Russian Grandmaster Maxim Turov (7.5 points) maintained a slender half-point lead against local favourite Anwesh Upadhyaya and Uzbekistan GM Marat Dzhumaev at the end of the eighth round of the Chennai Open chess tournament here on Sunday. Maxim stopped the giant-killing run of Andhra Pradesh’s MR Lalith Babu on the top board.
Maxim played a strong Nf5 on move 15, which almost decided the game in his favour. Lalith, Shyam Nikil, Vikramaditya Kamble and three others are placed third with 6.5 points each.
Once again, Anwesh unveiled a sensational game against Kravtsiv. Anwesh sacrificed his knight for two central pawns on the 17th move. He then gave up his rook two moves later but retrieved it soon enough. By the end of the eighth round and after making the ninth round pairing, Anwesh secured his final IM norm. He could also earn a GM norm if he continues in the same vein.
IMPORTANT RESULTS: (Round 8): M Turov (7.5 pts) bt L Babu (6.5), D Kryakvin (6) lost to M Dzhumaev (7), M Kravtsiv (6) lost to A Upadhyaya (7), M Mikulas (6.5) drew with V Kamble (6.5), S Arun Prasad (6) drew with S Dhopade (6), S Chowdhury (5.5) lost to
Z Rahman (6.5), R Jumabayev (6.5) bt R Bhuvanesh (6), S Nikil (6.5) beat RB Ramesh (5.5)
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