Indian Chess News: SP Sethuram beats Vladislav Borovikov to Lead 2nd Hyderabad Chess Open after 6 Rounds

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The Hyderabad Chess International Open tournament began right after the Anand, Carlsen World Chess Championship concluded. Here are some updates from the chess tournament from our friend at Indian Chess News.

Talented Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman has taken sole lead at the tournament after six rounds. He beat overnight joint leader Grandmaster Vladislav Borovikov of Ukraine at the 2nd Hyderabad International Grandmasters Chess Tournament on Friday. 

The tournament is sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Mahindra Ecole Centrale, Andhra Bank, Petronet LNG Ltd and Airports Authority of India. All top three boards witnessed decisive results in the sixth round encounters.

Sethuraman, playing White on Friday afternoon, beat Ukrainian Grandmaster's Sicilian Najdorf variation with a middlegame onslaught lasting 60 moves. The Indian Grandmaster now has 5.5 points from six rounds for sole lead. 

Top seed Russian Grandmaster Ivan Popov and Georgian Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia are in joint second place after six rounds with five points each. Playing black side of Meran system, Popov defeated Grandmaster Alon Greenfeld of Israel in 32 moves while Pantsulaia applied Symmetrical variation of English opening to beat Armenian Grandmaster Levon Babujian in 40 moves on the third board.

In other important encounters in the sixth round, Indian Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujarathi signed the peace treaty with Grandmaster Merab Gagunashvili of Georiga while Lalith Babu was forced to split the point with Deepan Chakkravarthy with light pieces.  (Left photo: Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujarathi on his way to a draw with Grandmaster Merab Gagunashvili)

Continuing his fine run in the event, Andhra youngster Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad defeated International Master Ravichandran Siddharth in the sixth round game.

The seventh round of the 11-round tournament will be played on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Category B event which is being held simultaneously, 14 players including third seed Varun V of Andhra Pradesh are sharing the lead after the end of third round matches with perfect score.

In the third round Varun defeated Shaon Chowdhury of West Bengal while top seed Lokesh N suffered a minor setback in the third round as he forced to split the point with lower seeded Ameya Audi of Goa.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel