Chennai Open Round 7 – Karthikeyan stuns GM Gomez, Aleksandrov shares lead
Former Asian Junior Champion and International Master Pandian Karthikeyan defeated Philippino Grandmaster John Paul Gomez in the seventh round of the SDAT – RMK 4th Chennai Open 2012 International Grandmaster Chess Tournament, at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Periamet, Chennai here today.
Top seed Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus) and Yu Ruiyuan (China) share the lead with 6.5 points, scoring over Vaibhav Suri (India) and Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukraine) respectively. Sharing the third spot were GM Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary), IM Pandian Karthikeyan (India), Zeng Chongsheng, Ma Qun (both China) at 6.0 points.
Aleksandrov scored a smooth technical 68 move win in the top board, while Yu Ruiyuan shocked higher rated Grandmaster Oleksienko Mikhailo in an attacking Sicilian game.
International Master Pandian Karthikeyan showed superior preparation, as he outplayed Grandmaster John Paul Gomez of Philippines. Gaining advantage right out of the opening, Karthikeyan maintained a small edge right through. Stretching himself to equalise John Paul Gomez was found wanting in an exchange down position.
Speaking after his victory Karthikeyan said, “I followed the game from Vishy Anand – Vallejo Pons, Bilbao 2011 and gained initiative early. Slowly I improved upon the position, gained technical edge and converted it to full point.”
Upsets were the order of the day in the top boards as untitled Chinese star Yu Ruiyuan (ELO 2491) defeated GM Oleksienko Mikhailo of Ukraine. Another Ukraine Grandmaster, defending Champion Kravtsiv Martyn went down to GM Hoang Thanh Trang of Hungary in the third board.
LIVE webcast of the games can be viewed at http://livechess.chessdom.com/site/
R R Vasudevan
Press Officer
SDAT – RMK 4th Chennai Open 2012 International Grandmaster Chess Tournament
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