Harshavardhan continues good run, scalps another GM; three share lead in Chennai Open

Chennai schoolboy G B Harshavardhan continued his good run, claiming the scalp of another Grand Master beating Ukraine's Stanislav Bogdanovich in the fifth round of the 12th Chennai Open International chess tournament on Tuesday. Harshavardhan with five points after five round is in joint lead with GMsJose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Peru) and compatriot N R Visakh. Top-seeded GMPavel Ponkrantov (Russia) is half a point behind the leaders at 4.5 points along with GMsSergei Yudin (Russia), Neelotpal Das (India), IMTaher Yoseph Theolifus (Indonesia) and Pranav V (India).

Harshavardhan, a student of Velammal School here, outwitted Bogdanovich in a Nimzo Indian game. With two IM norms under his belt, the Chennai lad is well on track to achieve his final International Master norm. Meanwhile, another talented city lad V Pranav accounted for veteran Ukraine GM Valeriy Neverov in a Queen's Indian game that lasted 49 moves. Junior Tamil Nadu stars FIDE Master L R Srihari and Woman International Master-elect k Priyanka held GMs Karthik Venkataraman and Vishnu Prasanna to creditable draws. The 10-round tournament concludes on January 25.

Important results

Round 5 (Indians unless specified)

Sayantan Das (4) lost to Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Peru) 5, G B Harshavardhan (5) beat Stanislav Bogdanovich (Ukraine) 4, N R Visakh (5) beat Muhammad Khusenkhojaev (Tajikistan) 4, Pavel Ponkratov (Russia) 4.5 beat Manik Mikulas (Slovakia) 3.5, Aleksey Goganov (Russia) 4 drew with P Karthikeyan (4). David Alberto (Italy) 4 drew with Ameir Moheb (Egypt) 4, Sundararajan Kidambi (3.5) lost to Sergei Yudin (Russia) 4.5, Karthik Venkataraman (4) drew with L R Srihari (4), k Priyanka (4) drew with Vishnu Prasanna (4), M V Lakshmi Narayanan ((3.5) lost to Taher Yoseph Theolifus (Indonesia) 4. 5, Neverov Valeriy (Ukraine) 3.5 lost to V Pranav (4.5).