Indian Sub-Junior champion International Master Pranesh M (photo above) scored an upset victory over two time national champion and sixth seed Aravindh Chithambaram while third seed and member of Uzbekistan team which won Olympiad Gold Grandamster Nodirbek Yakubboev suffered a major setback to his title hopes and suffered shock defeat by the hands of Saparmyrat Atabayev of Turkmenistan in the second round of ongoing Asian Continental Chess Championship, 27th October here at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in New Delhi, India.
After a creditable draw against the top seed Praggnanandhaa in the opening round, Atabayev (above right) showed his class again to defeat his fancied rival in 57 moves of a transposed English Opening while playing with dark pieces in Kalashnikov variation of Sicilian defence, Aravindh faced time pressure towards first time control and failed to recover from a cramped position to handover full point to his younger rival.
Meanwhile in the Women’s section also there was no dearth for excitement as opting for classical variation of Scotch Game, Rakshitta Ravi (above left) defeated former Asian Women’s Champion Bhakti Kulkarni on top board while Sakshi Chitlange (below right) who held top seed Tania Sachdev in the opening round held Padmini Rout to a creditable draw.
Vietnamese Women Grandmaster Thi Mai Hung Nguyen defeated Indian women champion Divya Deshmukh while FIDE Master Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan outwitted Women Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes.
Here are results of top matches:
