SPO-CHESS

International Master G Akash, a former national champion, shared the lead with four points

after the fourth round of the 11th Chennai Open International Grand Master chess tournament here Sunday.

In the fourth round, Akash defeated Grand Master Raset Ziatdinov of USA in a Ruy Lopez game that lasted 46 moves.

Shattering both sides of the board, Akash, a GM norm-holder, kept Ziatdinov's king in the centre and finished

the game in a flourish. On the top board, GM Luka Paichadze of Georgia scored a

win over defending champion R R Laxman of India. Sharing the lead with four points with Paichadze are Tran

Tuan Minh, Nguyen Van Huy (both Vietnam), Maxim Lugovskoy (Russia), Akash, Karthik Venkataraman, P Shyam Nikhil, A Ra

Harikrishnan and Girish A Koushik (all India). Half a point behind them with 3.5 points are 11 players

including GMs Ivan Popov (Russia) and Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus among others.

Top seeded Russian Grand Master Alexandr Predke, who started with a draw, was forced to share honours again, with

city-based International Master T U Navin Kanna, and remains at three points.

Earlier, IM norm-holder G B Harshavardhan, a school student, scored the biggest win of his career defeating third

seeded Russian GM Ivan Rozum (ELO 2589) in the third round late yesterday.

Rozum side-stepped a draw by repetition on the 20th move, but went into an inferior rook ending that the Chennai boy

fully used to his advantage securing the win after 56 moves. Harshavardhan came up with a steady show today holding

International Master N R Vignesh to a draw and is scheduled to meet Grandmaster Stupak Kirill (Belarus) in the next round.

The third round also witnessed upset wins for C Sai Vishwesh and K Senthil Maran over Grand Masters Deviatkin

Andrei and Sundararajan Kidambi respectively. Results: Round 4 (Indians unless specified): Luka

Paichadze (Geo) 4 beat RR Laxman (3), Mikulas Manik (Svk) 3.5 drew with Aleksej Aleksandrov (Blr) 3.5, Girish A Koushik (4)

beat Deepan Chakkravarthy J (3), Stupak Kirill (Blr) 3.5 drew with A L Muthaiah (3.5), Rathanakaran K (3) lost to Tran Tuan

Minh (Vie) 4. Tran Minh Thang (Vie) 3 lost to Karthik Venkataraman

(4), N R Vignesh (3.5) drew G B Harshavardhan (3.5), G Akash (4) bt Raset Ziatdinov (USA) 3, Sai Vishwesh (3) lost to

Nguyen Van Huy (Vie) 4. Round 3: Levan Pantsulaia (Geo) 2 lost to Tran Minh Thang

(Vie) 3, Harshavardhan (3) bt Ivan Rozum (Rus) 2, Ivan Popov (Rus) 2.5 drew with V Saravanan (2.5), L R Srihari (2) lost to

Luka Paichadze 3, Aleksandrov 3 beat Ameir Moheb (Egy) 2, Ziatdinov 3 beat Erigaisi Arjun (2), J Deepan Chakkravarthy

(3) beat P Konguvel.