Laxman stuns GM Ivan Popov in Grand Master International Open

Chennai based Grandmaster R R Laxman upset top seed GM Ivan Popov of Russia in the second round of the Chennai Grand Master International Open Chess tournament here today.

Sharing the lead at 2.0 points with Laxman were GMs Lalith Babu, Vidit Gujrathi, Vishnu Prasanna (all India), Ter Sahakyan Samvel, Babujian Levon (both Armenia), Drazic Sinisa (Serbia) among others at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium.

The tournament is being held in celebration of the FIDE World Championship Match.

Results:

Round 2: R R Laxman (2) bt Popov Ivan (Rus) 1, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2) bt Baghdasaryan Vahe (Arm) 1, Batsiashvili Nino (Geo) 1 lost to M R Lalith Babu 2(2), Ter-Sahakyan Samvel (Arm) 2 bt P Karthikeyan (1), B S Shivananda (2) bt M Shyam Sundar (1), Babujian Levon (Arm) 2 bt Himanshu Sharma (1), B T Murali Krishnan (1.5) drew with Papin Vasily (Rus) 1.5, Ambartsumova Karina (Rus)1.5 drew with Neverov Valeriy (Ukr) 1.5, Mozharov Mikhail (Rus) 2 bt T U Navin Kanna 1, CRG Krishna (1) lost to V Vishnu Prasanna (2).