Russian GM Lugovsky stays ahead of pack in Chennai Open chess

: Grand Master Maxim Lugovskoy of Russia remained in the lead with 7.5 points after the eighth round in the 11th Chennai Open International Grand Master Chess tournament 2019 here Wednesday.

Sharing the second spot with seven points was Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia.

Further half a point behind at third place with 6.5 points were top seed Alexandr Predke, Ivan Popov, Andrei Deviatkin (all Russia), Luka Paichadze (Georgia), Girish A Koushik and N R Vignesh (both India).

The top board game turned out to be a Queens Gambit Declined affair, where Kirill Stupak opened up his kingside for initiative.

With both players castling long, the middle game piece play led them to a rook and minor piece ending.

Overnight leader Lugovskoy played it safe, creating positional weakness into white territory.

Kirill Stupak gave up when his position appeared falling apart, as he ran into his final seconds of play.

The second board, saw top seed Predke settling for another draw, this time against Georgian Grand Master Luka Paichadze.

The Ruy Lopez exchange variation game saw early aggression from black.

But, as soon as the queens were traded off, the players repeated their moves in a rook and knight ending signing peace after 31 moves.

Sivaganga lad M Pranesh scored a fine win over International Master S Nitin of Southern Railways.

With six points in his kitty, Pranesh is on track to achieve his International Master norm.

The 10-round tourney carries a prize fund of Rs 15 lakh and the final round is scheduled for January 25.

Results: Round 8 (Indians unless specified): Kirill Stupak (Blr) 6 lost to Maxim Lugovskoy (Rus) 7.5, Luka Paichadze (Geo) 6.5 drew with Alexandr Predke (Rus) 6.5, Levan Pantsulaia (Geo) 7 beat Karthik Venkataraman (6), Ivan Rozum (Rus) 6 drew with Nguyen Van Huy (Vie) 6, G Akash (5.5) lost to Ivan Popov (Rus) 6.5. Neelotpal Das (5.5) lost to Aleksandrov ALeksej (Blr) 6.5, Erigaisi Arjun (5.5) lost to Girish A Koushik (6.5), Tran Tuan Minh (Vie) 6 drew with Babiy Olga (Ukr) 6, Siddarth M (5.5) lost to Deviatkin Andrei (Rus) 6.5.