Asian Chess Championship: Praggnanandhaa beats Pranav Anand, moves into joint lead

R Praggnanandhaa. Pic/PTI

Top-seed R Praggnanandhaa moved into joint lead with five others after his third consecutive win in the Open section of the Asian Continental Chess Championship here on Saturday. The 17-year Chennai player defeated compatriot Pranav Anand in 44 moves to join fellow teenager Leon Luke Mendonca, Koustav Chatterjee, Karthikeyan Murali, Harsha Bharathakoti and Turkmenistan's Maksat Atabayev at the top spot with 3.5 points after the fourth round.

Mendonca, who was in sole lead after the third round, settled for a draw with fellow Indian S L Narayanan in 49 moves. Chatterjee posted an impressive win over eighth-seed Rinat Jumabayev (Kazakhstan). Karthikeyan, on the other hand, won against Indian Aditya Mittal while GM Harsha Bharathakoti downed Sandeepan Chanda in an all-Indian contest. Atabayev, who started as the 32nd seed, shared honours with Indian GM M Shyam Sundar in a 31-move game to take his tally to 3.5 points.

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A bunch of 11 players are on three points, including experienced Indian GMs B Adhiban, S P Sethuraman, former national champion Aravindh Chithambaram and S L Narayanan. In the women's event, young Indian Woman Grandmaster Priyanka Nuttaki shocked top-seed Tania Sachdev to move into joint lead with compatriot Soumya Swaminathan, P V Nandhidhaa and Thi Kim Phung Vo (Vietnam). Little-known Saina Salonika, who had upset second-seeded Devaademberel Nomin-Erdene of Mongolia in the third round, continued her good form by beating the experienced Bhakti Kulkarni in fourth round on Saturday. Woman International Master Rakshitta Ravi secured a draw against Nilufar Yakubbaeva (Uzbekistan) to take her tally to three points along with Salonika.

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