Top-seed Ponkratov posts easy win over Rathneesh

Top-seeded Russian Grand Master Pavel Ponkratov defeated local boy R Rathneesh in second round of 12th Chennai Open International Grand Master Chess tournament on Sunday. Sharing le with Ponkratov on two points were: Grandmasters Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Peru), Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus), Aleksey Gogav (Russia), Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia), N R Visakh (India) and Ivan Rozum (Russia) among ors.

first board game saw Ponkrantov accounting for Rathneesh while on third board Sanket Chakravarthy (Elo 2055) stunned defending champion GM Ivan Pantsulaia Levan (Elo 2598) of Georgia. English opening game saw Sanket weaving his knight through defences of black. Pantsulaia gave up his exchange and tried to restore balance, but Indian boy converted his vant smoothly in 52 moves.

Important results: Round 2

Pavel Ponkratov (Russia) 2 beat Rathneesh (1), Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Peru) 2 beat Anda Safranska (France) 1, Sanket Chakravarty (2) beat Levan Pantsulaia Levan (Georgia) 1, Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus) 2 beat Chilukuri Sai Varshith (1), Ravi Gopal Hegde (1) lost to Aleksey Gogav (Russia) 2. Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia) 2 beat Vith Kumar M (1), Sa Kannan (1) lost to Rozum Ivan (Russia) 2, Stanislav Bogdavich (Ukraine) 2 beat R Abinandhan (1), Sri Sai Baswanth P (1.5) drew with Alberto David (Italy) 1. 5. Alexei Fedorov (Belarus) 2 beat Akshay Borgaonkar (1), Vivek Nambiar (1) lost to N R Visakh (2), Sergei Yudin (Russia) 2 beat Karan Trivedi (1), Potluri Supreetha (1) lost to Stupak Kirill (Belarus) 2.