Varun Aditya shines

G. Varun Aditya of Andhra Pradesh hogged the limelight with an impressive performance to score 3.5 points from four rounds in the GITAM Grandmasters Chess championship here on Sunday.

In the first round, Aditya (Elo 1836) won against Ranjeet Majumdar of India.

Then, he outwitted GM Nguyen Duc Hoa in the second round, opting for the rarely played Vienna Bishop Opening to equalise the position first.

The Andhra boy later capitalised on a mistake by his opponent on the 19th move to get positional advantage. In the complicated middle-game, Aditya dished out a brilliant game to gain two pawns and forced the opponent to resign on the 57th move.

In the third round, Aditya outsmarted Abudurakhmonov Mukhammadali of Uzbekistan and then settled for a draw against Vietnamese GM Nguyen Van Huy in the fourth round.

The results: 4th round: Farrukh Amonatov (Tjk) 4 bt Jasin Nashish Manoj 3; P. Konguvel 4 bt Ortik Nigmatov (Uzb) 3; Stupak Kirill (Blr) 4 bt Bhagdasaryan Vahe (Arm) 3; P. Bharat Kumar Reddy 3.5 drew with S. Niti 3.5; P. Saravana Krishnan 2.5 lost to Luka Paichdze (Geo) 3.5; Harsha Bharat Koti 3 drew with Kaustuv Kundu 3; Fedorov Alexei (Blr) 2.5 lost to Asyl Abdyjapar (Kgz) 3.5; G. Varun Aditya (3.5) drew with Nguyen Huy (Vie) 3.5; Mihail Nikitenko (Blr) 3.5 bt M. Barath Kalyan 2.5; Subhayan Kundu 2.5 lost to Azer Mirzoev (Aze) 3.5; Audi Ameya (3.5) bt Raset Ziatdinov (USA) 2.5; Neelotpal Das 3 bt Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze) 2.5; Sarayu Velpula 2 lost to Mitrabha Guha (3); Liyanage Pesandu Rashmitha (SL) lost to Boris Savchenko (Rus) 3.