New Delhi: Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca defeated Mongolian Grandmaster Batchuluun Tsegmed to emerge as the sole leader on perfect score after the end of the third round of the Asian Continental Chess Championship now underway here at the Leela Ambience.
On what turned out to be a tough day for the Mongolian, Mendonca capitalized on most of the opportunities offered by his rival and took the point home.
In other important encounters, two-time Indian national champion Karthikeyan Murali missed the opportunity to garner full point and satisfied with half point against Koustav Chatterjee on top board while top seed Praggnanandhaa and second seed Narayanan S L got better off Pranesh M and Urazayev Arystanbek of Kazakhstan respectively.
In the women’s section, continuing her impressive show Kazakh girl Liya Kurmangaliyeva held International Master Soumya Swaminathan to a creditable draw while Woman International Master Saina Salonika shocked second seed Nomin Erdene Davaademberel of Mongolia. It’s second defeat for the second seeded Mongolian in three matches as she suffered a setback in the opening round against Kurmangaliyeva. Ten players including top seed Tanaia Sachdev, who defeated Kiran Manisha Mohanty are now sharing the lead with two half points.
Important Results Round-3 (Indians otherwise stated) :- GM Karthikeyan Murali (2.5) drew with IM Koustav Chatterjee (2.5); GM Adhiban B (2.5) drew with GM Sandipan Chanda (2.5); GM Batchuluun Tsegmed of Mongolia (2) lost to GM Leon Luke Mendonca (3); GM Maksat Atabayev of Turkmenistan (2.5) drew with GM Shyam Sundar M (2.5); IM Pranav Anand (2.5) drew with GM Raja Rithvik R (2.5); GM Praggnanandhaa R (2.5) beat IM Pranesh M (2); GM Narayanan S L (2.5) beat IM Arystanbek Urazayev of Kazakhstan (1.5); GM Sethuraman S P (2) drew with GM Bilguun Sumiya of Mongolia (2); GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan (2.5) beat GM Laxman R R (1.5); GM Mitrabha Guha (2) drew with GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2); GM Harsha Bharathakoti (2.5) beat FM Sambit Panda (1.5); IM Samant Aditya (2) drew with GM Vokhidov Shamsiddin of Uzbekistan (2); IM Nitish Belurkar (2) drew with Alisher Suleymenov of Kazakhstan (2); IM Saparmyrat Atabayev (2.5) beat IM Shyaamnikhil P (1.5); IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (2) drew with GM Karthik Venkataraman (2).
Women’s Round-3 :– IM Soumya Swaminathan (2.5) drew with FM Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan (2.5); WGM Thi Mai Hung Nguyen of Vietnam (2.5) drew with WIM Rakshitta Ravi (2.5); IM Tania Sachdev (2.5) beat WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2); WIM Isha Sharma lost to WGM Vantika Agrawal (2.5); WGM Nilufar Yakubbaeva of Uzbekistan (2.5) beat WIM Amina Kairbekova of Kazakhstan (1.5); WGM Srishti Pandey (1.5) lost to WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnama (2.5); WIM Aashna Makhija (1.5) lost to WGM Priyanka Nutakki (2.5); WGM Swati Ghate (1.5) lost to WGM Nandhidhaa P V (2.5); IM Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel of Mongolia (1) lost to WIM Saina Salonika (2); Xeniya Balabayeva of Kazakhstan (1.5) drew with IM Padmini Rout (1.5); IM Bhakti Kulkarni (2) beat WIM Aakanksha Hagawane (1); WGM Munkhzul Davaakhuu of Mongolia (1) lost to WGM Divya Deshmukh (2); IM Eesha Karavade (1.5) drew with WIM Parnali S Dharia (1.5); WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2) beat WCM Jannatul Ferdous of Bangladesh (1); WIM Sakshi Chitlange (1.5) drew with WGM Gulmira Dauletova of Kazakhstan (1.5).
