Kore in Jt lead in Chennai Open

CHENNAI: Pune-based International Master Akshayraj Kore defeated fellow Indian GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and joined the leaders with 7.5 points after the ninth round of the SDAT–RMK 4th Chennai

CHENNAI: Pune-based International Master Akshayraj Kore defeated fellow Indian GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and joined the leaders with 7.5 points after the ninth round of the SDAT–RMK 4th Chennai Open 2012 International GM chess tournament at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.

Akshayraj joined the trio of leaders viz., Alexei Alexandrov (Belarus), Yu Ruiyuan, Zeng Chongsheng (both China) on 7.5 points. Sharing the next spot (7) were GMs Mikhailo Oleksienko, Martyn Kravtsiv  (both Ukraine), SP Sethuraman (India), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan), Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary) and John Paul Gomez (Philippines) among others.

A fighting draw against SP Sethuraman in the second board fetched Yu Ruiyuan of China a GM norm. The second norm of the day was achieved by Maharashtra ‘s Shashikant Kutwal, who defeated veteran GM Dibyendu Barua. Kutwal made his fourth IM Norm and now requires to touch 2400 to get his IM title confirmed.

The top board game between Alexandrov and Oleksienko turned out to be pitched battle for supremacy. Alexandrov pressed hard, but Oleksienko hunted white’s extra pawn in the ‘b’ file, and forced a draw after 60 moves.

Results (Round 9) (Indians unless specified): A Alexandrov (Blr) 7.5 drew with M Oleksienko (Ukr) 7, SP Sethuraman (7) drew with Yu Ruiyuan (Chn) 7.5, MR Venkatesh (7) drew with P Karthikeyan (7), Akshayraj Kore (7.5) bt J Deepan Chakkravarthy (6.5), Hoang Thanh Trang (Hun) 7 drew with M Dzhumaev  (Uzb) 7, Ma Qun (Chn) 6.5 lost to Zeng Chongsheng (Chn) 7.5, Debashis Das (6) lost to M Kravtsiv (Ukr) 7, H Danielsen (Ice) 6.5 drew with C Praveen Kumar (6.5), Swayams Mishra (6) lost to JP Gomez (Phi) 7, N Sudhakar Babu (5.5) lost to O Barbosa (Phi) 6.5, Ziaur Rahman (Bang) 6 drew with B S Shivananda (6), M Paragua (Phi) 6 drew with Diptayan Ghosh (6), R Bitoon (Phi) 6.5 bt TC Endre (Bra) 5.5, Nisha Mohota (6) drew with Ashwin Jayaram (6), SL Narayanan (5.5) lost to Neelotpal Das (6.5), S Kutwal (6.5) bt D Barua (5.5), S Gagare (6) drew with Vaibhav Suri (6), RR Laxman (6) drew with P Konguvel (6).

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