FIDE Grand Swiss Chess: Sasikiran upsets Fedoseev, joins Nihal Sarin
It was also a day when B. Adhiban, Arjun Erigaisi, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Raunak Sadhwani scored their first victory.
Published : Nov 01, 2021 19:26 IST
Veteran K. Sasikiran upstaged fancied Russian Vladimir Fedoseev and caught up with an unbeaten Nihal Sarin in the second score-group at 3.5 points after five rounds of $425 FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga, Latvia, on Sunday. Alexei Shirov (Spain) and Evgeniy Najer (Russia) joined overnight leader Alireza Firouzja (France) in the lead at 4 points. It was also a day when B. Adhiban, Arjun Erigaisi, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Raunak Sadhwani scored their first victory. However, D. Gukesh’s unbeaten run ended after running into David Navara.
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In the women’s section, D. Harika drew with the 2015 World championship finalist Natalija Pogonina to reach 3.5 points. Harika is sharing the sixth spot behind the five leaders - China’s Le Tingjie, Zhu Jiner, Poland’s Jolanta Zawadzka, Germany’s Elisabeth Paehtz and Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili - at four points. Fifth-round results (involving Indians): Open: Manuel Petrosyan (Arm, 3.5) drew with Nihal Sarin (3.5); P. Harikrishna (3) drew with Dariusz Swiercz (USA, 3); K. Sasikiran (3.5) bt Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 2.5); David Navara (Cze, 3.5) bt D. Gukesh (2.5); R. Praggnanandhaa (3) bt Rauf Mamedov (Aze, 2); Raunak Sadhwani (2.5) bt Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus, 1.5); Jorge Cori (Per, 2) drew with S. P. Sethuraman (2); Arjun Erigiasi (2.5) bt Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 1.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2) bt Luka Budisavljevic (Srb, 1); B. Adhiban (1.5) bt Antenaina Rakotomaharo (Mad, 0.5). Women: D. Harika (3.5) drew with Natalija Pogonina (Rus, 3.5); Vantika Agarwal (3) drew with Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz, 3); Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mgl, 3) bt Padmini Rout (2); Salome Melia (Geo, 2.5) drew with R. Vaishali (2.5); Madara Golsta (Lat, 0.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (2).