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Top-seed Anish Giri scored his second victory in a row, but former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia had to be satisfied with a second straight draw at the Qatar Masters Open 2014. |
It was a career-best result for Indian Grandmaster M. Shyam Sundar as he held Kramnik to a creditable draw in the second round of the strongest world open international chess tournament.
Kramnik, who was held to a draw in the first round by Stelios Halkias of Greece, met with a very unusual opening treatment from Shyam Sundar, who found the moves difficult before steering the game to a level endgame.
The Reti opening by the Russian saw Sundar opting to develop and part with both his Bishops early, and although Kramnik could claim to be better, the complexities always remained in a rather wild game. Peace was signed after 41 moves.
Giri, who beat Russian Mikhail Antipov in the first round, defeated another Russian Aleksander Mista in the second round to maintain a clean slate.
Former world junior champion P. Harikrishna also maintained a clean slate by defeating Alezander Ipatov of Turkey.
With his second victory in as many games, Harikrishna has emerged as the only Indian with a perfect score after two rounds. He is now sharing a 14-way lead in the strongest open tournament of the world.
Harikrishna was in his elements in a one-sided contest out of a Queen’s gambit declined.
Playing white, the Indian put pressure in the centre in the middle game and Ipatov was forced to part with a piece for two pawns.
The technique by Harikrishna thereafter was exquisite as he wrapped up the game in 46 moves.
GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly also came up with a good result in his second game, holding third seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to a draw.
This one was an Italian game wherein Mamedyarov came up with an early surprise leading to a balanced rook and minor piece endgame where the draw was signed when the repetition was imminent.
Ankit Rajpara and Neelotpal Das continued with their fine form to draw with higher ranked Daniel Naroditsky of United States and Milos Perunovic of Serbia, respectively.
Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta was held to a draw by Xu Jun from China in a game where the Indian got no chances with his black pieces, while B Adhiban suffered his second loss in a row succumbing to Iranian Ahmad Asgarizadeh from a position of strength.
There are eight more rounds still to go in over $100,000 prize money tournament.
IMPORTANT SECOND ROUND RESULTS
Aleksander Mista (Rus, 1) lost to Anish Giri (Ned, 2); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 1.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2) beat Bartosz Socko (Pol, 1); Robin Van Kampen (Ned, 2) beat Ding Liren (Chn, 1); P Harikrishna (Ind, 2) beat Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 1); Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus, 2) beat Aleksandr Lenderman (Usa, 1); G N Gopal (Ind, 1.5) drew with Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 1.5); Xu Jun (Chn, 1.5) drew with Abhijeet Gupta (Ind, 1.5); Ankit R. Rajpara (1.5) drew with Daniel Naroditsky (Usa, 1.5); Neelotpal Das (1.5) drew with Milos Perunovic (Srb, 1.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1) drew with M Shyam Sundar (Ind, 1); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 0.5) lost to Ivan Saric (Cro, 1.5); S Vijayalakshmi (Ind, 1) drew with Dariusz Swiercz (Pol, 1); Gu Xiaobing (Chn, 0.5) lost to Sandipan Chanda (Ind, 1.5); B Adhiban (Ind, 0) lost to Ahmad Asgarizadeh (Iri, 1); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 0.5) drew with Mary Ann Gomes (0.5); P Konguvel (Ind, 0.5) drew with D Harika (Ind, 0.5); Gabriel Gaehwiler (Sui, 1) beat Murali Karthikeyan (Ind, 0); Aleksandra Dimitrijevic (Bih, 0) lost to Debashis Das (Ind, 1); Sayantan Das (Ind, 0) lost to Saad Belouadah (Alg, 1); Sameer Kathmale (Ind, 0.5) drew with S Kidambi (Ind, 0.5); Rishi Sardana (Ind, 1) beat Salih Akar Ali Salih (Irq, 0); Shardul Gagare (Ind, 1) beat Awonder Liang (Usa, 0).
