Russian Grandmaster Ponkratov Pavel shared the lead after the second round of the 12th Chennai Open chess tournament for Dr N Mahalingam Trophy, in Sholinganallur on Sunday. Sharing the lead with Ponkratov (two points) were Grandmasters Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo, Aleksandrov Aleksej, Goganov Aleksey, Mchedlishvili Mikheil, Visakh NR and Rozum Ivan, among others.
Ponkrantov beat Chennai native Rathneesh R in the first board. It was the third board that brought the upset of the day, as Sanket Chakravarthy (Elo 2055) stunned defending champion GM Pantsulaia Levan (Elo 2598). The English opening game saw Sanket weave his knight through the defences of black. Pantsulaia gave up his exchange and tried to restore the balance, but the Indian boy converted his advantage smoothly in 52 moves.
Results (Rd 2): Rathneesh R (1) lost to Ponkratov Pavel (RUS, 2), Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo (PER, 2) bt Safranska Anda (FRA, 1), Sanket Chakravarty (2) bt Pantsulaia Levan (GEO, 1), Aleksandrov Aleksej (Blr, 2) bt Chilukuri Sai Varshith (1), Hegde Ravi Gopal (1) lost to Goganov Aleksey (RUS, 2), Mchedlishvili Mikheil (GEO, 2) bt Vinoth Kumar M (1), SA Kannan (1) lost to Rozum Ivan (RUS, 2), Bogdanovich Stanislav (UKR, 2) bt Abinandhan R (1), Sri Sai Baswanth P (1.5) drew with David Alberto (ITA, 1.5), Fedorov Alexei (BLR, 2) bt Borgaonkar Akshay (1), Nambiar Vivek (1) lost to Visakh NR (2), Yudin Sergei (RUS) 2 bt Trivedi Karan R (1), Potluri Supreetha (1) lost to Stupak Kirill (BLR, 2).
Senthil stars for Masters
M Senthil Kumar’s 4/6 helped Masters CC beat Chengai Kings CC by five wickets in their Chengalpattu District Cricket Association Senior Division league match in Santoshpuram. Brief scores: Chengai Kings CC 129 in 28.5 ovs (Needhiman 53; Senthil 4/6) lost to Masters CC 130/5 in 26.3 ovs. Venkatesan CC 146 in 26.3 ovs (Muthu 59, Saravanan 57) lost to Parasuraman Memorial CC 151/6 in 29.1 ovs (Ramesh 53).
Parvesh shines Parvesh
Gautam’s 43 saw MAS CC defeat Seshadhri MCC by six wickets in their TNCA-Thiruvallur DCA League First Division match. Brief scores: First Division: Seshadhri MCC 107 in 31.3 ovs (Taarakesh 3/27) lost to MAS CC 109/4 in 28.4 ovs (Gautam 43). Second Division: Pattabiram CA 191/7 in 30 ovs (M Srihari 91; Nagaraj 3/45) bt Autolec ERC 115 in 27 ovs (Sivanandhan 52; Aadhithya 4/19, Sudhan 4/8).