Chennai Open chess: Nitin remains in lead

CHENNAI, June 24: Indian International Master Nitin Senthilvel’s winning run was halted as he drew his eighth round game against top-seed Boris Savchenko on Friday but remained on top of the standings in 13th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament 2022 here with 7.5 points.
Nitin, who held Russian Grandmaster Savchenko to 68-move draw, is a full point ahead of his nearest rivals. In second place behind the Indian IM with 6.5 points are: Savchenko, Alexei Fedorov (Belarus), Baghdasaryan Vahe (Armenia), Aronyak Ghosh, P Konguvel, Himal Gusain, S Prasannaa, Daakshin Arun and Ravichandran Siddharth (all India).
In upsets on the day, veteran International Master P Konguvel defeated Vietnamese Grandmaster Tran Tuan Minh, while Candidate Master Daakshin Arun scored over fellow Indian Grandmaster P Karthikeyan.
Two rounds remain in the 10-round Swiss tournament that concludes on June 26.
Results: Round 8 (Indians unless specified): Boris Savchenko (Russia) 6.5 points drew with S Nitin 7.5 points, L R Srihari 6 lost to Aronyak Ghosh 6.5, Alexei Fedorov 6.5 beat Abdyjapar Asyl (Kyrgyzstan) 5.5, Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam) 5.5 lost to P Konguvel 6.5, J Deepan Chakkravarthy 6 drew with Aaryan Varshney 6, Kirill Stupak (Belarus) 6 drew with P Saravana Krishnan 6, P R Hirthickkesh 6 drew with Ajay Karthikeyan 6, Baghdasaryan Vahe (Armenia) 6.5 beat Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 5.5, N B Hari Madhavan 5.5 lost to Prasannaa S 6.5, B Vignesh 5.5 lost to Gusain Himal 6.5, Ravichandran Siddharth (6.5) beat Samriddhaa Ghosh 5.5, Daakshin Arun 6.5 beat P Karthikeyan 5.5. (PTI)