Vignesh stuns Georgian GM on first day

Kolkata: 15-year-old N R Vignesh stunned GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, seeded third, to cause a flutter in the opening round of the SREI International Grandmasters Open Chess Tournament at the Town Hall today.

There was another surprise in store when top seed and local favourite GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly had to concede half point settling for a draw against an unheralded R A Pradip.

Second seed Ivan Popov of Russia on the other hand had it easy against N R Visakh in a minor piece ending which arose from a Sicilian defence.

Playing white, Chennai boy Vignesh was up against the Benoni opening of Pantsulaia.

Vignesh was on the defensive for most part of the game, while his opponent sacrificed a pawn on the queen's wing for an attack on the kingside.

Vignesh defended with grit and obtained a passed pawn on the queenside which he used as a decoy to create a mating attack with his queen and bishop.

The Georgian Grandmaster in his bid to avoid a draw faltered and was forced to give up on the 56th move.

Surya won a pawn early in the middle game but could find a way to crack open the fortress-like structure of his opponent and went on to sacrifice a pawn later in a minor piece ending to liven up the proceedings.

But his little-known opponent defended with precision to carve out a draw.

Former National champion IM Nisha Mohota held GM Gagunasvili Merab of Georgia in a rook and bishop versus rook ending where she had the extra bishop for 3 pawns.

Indian veteran Grandmaster Praveen Thipsay went down to 16-year-old G Lasya of Andhra Pradesh with the black pieces.

Former Bengal champion Kunal Kumar Chatterjee held 11th seed GM Azer Mirzoev of Azarbaijan to a draw in a Reti opening with the White pieces in 52 moves by perpetual checks.

Top Board Results

R A Pradeep Kumar (0.5) drew GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (0.5); GM Ivan Popav (1) b N R Visakh (0); N R Vignesh (1) b GM Levan Pantsulaia (0); GM Deep Sengupta (10) b M Kunal (0); FM Debraj Chatterjee (0) lost to Ter Sakhayan Samvel (1); GM Vladislav Borovikov (1) bt Prantik Roy (0); Ram S Krishnan (0) lost to GM Dzhumaev Marat (1); GM Sanikidze Tornike (1) bt Pratik Patil (0); IM Nisha Mohota (0.5) drew GM Gagunasvili Merab (0.5); IM Mikhail Mozharov (1) b B Kumaran (0); K K Chatterjee (0.5) drew GM Azer Mirzoev (0.5); GM Valeriy Neverov (1) bt Akash PC Iyer (0); IM Stopa Jacek (1) b Kiran Manisha Mohanty (0); Arindam Mukhejee (0) lost to IM Arghyadip Das (1); GM Niaz Murshed (1) bt Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad (0).