New Delhi: Indian Sub-Junior champion International Master Pranesh M scored an upset victory over two time national champion and sixth seed Aravindh Chithambaram while third seed and member of Uzbekistan team which won Olympiad Gold Grandamster Nodirbek Yakubboev suffered a major setback to his title hopes and suffered shock defeat by the hands of Saparmyrat Atabayev of Turkmenistan in the second round of ongoing Asian Continental Chess Championship here at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel on Thursday.
After a creditable draw against the top seed Praggnanandhaa in the opening round, Atabayev shown his class again to defeat his fancied rival in 57 moves arrived out of English Opening while playing with dark pieces in Kalashnikov variation of Sicilian defence, Aravindh faced time pressure towards first time control and failed to recover from a cramped position to handover full point to his younger rival.
Meanwhile in the Women’s section also there was no dearth for excitement as opting for classical variation of Scotch Game, Rakshitta Ravi defeated former Asian Women’s Champion Bhakti Kulkarni on top board while Sakshi Chitlange who held top seed Tania Sachdev in the opening round held Padmini Rout to a creditable draw. Vietnamese Women Grandmaster Thi Mai Hung Nguyen defeated Indian women champion Divya Deshmukh while FIDE Master Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan outwitted Women Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes.
In other important encounters in the second round, second seed S L Narayanan signed the peace treaty with Mongolian Grandmaster Bilguun Sumiya while fourth seed Sethuraman split the point with Arystanbek Urazayev of Kazakhstan. Delhi’s Aaryan Varshney defeated International Master Abdisalimov Abdimalik of Uzbekistan while FIDE Masters Ritviz Parab and Sambit Panda outwitted Grandmasters Arjun Kalyan and P Iniyan respectively. Ninth seed Abhijeet Gupta suffered a second upset on the trot against Tologon Tegin Semetei of Kyrgyzstan. After the minor setback in the opening round, top seed Praggnanndhaa defeated Ortik Nigmatov of Uzbekistan.
Important Results Round-2 (Indians otherwise stated) :- GM Bilgunn Sumiya of Mongolia (1.5) drew with GM Narayanan S L (1.5); IM Urazayev Arystanbek of Kazakhstan (1.5) drew with GM Sethuraman S P (1.5); IM Pranesh M (2) beat GM Aravindh Chithambaram (1); GM Karthikeyan Murali (2) beat GM Venkatesh M R (1); IM Srihari L R (1) lost to GM Adhiban B (2); GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan (1.5) drew with IM Nitish Belurkar (1.5); GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2) beat IM Amartuvshin Ganzorig of Mongolia (1); GM Shaym Sundar M (2) beat FM Saidakbar Saydaliev of Uzbekistan (1); FM Azat Nurmamedov of Turkmenistan (1) lost to IM Pranav Anand (2); IM Koustav Chatterjee (2) beat IM Krishna Teja N (1); Sanket Chakravarty (1) lost to GM Batchuluun Tsegmed of Mongolia (2); IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (1.5) drew with IM Aditya Mittal (1.5); Soltan Muradov of Turkmenistan (1) lost to GM Maksat Atabayev of Turkmenistan (2); GM Sandipan Chanda (2) beat FM Sharan Rao (1); IM Saravana Krishnan (1.5) drew with GM Mitrabha Guha (1.5).
Women’s Round-2 :- WIM Rakshitta Ravi (2) beat IM Bhakti Kulkarni (1); WGM Divya Deshmukh (1) lost to WGM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung of Vietnam (2); WIM Saina Salonika (1) lost to IM Soumya Swaminathan (2); WGM Priyanka Nutakki (1.5) drew with WFM Srishti Pandey (1.5); FM Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan (2) beat WGM Mary Ann Gomes (1); WIM Amina Kairbekova of Kazakhstan (1.5) drew with WGM Swati Ghate (1.5); WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2) beat WIM Xeniya Balabayeva of Kazakhstan (1); WCM Jannatul Ferdous of Bangladesh (1) lost to WGM Nilufar Yakubbaeva of Uzbekistan (1.5); IM Tania Sachdev (1.5) beat WGM Srija Seshadri (.5); IM Padmini Rout (1) drew with WIM Sakshi Chitlange (1).
