2 days ago
Kundu, Kataria share lead with a round remaining
Nagpur: Top two seeded masters, Kaustuv Kundu of West Bengal and Arun Kataria from Rajasthan, maintained their unbeaten run to share the lead in the 18th GH Raisoni Memorial international rating chess tournament currently in progress at Shraddha Park, Wadi Hingna Link Road, on Wednesday.
With just a round remaining in the Classical format of the tournament, Kundu and Kataria continued to share the top spot with 7.5 points each. Both the top two seeded players are being closely followed by Nagpur's 12-year-old and 13th seeded Kushagra Paliwal at seven points.
In the eighth and penultimate round, Kundu utilised his opening advantage with the white pieces well to get the better of Shaunak Badole on the top board.
On the following board, Kataria defended well with his black pieces to beat Nilay Kulkarni.
On the fourth board, Kushagra outplayed Pratik Lalit Tambi with his white pieces to jump to the second position collecting seven points. Five players share the third position with 6.5 points each.
Earlier in the seventh round played in the morning session, both Kundu and Kataria played out a draw.
In the final round to be played on Thursday, Kushagra will face Kundu and Kataria will be up against Suhan Deshpande.
RESULTS (ROUND 8)
Kaustuv Kundu (7.5) beat Shaunak Badole (6.5), Nilay Kulkarni (6) lost to Arun Kataria (7.5), Sahejveer Singh Maras (6.5) drew with Arpita Patankar (6.5), Kushagra Paliwal (7) beat Pratik Lalit Tambi (6), Kumar Gaurav (6.5) beat Vinay Barhanpure (5.5), Suhan Deshpande (6.5) beat Sohum Pawar (5.5), Arnav Moon (6.5) beat Rajanikant Buxy (5.5), Riyansh Dwivedi (6) drew with Aditya Patel (5.5), Shrenhik Daklia Jain (6) beat Shaurya Dhawangale (5), Mayank Sonare (6) beat Dilesh Chawhare (5).
