Mumbai: Guru Prakash and Manav Kumar pulled off notable upset victories in the second round of the Asian Junior Open and Girls Classical Chess Championships at the ITC Maratha Sheraton in Mumbai on Friday.
In the Open section, Guru Prakash, rated 2113, defeated recently crowned Asian Junior Rapid Champion FM Vivaan Vishal Shah (2339), while Manav Kumar got the better of higher-rated FM Arun Kataria.
Hardik Shah also impressed by holding Turkmenistan’s FM Amanmuhammet Hommadov to a draw. Mehul Sondhi shared the point with FM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma.
Mayank Chakraborty maintains perfect start
Top seed IM Mayank Chakraborty continued his winning run with a victory over Vivaan Sardana, taking his score to 2/2.
IM Artem Pingin, IM Apoorv Kamble and IM Aaditya Dhingra also won their second-round games to remain among the leaders with perfect scores.
Upsets in Girls section
The Girls section also saw several higher-rated players tested.
Sunetra Dey held FM Prishita Gupta to a draw, while Tripurambika V defeated WCM Anushka Bapu Kutwal.
Pranavasri S scored another upset by defeating Uzbekistan’s WFM Begmuratova Sarvinoz.
Top seed WFM Pratitee Bordoloi maintained her winning start and moved to 2/2. Kazakhstan’s WFM Mariya Kholyavko and Turkmenistan’s WFM Shohradova Lala also remained on perfect scores after victories in the second round.
The championship is being organised by the Maharashtra Chess Association on behalf of the All India Chess Federation and the Asian Chess Federation at the ITC Maratha Sheraton, Mumbai.
