Nguyen Duc Hoa leads, Srihari, Kelkar behind
GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) vs GM Fedorov Alexei (Belarus)
GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) drew with GM Fedorov Alexei (Belarus) emerging the sole leader with 6.5 points after the seventh round in the 14th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament 2023 for Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam trophy at Hotel Ambassador Pallava, Chennai here today.
Sharing the second spot with 6.0 points were defending Chennai Open champion Savchenko Boris (Russia), Fedorov Alexei (Belarus), IM Srihari L R, Abhishek Kelkar (both India) and Glek Igor (Belgium).
The top two boards Nguyen Duc Hoa vs Fedorov Alexei, Laxman R R vs Aronyak Ghosh ended in draws. The third board saw GM Savchenko Boris (Russia) scoring over IM Ratnakaran K. The win takes Savchenko to 6 points, half a point shy of in-form GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (6.5). With three rounds to go, GM Savchenko is likely to give GM Nguyen Duc Hoa a run for or the title.
International Master Abhishek Kelkar played an unorthodox attacking game defeating experienced IM Khusenkhojaev Muhammad from Tajikistan. Right from the word go, Abhishek gave few pawns, but held to the positional advantage squeezing a win after 53 moves.
Indian challenge is led by International Masters Srihari L R and Abhishek Kelkar, who share the second spot at 6.0 points. In crucial games tomorrow Srihari L R faces leader GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (6.5) with black pieces, while Abhishek Kelkar takes on experienced GM Fedorov Alexei (Belarus), also with black pieces.
This 10 round tournament carries a prize fund of Rs 20 lakhs with the winner picking up a cash award of Rs 4 lakhs along with a trophy. T60 cash prizes are awarded in this event that concludes by Sunday 7th January, 2023.
Round 7 results : (Indians unless specified) Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vie) 6.5 drew with Fedorov Alexei (Blr) 6, Laxman R R (5.5) drew with Aronyak Ghosh (5.5), Ratnakaran K (5) lost to Savchenko Boris (Rus) 6, Srihari L R (6) bt Sai Viswesh C (5), Glek Igor (Bel) 6 bt Elgabry Mohsen (Egy) 5, Abhishek Kelkar (6) bt Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (Tjk) 5, Manik Mikulas (Svk) 5.5 drew with Aakash G (5.5), Tologon Tegin Semetei (Kgz) 5.5 bt Gaikwad Manas, Ayushh Ravikumar (5) drew with Podolchenko Evgeniy (Blr) 5, Shahil Dey (5.5) bt O T Anil Kumar (4.5), Buscara Sevan (Fra) 5.5 bt Raihaan Zahid (4.5)
Round 6 results : (Indians unless specified) Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (Tjk) 5 lost to Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vie) 6, Elgabry Mohsen (Egy) 5 drew with Srihari L R (5), Fedorov Alexei (Blr) 5.5 bt Ziatdinov Raset (USA) 4.5, Pawar Harshit (5) drew with Manik Mikulas (Svk) 5, Aakash G (5) drew with Laxman R R (5), Savchenko Boris (Rus) 5 bt Matta Vinay Kumar (4), Vinayak Kulkarni (4) lost to Glek Igor (Bel) 5, Jake Shanty (4.5) drew with Viani Antonio D’cunha (4.5), Podolchenko Evgeniy (Blr) 4.5 drew with Sriram Adarsh Uppala (4.5)
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