Photo: Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar (right) receives a memento and a flower bouquet from Ravindra Dongre of Maharashtra Chess Association at the opening ceremony of the 10th Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess Tournament 2017, which will be played at Mount Litera School International, Bandra Kurla Complex.
Young Indian Muthaiah holds top seed Amonatov to a draw
Mumbai, June 5: Muthaiah A.L. of India came up with a good steady performance to hold top seed Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan to a draw in a second round match of the Rs 29 lakh prize money 10th Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess Tournament 2017, sponsored by LIC of India, co-sponsored by Ankit Gems and played at the Mount Litera School International, Bandra on Monday.
On the top board, the young Indian Muthaiah (ELO 2297) opened with queen pawn opening against the higher ranked Amonatov (ELO 2635) who opted to start with kings Indian defence and after 30th move most of the pieces got exchanged as only 2 rooks remained along with opposite coloured Bishops. Both players tried to make the most of the limited options, but after 10 more moves they decided to settle for a draw.
Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar officially declared the tournament open and congratulated the organizers Venus Chess Academy and Mumbai Suburban District Chess Association (MSDCA) for conducting this tournament for the last decade. “Venus Chess Academy in association with MSDCA has been working hard to organize and conduct this tournament and I congratulate them for doing a wonderful job,” said Mahadeshwar after inaugurating the event on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile on the second board, the second seeded Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh (2569) scored a clear point as he defeated compatriot FM Venkataraman Karthik (2317). Ghosh starting with the white pieces played the pawn in front of the queen which was transferred into Knights Indian defence on the 11th move. Karthik offered an exchange of knight by threatening the queen and gained the tempo but Diptayan refused the exchange which game him a central open file in the middle of the game and gained a pawn which helped him to win the game with ease.
Third seed GM Adam Tukhaev (2567) of Ukraine was forced to share a point with Akash Iyer (2282) of India. The game started with queen pawn opening in the middle and both began exchanging pieces at regular interval and finally settled for a draw on the 75th move.
Results Round 2: A.L. Muthaiah (ELO 2297 – IND) 1 point drew with GM Farrukh Amonatov (ELO 2635, TJK) 1 point; GM Diptayan Ghosh (2569, IND) 1 beat FM Venkataraman Karthik (2317, IND) 1; Akash Iyer (2282, IND) 1 drew with GM Adam Tukhaev (2567, UKR) 1; GM Ziaur Rahman (2526, BAN) 1 drew with FM Fahad Rahman Mohammad (2305, BAN) 1; GM Sahaj Grover (2485, IND) 1 drew with GM Raset Ziatdinov (2301, USA) 1; FM Nitish Belurkar (2279, IND) 1 lost to GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib (2484, BAN) 1; Siddhant Gaikwad (2270, IND) 1 lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2480, IND) 1; GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (2477, VIE) 1 drew with CM Aditya Mittal (2211, IND) 1; GM Levon Babujian (2438, ARM) 1 beat Mithil Ajgaonkar (2203, IND) 1.