14-year-old Fide Master Raghunandan K S of Bangalore (ELO 2295) pulled off the biggest upset of the day, defeating GM Grigoryan Karen H (ELO2604) of Armenia in the 9th edition of the Mumbai Mayor’s International Open Chess Tournament 2016, presented by Zee Learn Ltd and co-sponsored by LIC and Ankit Gems, at Mount Litera School International, Bandra- IB* school in BKC, Mumbai. 16 players, among them 12 Indian players, are in joint lead with three points after 3 rounds.
Raghunandan K S in action against GM Grigoryan Karen H, during the 9th edition of the Mumbai Mayor’s International Open Chess Tournament 2016
On the 10th table Hemant Sharma (ELO 2257) of Delhi defeated Grandmaster Mozharov Mikhail (ELO 2560) of Russia in 25 moves in the Queen’s Gambit Declined opening. On the 18thmove with exchange of Queens, Hemant became exchange up and won the game in 25 moves.
In a late 3rd round match on Thursday, top Seed Popov Ivan (ELO 2650) of Russia was stunned by Ram S Krishnan (ELO 2234) of Tamil Nadu. Ram Krishnan with white faced modern defense from Popov. The position was equally poised till the middle game, but a couple of wrong moves of Knights by Popov cost him the game.
Playing with White, Raghunandan opted for the Bogo Indian defence and he held a slight advantage in the opening. Grigoryan offered him a draw on the 15th move which he refused politely, and tried to activate his knight at a better position realizing a weakness at e6 squares of the opponent. In the middle of this crucial game Raghunandan sacrificed a knight for a pawn, which his opponent took and fell prey to his mating tactics, and won the game in just 25 moves.
Results: 4th round: GM Amonatov Farrukh 2614 (TJK) bt Ram S Krishnan 2234;FM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari 2295 bt GM Grigoryan Karen H 2604 (ARM); Shailesh Dravid 2171 bt GM Rahman Ziaur 2521 (BAN);Swapnil Dhopade 2504 bt Satkar Chirag 2036; Hemant Sharma 2257 bt GM Mozharov Mikhail 2560 (Russia)
3rd round: Ram S. Krishnan 2234 bt GM Popov Ivan 2648 (RUS); GM Grachev Boris 2639 (RUS) bt FM Srinath Rao S.V 2218; Amonatov Farrukh 2614 (TJK) bt FM Dutta Joydeep 2226; GM Grigoryan Karen H. 2604 (ARM) bt Mithil Ajgaonkar 2200 ; GM Ghosh Diptayan 2562 bt Manush Shah 2178;GM Rahman Ziaur 2512 (BAN) bt Jayakumaar S 2198; GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2504 bt FM Sauravh Khherdekar 2175; Gusain Himal 2440 bt Snehal Bhosale 2174; Shailesh Dravid 2171 bt Saptarshi Roy 2435; IM Shyaamnikhil P 2415 bt Dahale Atul 2170.