Three players including top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Martyn Kravtsiv, who beat Tillayev Ulugbek of Uzbekistan share the lead with perfect score after fifth round matches of the ongoing 2nd Gurgaon International Grandmasters Chess Tournament here at Suncity School on Saturday.
Playing with black pieces in Ruy Lopez game Martyn outwitted his Uzbek rival in 47 moves while second seed Filipino Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa and Indian hope Sahaj Grover giving company to the top seed at top of point table after defeating International Masters Shyam Nikil and S Nitin respectively in the fifth round encounters.
Playing white side of Modern Benoni game, Sahaj exchanged his rook for minor piece in the middle game to gain advantage in the centre and maintained the positional advantage throughout the game and secured full points after 70 moves.
In surprising results of the day, Women Fide Master Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva got better off seasoned Grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan while Grandmasters John Paul Gomez of Philippines and Eldar Gasanov of Ukraine forced to split the point against talented Indian youngsters Visakh N R and Sameer Kathmale respectively in the fifth round battles.
Earlier in the fourth round, International Master S Nitin defeated Georgian Grandmaster Tornike Sanikidze while Anirudha Deshpande shocked Ukrainian Grandmaster Valeriy Neverov.
In the sixth round, top seed Martyn takes on second seed Barbosa while Grover paired against Russian Grandmaster Alexander Evdokimov, who beat Vikramjit Singh in fifth round.
Round 5 standings:
1-3. GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2628, GM Barbosa Oliver PHI 2579 and GM Grover Sahaj IND 2478 – 5,0
4-7. GM Evdokimov Alexander A. RUS 2558, IM Kulkarni Vikramaditya IND 2336, IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao IND 2399 and IM Narayanan Srinath IND 2414 – 4,5
8-36. IM Shyam Nikil P. IND 2424, IM Nitin S. IND 2331, Tillyaev Ulugbek UZB 2243, GM Gomez John Paul PHI 2541, Krishna C.R.G. IND 2318, Kunal M. IND 2346, GM Gasanov Eldar UKR 2469, IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu IND 2401, IM Shivananda B.S. IND 2331, Akash Pc Iyer IND 2304, IM Swayams Mishra IND 2426, IM Rajesh V A V IND 2404, Visakh Nr IND 2330, GM Ziatdinov Raset USA 2354, FM Faizulaev Akmal UZB 2314, Kathmale Sameer IND 2351, Abhishek Kelkar IND 2277, GM Sanikidze Tornike GEO 2541, Pradeep Kumar R.A. IND 2312, Sattarov Bobir UZB 2194, GM Gagunashvili Merab GEO 2547, Karthik V. Ap IND 2179, WFM Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz UZB 2167, Kulkarni Chinmay IND 2276, GM Arun Prasad S. IND 2504, IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2342, Navalgund Niranjan IND 2197, Joshi Govind Ballabh IND 2201, Deepthamsh Reddy. M IND 2181 – 4,0 etc
Round 6 top pairings:
GM Kravtsiv Martyn 2628 – GM Barbosa Oliver 2579
GM Evdokimov Alexander A. 2558 – GM Grover Sahaj 2478
IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao 2399 – IM Narayanan Srinath 2414
GM Gomez John Paul 2541 – IM Kulkarni Vikramaditya 2336
Visakh Nr 2330 – GM Gagunashvili Merab 2547
Krishna C.R.G. 2318 – GM Sanikidze Tornike 2541
GM Arun Prasad S. 2504 – Pradeep Kumar R.A. 2312
FM Faizulaev Akmal 2314 – GM Gasanov Eldar 2469
Amazing.