Focus Merit

Grandmasters B Adhiban and S L Narayanan wins in Gibraltar chess

Indian Grandmasters B Adhiban and S L Narayanan registered impressive wins in the third round of the Masters’ category of the ongoing Gibraltar chess festival. Adhiban and Narayanan scored wins over Martin Petrov of Bulgaria and Tingjie Lei of China while young GM Raunak Sadhwani securing 1.5 points shared the point with higher-ranked David Navara.

Apart from Adhiban and Narayanan, there are a few other Indians on 2.5 points, including Vaibhav Suri and Karthikeyan Murali. Young Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat International Master Padmini Rout to take his tally to 2.

He had lost to fellow Indian P V Nandhidhaa in the opening round. D Gukesh, another rising star from India and the second youngest GM ever, was held to a draw by Adrian Gschnitzer. GM Karthikeyan Murali, took a draw against Ori Kobo to take his tally to 2.5.

Georgia’s Ivan Cheparinov, Kyrsa Leandro of Argentina, Vasif Durarbayli of Azerbaijan, Pier Luigi Basso of Italy and Maksim Chigaev from Russia are ahead of the field with three points after the third round.