GM M. Shyam Sundar achieved the best result of his career when he held former world champion Vladimir Kramnik to a draw in the second round of Qatar Masters International Open chess tournament here.
Kramnik, who also drew his first round game with Stelios Halkias of Greece, met with a very unusual opening treatment from Shyam Sundar, who worked his way through some difficult moves before steering the game to a level endgame.
The Reti opening by the Russian saw Sundar opting to develop and part with both his bishops early, and although Kramnik had the better of a rather wild game, peace was signed after 41 moves.
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GM P. Harikrishna maintained a clean slate by defeating Alezander Ipatov of Turkey. With his second victory in as many games, Harikrishna has emerged the only Indian with a perfect score after two rounds. He now shares a 14-way lead in the strongest open tournament of the world.
GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly held third seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to a draw in his second game.
Among the other Indians, first round heroes Ankit Rajpara and Neelotpal Das drew with higher ranked Daniel Naroditsky of the US and Milos Perunovic of Serbia, respectively.
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GM Abhijeet Gupta was held to a draw by China’s Xu Jun in a game where the Indian got no chances with black, while B. Adhiban suffered his second loss in a row succumbing to Iranian Ahmad Asgarizadeh.
Important results: Round 2 (Indians unless specified): Aleksander Mista (Rus, 1) lost to Anish Giri (Ned, 2); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2) bt Bartosz Socko (Pol, 1); Robin Van Kampen (Ned, 2) bt Ding Liren (Chn, 1); P. Harikrishna (2) bt Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 1); Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus, 2) bt Aleksandr Lenderman (USA, 1); G. N. Gopal (1.5) drew with Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 1.5); Xu Jun (Chn, 1.5) drew with Abhijeet Gupta (1.5); Ankit R. Rajpara (1.5) drew with Daniel Naroditsky (USA, 1.5); Neelotpal Das (1.5) drew with Milos Perunovic (Srb, 1.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1) drew with M. Shyam Sundar (1); Aravindh Chithambaram (0.5) lost to Ivan Saric (Cro, 1.5); S. Vijayalakshmi (1) drew with Dariusz Swiercz (Pol, 1); Gu Xiaobing (Chn, 0.5) lost to Sandipan Chanda (1.5); B. Adhiban (0) lost to Ahmad Asgarizadeh (Iri, 1); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 0.5) drew with Mary Ann Gomes (0.5); P. Konguvel (0.5) drew with D. Harika (0.5); Gabriel Gaehwiler (Sui, 1) bt Murali Karthikeyan (0); Aleksandra Dimitrijevic (Bih, 0) lost to Debashis Das (1); Sayantan Das (0) lost to Saad Belouadah (Alg, 1); Sameer Kathmale (0.5) drew with S. Kidambi (0.5); Rishi Sardana (1) bt Salih Akar Ali Salih (Irq, 0); Shardul Gagare (1) bt Awonder Liang (USA, 0).