Aeroflot Open: Subramaniyam posts creditable win; Sethuraman held to draw

Bharath Subramaniyam registered a creditable win while S P Sethuraman was held to a draw as the Indian duo shared the joint second spot with two others after three rounds in the 'A' group of Aeroflot Open chess tournament here.

Azervbaijan's Rauf Mamedov led the field with three points after three rounds, following a win over Shant Sargsyan in 51 moves.

Grandmaster Sethuraman split points with Chinese GM Jiancho Zhou while International Master Subramaniyam (Elo rating 2402) posted a creditable win over higher-rated Armenian Gabriel Sargissian (Elo 2689).

Highly-rated Russian Grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev (Elo rating 2728), the top-seed, was held to a draw in 50 moves by Emilio Cordova on Friday.

Among other Indians, B Adhiban, the sixth seed, settled for a draw against compatriot Abhimanyu Puranik. He is in tied third place with a bunch of players including compatriots Karthikeyan Murali, R Praggnanandhaa, N R Visakh, Vaibhav Suri and 13-year old M Pranesh, with two points each.

A bunch of 25 Indians, including 14 Grandmasters, were participating in the 'A' group.

Meanwhile, in the 34th Cannes Open tournament in France, young Indian player D Gukesh, the world's second youngest GM ever, was in joint second spot with two others with 5.5 points after seven rounds.

Important Results of Aeroflot Open 'A' group 3rd round: S P Sethuraman (IND) 2.5 drew with Jiancho Zhou (CHN) 2.5; B Adhiban (IND) 2 drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (IND) 2; Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) 2 drew with Emilio Cordova 2; Vaibhav Suri (IND) 2 drew with Alexey Sarana 2; N R Visakh (IND) 2 drew with Rasmus Svane 2; Karthikeyan Murali (IND) 2 drew with M Pranesh (IND) 2; Gabriel Sargissian 1.5 lost to Bharath Subramaniyam (IND) 2.5; R Praggnanandhaa (IND) 2 drew with Aydin Suleymanli 2; Shant Sargsyan 2.5 drew with Rauf Mamedov 3.