Grandmaster R R Laxman (Elo 2404) shed half a point to lower rated Anirudh R (Elo 1400) even as top seeded Russian Grandmaster Savchenko Boris scored a smooth win in the inaugural round of the 13th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2022 for Sakthi Group Dr Mahalingam Trophy at Hotel Ambassador Pallava, Chennai here today. Following the leader were Grandmasters Fedorov Alexei (Belarus), Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam), Deepan Chakkravarthy (India), Stupak Kirill (Belarus) among others.
Earlier the tournament was inaugurated by India’s first International Master and Arjuna Awardee Manuel Aaron. 86 year-old-legend spoke about Late Dr N Mahalingam’s philanthropy and support nurturing the chess talents in Tamil Nadu that went on to flower into Grandmasters and world champions. Mr Aaron made the symbolic first move against Woman International Master Priyanka K signifying the start of the event.
The 275 player 10 round Swiss tournament has the participation of 11 Grandmasters and 14 International Masters among 36 titled players. The tournament carries a total prize money of Rs.15,00,000/- (Rupees fifteen lakhs only) spread over 55 cash prizes. The winner gets the glittering Chennai Open 2022 trophy and a cash award of Rs. 3,00,000 (Rupees three Lakhs only).
Tomorrow is a two round day that starts at 10 am.
Results Round 1 (Indians unless specified) : Thapa Ganesh Bahadur (Nepal) lost to Savchenko Boris (Russia), Fedorov Alexei (Belarus) bt Aswinika Mani R, Aman Khinvasara lost to Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam), Aronyak Ghosh bt Dipesh Seeraj K S, Gairick Saha lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy J, Stupak Kirill (Belarus) bt Madhesh Kumar S, Tarun K C lost to Ajay Karthikeyan, Nitin S bt Ritwik Mallavarapu, Tarun N lost to Srihari L R, Laxman R R drew with Anirudh R, Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) bt Shivam Yadav, Nguyen Van Huy (Vietnam) bt Danvanth R, Nigash G lost to Hari Madhavan N B