Gurgaon: The 2nd edition of prestigious Gurgaon International Grandmasters Chess Tournament organized by The Haryana Chess Association and District Chess Association of Gurgaon under the aegis of All India Chess Federation and World Chess Federation got off to a rousing start here at Suncity World School on Wednesday.
A total number of 252 players from 10 countries which include 13 Grandmasters, 11 International Masters and 205 International rated chess players are participating in this 10 rounds Swiss System tournament.
Grandmaster Kravstiv Martyn of Ukraine of Russia started as top seed in this Rs. 10,11,000/- lakh prize money event in which Rs. 2 lakh reserved for the winner. While the Indian Challenge in the event are spearheaded by Grandmasters S Arun Prasad and Sahaj Grover of Delhi.
In major upsets in the second round, playing white side of Classical System of Pirc defence, Tamilnadu youngster N Lokesh stunned fourth seed Georgian Grandmaster Merab Gagunashvili in just 29 moves while seasoned International Master Vishal Sareen, who is playing competitive match after Reykjavik Open in 2011suffered a shock defeat by the hands of Kerala teenager A Abhishek.
Meanwhile top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Kravstiv Martyan, second seed Oliver Barbosa of Philippines, Indian Grandmasters Arun Prasad and Sahaj Grover moved to third round with full point in their kitty after comfortable victories over lower seeded opponents in the second round. Martyn defeated Md Shariff Hossain of Bangladesh while Barbosa beat Fide Master Prasanna Kurukulasuriya of Sri Lanka. Grover defeated Sa Kannan and Arun Prasad made short work of Yogit S in the second round encounters.
The other surprises of the round came in the form of draws as Rajesh Upadhayay of Indian Air Force held Grandmaster Sundararajan Kidambi while Andhra girl Cholleti Sahajasri forced International Master Naryanan Srinath to sign the peace treaty.
Earlier in the first round, unheralded Sikkim teenager Tamang Thendup held eighth seed Ukranian Grandmaster Valeriy Neverov, rated more than 750 Elo points than him to a creditable draw.
Earlier in a colourful opening ceremony, Shri. Subhash Goyal, President Confederation of Indian Tourism Professionals and Shri. Bharat Singh Chauhan, CEO All India Chess Federation inaugurated the event by making the customary first move against top seed Kravstiv Martyn and Haryana girl Tanishka Kotia in presence of Shri. Naresh Sharma, Secretary The Haryana Chess Association, Smt. Roopa Chakkravarthy, Principal Suncity School, Shri. Pradeep Gupta, former Secretary of The Haryana Chess Association, Shri. Anil Kumar Parnami, Vice President The Haryana Chess Association, Shri. Sharmendra Singh, President Dist Chess Association of Gurgaon, Shri. Raju Verma, Chairman Dist Chess Association of Gurgaon, Shri. Desh Rattan Gulati, Vice President Dist Chess Association of Gurgaon and Shri. Rajpal Chouhan, Organising Secretary.
Important Results (Indians otherwise stated) :-
Round -2 :- GM Kravtsiv Martyn of UKR (2) beat Md. Shariff Hossain of BAN (1); FM Kurukulasuriya Prasanna of SRI (1) lost to GM Oliver Barbosa of PHI (2); GM Alexander Evdokimov of RUS (2) beat Harini S (1); Lokesh N (2) beat GM Merab Gagunashvili of GEO (1); GM John Paul Gomez of PHI (2) beat Manav Saxena (1); WFM Swati Mohtoa (1) lost to GM Tornike Sanikidze of GEO (2); GM Marat Dzhumaev of UZB (2) beat FM Manish Hamal of NEP (1); GM Arun Prasad S (2) beat Yogit S (1); Sa Kannan (1) lost to GM Sahaj Grover (2); Niladri Shekhar Bhattacharya (1) lost to GM Eldar Gasanov of UKR (2); Shantanu Bhambure (1) lost to IM Swayams Mishra (2); IM Shyam Nikil (2) beat Naik Rishubh Naresh (1); Cholleti Sahajasri (1.5) drew with IM Narayanan Srinath (1.5); GM S Kidambi (1.5) drew with R Upadhayay (1.5); Vinayak Kulkarni (1) lost to IM VAV Rajesh (2); IM S Satyapragyan (2) beat Srinath Rao S V (1); Akila Kavinda of SRI (1) lost to IM PRasanna Rao (2); Ravi Teja S (2) beat Ramalingam Karthik (1); Abhishek A (2) beat IM Vishal Sareen (1); GM Raset Ziatdinov of USA (2) beat Manan Rai (1).
Round-1 :- Avdhoot Lende lost to Kravtsiv Martyn; Oliver Barbosa beat Naveen Kumar; Devothama G lost to Alexander Evdokimov; Merab Gagunashvili beat Vikram Ranolia; Sadhu S Adithya lost to John Paul Gomez; Tornike Sanikidze beat Vantika Agrawal; Adarsh Shrivastava lost to Marat Dzhumaev; Valeriy Neverov drew with Tamang Thendup; Harshita Guddanti lost to Arun Prasad S; Sahaj Grover beat Dishant Jain; Jothi Prakasam K lost to Eldar Gasanov; Swayams Mishra beat Yaishash Khamboo; Deepak Singh lost to Shyam Nikil; Narayanan Srinath beat Sonkalan Bharati; M Tulasi Ram Kumar lost to Sundarajan Kidambi; Rajesh VAV beat Chetan Chauhan; Toshali V lost to S Satyapragyan; Prasanna Rao beat Sarthak Kapoor; Om Batra lost to Ravi Teja S; Vishal Sareen beat Dinesh Kumar Gupta.
