Maxim Turov of Russia defeated Lalith Babu convincingly to move back to sole lead at the end of the eighth round in the Chennai Open 2010 International Grand Masters chess tournament here on Sunday.
Turov is on top with 7.5 points while the second place is shared by Anwesh Upadhyaya of Bhubaneswar and Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan with seven points.
The fourth place is shared by six players on 6.5 points: Shyam Nikhil, Lalith Babu, V. Kamble, Z. Rahman (Ban), M. Manik (Svk) and R. Jumabayev (Kaz).
IM norm for Anwesh
Anwesh Upadhyaya showered some fireworks to win with the black pieces after Ukranian GM Kryakvin erred on move 17 in a Petroff’s defence. It also earned him his IM norm with a game to spare. He can look for a GM norm on Monday.
Shyam P. Nikhil of Kanyakumari defeated Grand Master R.B. Ramesh by latching on to a 32nd move blunder to win a piece and the game later in 49 moves.
Shyam completes his third and final IM norm with a round to spare. He made his earlier norms at the SCS International at Orissa 2009, Kolkata Open 2009. He is now a twelfth standard student at Velammal School in Chennai.
R. Siddharth of Chennai completed his second IM norm after he drew GM Deepan Chakkravarthy in 30 moves with the black pieces after a repetition. He had made an IM norm at Philadelphia 2009 and requires a third norm for the title.
Endgame lesson
The 1979-born, six-time National women’s champion, S. Vijayalakshmi, gave an endgame lesson in opposite-colour bishop ending to 12-year-old Vaibhav Suri by defeating him in 87 moves.
Though playing at a lower board, 15-year-old Ankit Rajpara of Gujarat impressed and held Russian GM Andrey Gutov to a draw with the white pieces in 39 moves.
Three rounds remain to be played in this event sponsored by the Government of Tamil Nadu, LIC and ONGC.
The results: Eighth round (Indians, unless stated): M. Turov (Rus) 7.5 bt Lalith Babu 6.5, D. Kryakvin (Rus) 6 lost to M. Dzhumaev (Uzb) 7, M. Kravtsiv (Ukr) 6 lost to Anwesh Upadhyaya 7, M. Manik (Svk) 6.5 drew with V. Kamble 6.5, Arun Prasad 6 drew with Swapnil Dhopade 6, S. Roy Chowdhury 5.5 lost to Z. Rahman 6.5, M.R. Venkatesh 6 drew with A. Zubarev 6, R. Jumbayev (Kaz) 6.5 bt Ramnath Bhuvanesh 5.5, Fenil Shah 6 drew with S. Kidambi 6, Deepan Chakkravarthy 6 drew with R. Siddharth 5.5, Shyam Nikhil 6.5 bt R.B. Ramesh 5.5, S. Satyapragyan 6 drew with Swayams Mishra 6, Vaibhav Suri 5.5 lost to S. Vijayalakshmi 6, Ghaem Maghami (Iri) 6 bt Akash Thakur 5, Suvrajit Saha 5 lost to P. Kotsur (Kaz) 6, R.R. Laxman 6 bt V.A.V. Rajesh 5, R. Bitoon (Phi) 6 bt Ram S. Krishnan 5, Ankit Rajpara 5.5 drew with Andrey Gutov (Rus) 5.5, S.A. Shazuli 5 lost to O. Dimakiling (Phi) 6, M.S. Thejkumar 5 lost to G.B. Joshi 6, P. Phoobalan 5 lost to Ashwin Jayaram 6, P. Konguvel 6 bt Mehar Chinna Reddy 5.
