Kulkarni, Yashas surprise Grandmasters Varga, Thomas

Mumbai: India`s unheralded Rakesh Kulkarni and D Yashas sprang major surprises in the Mumbai

Mayor`s Cup International Open chess tournament by defeating Grandmasters Zoltan Varga of Hungary and Luther Thomas of Germany respectively. Maharashtra`s Kulkarni, with a much inferior ELO rating of 2149, opted for the Queen`s Gambit opening and brought his rival Varga (ELO 2479) to his knees. Karnataka`s Yashas, with a ELO rating of 2204, outsmarted his fancied German opponent Thomas (ELO 2541) in 56 moves at the Goregaon Sports Club. Maharashtra`s Sagar Shah (ELO 2265) also did well by holding third Seed Turov Maxim (ELO 2624) of Russia to a draw after taking a dominant position for the major portion of the clash. Two other foreign GMs were held to a draw by less fancied Indian opponents in the tournament being held at the Goregaon Sports Club. Kerala`s O T Anilkumar (ELO 2241) forced GM Lafuente Pablo (ELO 2587) of Argentina to accept a draw in 44 moves in the game which started with Caro-Cann opening. C M Prince Bajaj (ELO 2180) of Delhi held GM Simonian Hrair (ELO 2521) of Armenia. In Sicilian Defense opening, the queens were exchanged on the 34th move but it took Prince 40 more moves to sign the peace treaty. Forty Grandmasters from 15 countries are taking part in the Rs 13 lakh prize money event with the winner taking home Rs 3 lakh. The top seed is Russian GM Alexei Dreev with a rating of 2655. PTI