Former Chennai Open Champion Grandmaster R R Laxman (2.0) led the table with several players after the second 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 lead with Grandmaster Laxman were GMs Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam), Podolchenko Evgeniy, Fedorov Alexei(both Belarus), Glek Igor (Belgium) and Manik Mikulas (Slovakia) among others.
While the top seeds continued to win without much of a fuss, the lower board saw Chennai boy Aarav A holding International Master Ravichandran Siddarth to a hard fought draw.
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.
Round 2 results : (Indians unless specified) Aronyak Ghosh (2) bt Yash Abhijit Patil (1), Mrityunjay Kumar (1) lost to Srihari L R (2),Fedorov Alexei (Belarus) 2 bt Mitul K H (1), Rupesh Reddy Y (1) lost to Glek Igor (Belgium) 2, Ajay Karthikeyan (2) bt Aarush Rajesh (1), Sanjay Thiruvengadam (1) lost to Viani ANtonio Dcunha (2), Nitin S (2) bt Lakshmi Charan Naidu G (1), Vengatesh Krishnan C (1) lost to Tologon Tegin Semetei (Kyrgyzstan) 2, Podolchenko, Evgeniy (Belarus) bt Naga Sai Sarthak Karanam (1), Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (Tajikistan) bt Aadithya Pradeep (1), Aarav A (1.5) drew with Ravichandran Siddarth (1.5), Aadik Theophane Lenin (1) lost to Laxman R R (2)