AP players make stunning start

Hyderabad: In addition to two Andhra Pradesh players, New Delhi player, Prince Bajaj gave a royal start to the second edition of the coveted Hyderabad Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament, being organized by Cyber Chess Academy, at the Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda here on Monday.

Playing white, Bajaj stunned seasoned Uzbekistan Grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev in 35 moves to bring the event alive on the very first day of the championship.

Meanwhile, unmoved by the exuberant atmosphere that pervaded the packed stadium, local contenders Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad and Chakravarthi Y V K joined the celebration scripting their own amazing chapters to the day of sensational outcomes. Prasad shocked Indian Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna while Chakravarthi took the daylight out of Russian GM Igor Yagupov in two keenly fought first round matches.

The higher rated International Master Jacek Stopa of Poland also suffered a setback when he lost his first round match against Chennai teenager Kumaran B.

Meanwhile top seed Russian Grandmaster Ivan Popov opened his campaign in nonchalant style by putting it across Fide Master Debaraj Chatterjee of Bangladesh while second seed Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia also has an easy outing against Sameer Kathmale.

Trichy-based Kunal M held fifth seed Deep Sengupta while GMss Tornike Sanikidze of Georgia and Sethuraman SP had to split the point against Vignesh N R and Hemant Sharma respectively. Another Andhra Pradesh youngster Harsha Bharathakoti held former national champion Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte to a creditable draw.

The ‘B’ category of the event with a prize fund of Rs. 5 lakh for the players of 2100 & below rating will start on Thursday.

Earlier, the championship was inaugurated by LV Subrahmanyam , Principal Secretary (Health) when he made the formal first move.

Lav Agarwal, Principal Secretary (Sports), Ashok Kumar, Joint Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation, and International Master-Organising Secretary, Lanka Ravi were among those present on the occasion.

Category ‘A’ Important Results (Round-1) (India wherever not mention) :- GM Ivan Popov of Russia (1) beat FM Debaraj Chatterjee of Bangladesh (0); Sameer Kathmale (0) lost to GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia (1); GM Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (1) bt K Praneeth Surya (0); CM Abhimanyu Puranik (0) lost to GM Lalith Babu M R (1); GM Deep Sengupta (.5) drew with Kunal M (.5); FM Prasenjit Dutta (0) lost to GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia (1); GM Vladislav Borovikov of Ukraine (1) bt Ram S Krishnan (0); CM Prince Bajaj (1) bt GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan (0); GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia (1) bt Niranjan Navalgund (0); Vignesh N R (.5) drew with Tornike Sanikidze of Georgia (.5); GM Sethuraman S P (.5) drew with Hemant Sharma (.5); WFM Raghavi N (0) lost to GM Alon Greenfeld of Israel (1); GM Arun Prasad (1) bt CM Gopal K N (0); Akash PC Iyer (0) lost to GM Azer Mirzoev of Azerbaijan (1); GM Levon Babujian of Armeina (1) bt FM Matta Vinay Kumar (0); Gireman Ja (0) lost to Vasily Papin of Russia (1); IM Jacek Stopa of Poland (0) lost to Kumaran B (1); Vikramjit Singh (.5) drew with GM Valeriy Neverov of Ukraine (.5); IM Mikhail Mozharov of Russia (1) bt Safal Bora of USA (0); Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad (1) bt GM Vishnu Prasanna (0); IM Ashwin Jayaram (0) lost to FM Ramakrishna J (1); Harsha Bharathakoti (.5) drew with GM Abhijit Kunte (.5); GM Hovik Hayrapetyan of Armenia (.5) drew with FM Raghunandan K S (.5); WIM Ivana Maria Furtado (0) lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (1); GM Sinisa Drazic of Serbia (1) bt Sohan Phadke (0).