S P (4.5) beat GM Lalith Babu M R (3.5); GM Vladislav Borovikov of UKR (4.5) beat GM Azer Mirzoev of AZE (3.5); GM Levon Babujian of ARM (4) beat IM Mikhail Mozharov of RUS (3.5); GM Ivan Popov of RUS (4) beat IM Thejkumar M S (3); WGM Soumya Swaminathan (3.5) drew with GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of ARM (3.5); IM Shardul Gagare (3.5) drew with GM Tornike Sanikidze of GEO (3.5); IM Praveen Kumar C (3.5) drew with GM Vasily Papin of RUS (3.5); GM Hovik Hayrapetyan of ARM (3.5) drew with IM P Konguvel (3.5); FM Aravindh Chithambaram (3) lost to GM Valeriy Neverov of UKR (3.5); GM Arun Prasad (3.5) beat IM Rahul Sangma (2.5); IM Jacek Stopa of POL (3) drew with IM Ravichandran Siddharath (3); Sagar Shah (2.5) lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (3.5); IM Karthikeyan P (3) drew with GM Sinisa Drazic of SRB (3); IM Shivananda B S (3.5) beat IM Bahruz Rzayev of AZE (2.5); IM Swapnil Dhopade (2.5) lost to Ravi Teja S (3.5); Krishna CRG (2.5) lost to GM Neelotpal Das (3.5); IM Karthikeyan Murali (3) drew with Arjun Tiwari (3); Aniruddha Deshpande (3) drew with GM Igor Yagupov (3); Abhimanyu Puranik (3) drew with GM Sundararajan Kidambi (3); IM Swamyams Mishra (3) drew with Sameer Kathmale (3); CM Prince Bajaj (3) drew with IM Shyam Nikil (3); Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad (3) drew with IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh R (3); Manan Rai (3) drew with FM Tigran Petrosyan (3).
Category ‘B’ :-
Raja Rithvik R (.5) drew with Ketan Khaire (.5); Varun V (1) beat Harshits Guddanti (0); Adithya S (1) beat Anurag Jaiswal (0); Pardeep Arora (1) beat Kuldeep Sharma (0); M Tulasi Ram Kumar (1) beat Kranthi Kumar B (0); Kiran Panditrao (1) beat Pratyush Srivastava (0); Tayyeb Asif Mohmamad (0) lost to Ramana Babu (1); Vedradri K (1) beat Akshay Nehete (o); Jayde Gajanan (0) lost to Rakesh Kumar Nayak (1); Sai Agni Jeevitesh (1) beat Shiek Fayaz (0); Abdul Majeed (1) beat Kandi Ravi (0); Naga Shashank D (0) lost to Gaurav Konde (1); Grahesh Y (1) beat Behere Ravi (0); Ketan Anil Patil (0) lost to Krishna Thapa of NEP (1); Kantilal Dav (1) beat Matta Besh Vignesh Reddy (0); Murugesan K (0) lost to Rupankar Nath (1); Joy Lazar M A (1) beat M K Shaji (0); Kaiwalya Vaidya (0) lost to Kalyan Kuamr (1); Lakshmi Sandeep Naidu (1) beat K Ashleesh (0); Sunil Vaidya (.5) drew with Srinivas Rao G V (.5); Mukesh Mandloi (1) beat Sonumon P S (0); Aditya SSV (1) beat Govind Kumar (0); Subramanian S C (1) beat Atul Bihari Sharan (0).
