Chennai Open chess: Nitin posts 7th straight win, in top spot

International Master Nitin Senthilvel continued his fine run, posting a seventh straight win to lead the field after the seventh round of the 13th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2022 in Chennai on Thursday.

A hard-fought 99-move win on the top board against B Vignesh has put Nitin on 7 points, a full point ahead with three rounds remaining. In second place behind Nitin are top-seeded GM Boris Savchenko (Russia) and IM L R Srihari with six points.

Savchenko was held to a draw by Belarus GM Alexei Fedorov while Srihari defeated Jubin Jimmy.

In the upset of the day, International Master Srijit Paul (Elo 2399) lost to lower-rated Daakshin Arun (Elo 1927) overlooking a sacrifice resulting in a check-mate. It also happened to be Srijit's second loss in a row to a lower rated player.

In other matches, Samriddhaa Ghosh (Elo 1838) got the better of Grandmaster Ziatdinov Raset of USA.

Results: Round 7 (Indians unless specified): S Nitin (7) beat B Vignesh (5.5), Alexei Fedorov (Belarus) 5.5 drew with Boris Savchenko (Russia) 6, Abdyjapar Asyl (Kyrgyzstan) 5.5 drew with Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam) 5.5, P Konguvel (5.5) drew with Aronyak Ghosh (5.5), P Saravana Krishnan (5.5) drew with J Deepan Chakkravarthy (5.5), Ajay Karthikeyan (5.5) drew with Baghdasaryan Vahe (Armenia) 5.5, Jubin Jimmy (5) lost to L R Srihari (6), Kirill Stupak (Belarus) 5.5 beat Harshit Pawar (4.5), Srijit Paul (4.5) lost to Daakshin Arun (5.5), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 5.5 beat Arpith S Bijoy (4.5), S Prasanna (5.5) beat Harsh Suresh (4.5), K G Chaithanyaa (4.5) lost to N B Hari Madhavan (5.5).

Round 6: Baghdasaryan Vahe 5 lost to Nitin 6, Savchenko 5.5 beat Stupak 4.5, Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam) 5 drew with Fedorov 5, Vignesh (5.5) beat Srijit Paul (4.5), Abdyjapar Asyl 5 drew with Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 4.5, Aronyak Ghosh (5.0) beat B T Murali Krishnan 4, Deepan Chakkravarthy 5 beat Sonwani Yashpal Singh 4, Ziatdinov Raset (USA) 4.5 drew with Gusain Himal (4.5), Harshit Pawar (4.5) drew with V A V Rajesh (4.5).