Top-seed Ponkratov posts easy win over Rathneesh

Top-seeded Russian Grand Master Pavel Ponkratov defeated local boy R Rathneesh in the second round of the 12th Chennai Open International Grand Master Chess tournament here on Sunday.

Sharing the lead with Ponkratov on two points were: Grandmasters Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Peru), Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus), Aleksey Goganov (Russia), Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia), N R Visakh (India) and Ivan Rozum (Russia) among others.

The first board game saw Ponkrantov accounting for Rathneesh while on the third board Sanket Chakravarthy (Elo 2055) stunned defending champion GM Ivan Pantsulaia Levan (Elo 2598) of Georgia.

The English opening game saw Sanket weaving his knight through the defences of black.

Pantsulaia gave up his exchange and tried to restore the balance, but the Indian boy converted his advantage smoothly in 52 moves.

Important results: Round 2 (Indians unless specified): 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 Goganov (Russia) 2.

Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia) 2 beat Vinoth Kumar M (1), Sa Kannan (1) lost to Rozum Ivan (Russia) 2, Stanislav Bogdanovich (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.