India`s Himanshu stuns Russian GM Sergey, jumps to 2nd spot

Mumbai: International Master Himanshu Sharma of India stunned Russian Grand Master Vokarev Sergey to leapfrog into joint second position in the sixth round of the 7th Mumbai Mayor`s International Open Chess Tournament Friday.

Sharma surprised GM Sergey by defeating him in Spanish Opening exchange variation. On the 13th move, Sergey played a bad move of Knight to add extra support to his Bishop, followed by another move of Queen. On the 32nd move, Sharma doubled his Rook on 7th rank, thus getting a winning advantage. Sergey had no option but to resign when his Rooks came under fork by Sharma`s Knight. Grand Master Pantasalaia Levan of Georgia continued to lead the field by half a point at end of the sixth round here, after being held to a draw by GM Aleksandrov Aleksej. Playing with white, Aleksej opted for Vienna Game. Both players avoided taking undue risks and agreed for a draw after 28 moves. On the 2nd board, India`s IM Swayams Mishra, playing against IM Shardul Gagare, opted for Queen`s Gambit. Gagare replied with a Classical line of Accepted variation. Both players shared the points after 37 moves. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and IM Shyam Nikhil P also shared points after 47 moves. In the B category, which was for below 2000 Rating, Cheniram Pegu of Assam emerged winner, pocketing Rs 1 lakh prize money. He scored 9.5 points from 10 rounds. His state-mate Singh Soram Rahul, emerged runner-up, winning Rs 75,000 for his efforts.