Laxman & Rozum share lead in Chennai Open chess

India's Grandmaster R R Laxman shared the lead with GM Ivan Rozum (Russia) with seven points after the eighth round of the 10th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament here today.
Chennai-based Laxman overcame the challenge of his team-mate and fellow Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy in a Tarrasch game that lasted 40 moves.
After the win, Laxman said, "White's 17th move f4 proved risky and the ensuing complications went in my favour."
The win keeps Laxman on top of the table, at seven points, along with second seed GM Ivan Rozum of Russia.
Rozum scored over defending champion GM Tukhaev Adam of Ukraine in the top board.

The Reti game played out by the GMs saw the Russian taking the upper hand in an exchange up position and converting it into a fine win after 41 moves.

In a crucial third board game, Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev scored over higher-rated GM Sergei Tiviakov (Netherlands).
The win propelled Dzhumaev to the third spot, which he shares with Erigaisi Arjun and N R Visakh (both India) on 6.5 points.
Meanwhile, top seed GM Timur Gareyev recovered from his twin defeats posting his second win in a row, against Vikramjit Singh.The win takes Gareyev to six points with two rounds to go.

Important results (Round 8) (Indians unless specified): Adam Tukhaev (Ukr) 6 lost to Ivan Rozum (Rus) 7, Deepan Chakkravarthy (6) lost to R R Laxman (7), Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) 6.5 bt Sergei Tiviakov (NED)5.5, S Nitin (6) drew with Vitaly Sivuk Vitaly (UKR) 6;
Marcos Llaneza Vega (ESP) 6 drew with Atalik Suat (TUR) 6, Roeland Pruijssers (NED) 6 drew with AL Muthaiah (6), Erigaisi Arjun (6.5) bt P Karthikeyan (5.5), Karthik Venkataraman (6) drewh Sidhant Mohapatra (6), N R Visakh (6. 5) bt P Saravana Krishnan (5.5);
Tran Tuan Minh (VIE) 6 bt V Pranav (5.5), Timur Gareyev (USA) 6 bt Vikramjit S Singh (5), Yuri Solodovnichenko (UKR) 6 bt Mithil Ajgaonkar (5), Arjun Tiwari (5) lost to Adam Horvath (HUN) 6.