Chess: Indian wonder kids upset International Grand masters at Mayor Cup tournament

Raghuram Srihari held GM Levan Pantsulaia from Georgia as Indian players continued their impressive performance in round 2 of the 8th Mumbai Mayor's International Chess Tournament in Mumbai on Wednesday.

GM Panstsulaia, who is also the defending champion, tried all his tricks in the English opening but Srihari neutraliSed the pressure by exchanging pieces at regular intervals to force a draw in 65 moves at the Goregaon Sports Club. The round also witnessed the shock defeat of GM Daniel Semcesen at the hands of 17-year old Rohan Ahuja.

In a Queen Pawn game, GM Semcesen opted for Dutch Defense and the game went on an equal footing till move 20th when a mistake by him allowed Ahuja to win material. The rest was a matter of applying simple technique, allowing Rohan to score a full point in 54 moves. GM Enamul Hossain also had to content with a draw against seasoned campaigner Amardeep Bartakke.

Barring these upsets, the other results went on an expected note. GM Kokarev Dmitry had no difficulty in disposing the challenge of B S Shivananda from the black side of Bird's Opening in 46 moves. WGM Bhakti Kulkarni lost quickly to GM Alexander Zubov in just 33 moves from the white-side of Nimzo-Indian defense and GM Aleksandrov Aleksej also won comfortably against Utkal Ranjan Sahoo.