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Abhijeet, Vidit score victories in Cappelle opener

Indian Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi got off to a flier, scoring easy victories in the first round of the 31st Cappelle-La-Grand International chess tournament, here on Sunday.

Abhijeet, Vidit score victories in Cappelle opener

Cappella La Grande, France: Indian Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi got off to a flier, scoring easy victories in the first round of the 31st Cappelle-La-Grand International chess tournament, here on Sunday.

It turned out to be an easy day for Gupta who played a fine game giving little chance to Antoine Favarel of France. The former world junior champion started with the English opening and was happy to play the reverse Benoni with a couple of extra moves.

As the game progressed, Favarel found the going tough despite exchanging a few pieces and in the end the weaknesses on the queen side proved fatal. Abhijeet knocked down one pawn and converted to a winning minor piece endgame that was child's play.

Gujrathi had to work a little harder from the black pieces. Getting a lively position in the middle game against Ramon Mateo of Dominican Republic, the Indian won a couple of pawns but was stretched in the queen and minor piece endgame.

On the flip side from Indian perspective, Grandmaster G N Gopal suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Demre Kerigan of Turkey. Gopal simply blundered from level position and could not make a comeback in the game.

The other Indian Grandmasters in the fray had a field day. Sahaj Grover appeared in a spot of bother out of a Sicilian Najdorf as black against veteran German Grandmaster Nikolai Shalnev but fought back bravely to win a fine endgame in the end.

V Vishnu Prasanna played a game of fluctuating fortunes against Ellinor Frisk of France. Out of an English opening, the Indian got a clear better position, spoiled it to be clear worse and then reaped the benefits as Frisk returned the favour.

Sandipan Chanda was a class act with white pieces as he gave nothing away and outplayed Ismail Karim of Morocco. In other games involving Indians, S Arun Prasad, M R Venkatesh and S Kidambi also opened their accounts at the expense of Judith Fuchs, Alain Fayard (both France) and Russian Gulnara Salakhova respectively.

At the top of the tables, in a big flutter, top seed Li Chao of China was held to a draw by Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania while fourth seed Vladimir Baklan also had to share the point with Bulgarian Nikolay Milchev.

There are eight more rounds to come in the traditional tournament that carries a prize purse of 30000 Euros. There are 555 participants in the fray.

Important and Indian results round 1 (Indians unless specified): Tomas Laurusas (Ltu) drew with Li Chao (Chn); Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr) beat Olav Sepp (Est); Pavel Martynov (Rus) lost to Igor Kovalenko (Lat); Vladimir Baklan (Ukr) drew with Nikolay Milchev (Bul); Igor Yagupov (Rus) lost to Tigran Gharamian (Arm); Konstantin Landa (Rus) beat Yago De Moura Santiago (Bra) ; Abhijeet Gupta beat Antoine Favarel (Fra); Ramon Mateo (Dom) lost to Vidit Santosh Gujrathi; G N Gopal lost to Demre Kerigan (Tur); Sandipan Chanda beat Ismael Karim (Mar); Nikolai Shalnev (Ger) lost to Sahaj Grover; S Arun Prasad beat Judith Fuchs (Ger); V Vishnu Prasanna beat Ellinor Frisk (Fra); Alain Fayard (Fra) lost to M R Venkatesh; Gulnara Salakhova (Rus) lost to S Kidambi.