Narayanan holds Negi on first day of Parsvnath C`wealth Chess

New Delhi: Second seed Indian Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi was held to a surprise draw by lower ranked S L Narayanan from Kerala in a first round match on the opening day of the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship.

Playing white side of Sicilian Defence, 12-year-old Narayanan manoeuvred his rook and queen to his opponent territory in the middle game and a brilliant rook sacrifice in 38th move, ensured him half point nine moves later. Apart from Negi, almost all top seeded players in the championships, which featured 20 Grandmasters, posted easy victories to advance to the second round with full points in their kitty. While top seed Grandmaster Alexy Dreev of Russia had an easy outing against Roshan Rangarajn, third seed Argentinean Grandmaster Anton Kovalyov made short work of young M Siddarth. Among other Indian players, former world junior champion Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta and former national champion Abhijit Kunte also had an easy day at the office as they beat Anjali Palande and Michelle Catherina respectively.In another major surprise of the first round, young Andhra girl G Lasya beat IM Enrique Paciencia of Singapore rated, almost 600 points higher than her. Local hopeful, Grandmaster Sriram Jha, International Masters Tania Sachdev and Sahaj Grover started their campaign without much struggle as they beat Abir Sinha, Meredow Shanepes of South Africa and Jitendra Choudhury respectively. The Rs 8-lakh prize money championship features 311 players from 15 countries.Important Results of Round 1 (Indians otherwise stated): GM Alexey Dreev (Rus; 1) bt Roshan Rangarajan (0); S L Narayanan (.5) drew with GM Parigmarjan Negi (.5); GM Anton Kovalyov (Arg; 1) bt Siddarth M (0); Amitabh Chourasia (0) lost to Dmitry Kokarev (Rus; 1); GM Eltaj Safarli of (Aze; 1) bt Sonakshi Rathore (0); AP Joshua (0) lost to GM Dmitry Bocharov (Rus; 1); GM Pablo Lafuente of (Arg; 1) bt Hendrik Marais Coenradd of (SA; 0); Werner Kannemeyar (SA; 0) lost to GM Pavel Maletin (Rus; 1); GM Abhijeet Gupta (1) bt Anjali Palande (0); KG Chaithanyaa (0) lost to GM Martyn Kravtsiv (Ukr; 1); GM Rustam Khusnutdinov (Kaz; 1) bt Rustem Nazarov of (Turk; 0); Michelle Catherina (0) lost to GM Abhijit Kunte (1); GM Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb; 1) bt JV Sai Kiran (0); A Sithalatchumi (0) lost to IM B Adhiban (1); GM Sriram Jha (1) beat Abir Sinha (0); Anjana Krishna (0) lost to GM Enamul Hossain (Ban; 1); GM Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb; 1) bt Neetakshya Singh (0); Barath L (0) lost to IM Lalith Babu (1); IM Dronavalli Harika (1) bt Akshay Bharadwaj (0); Dhara Gupta (0) lost to GM Tejas Bakre (1). PTI