IMAGE: Aravindh Chithambaram played a great game with black pieces to outclass former World champion Veselin Topalov. Photograph: Prague International Chess Festival
Making his debut in the Grand Chess tour, India’s Aravindh Chithambaram had a good second day as he beat former World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and drew the last two games to find himself on the sole third spot in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz chess tournament in Warsaw, Poland.
With each win worth two points, Alireza Firouza of France and Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia share the lead on eight points each with Aravindh on seven points following them.
As many as three players — Levon Aronian of the US, Deac Bogdan Dianel of Romania and Duda Jan-Krzyzstof of Poland share the fourth place on six points each, a full point ahead of R Praggnanandhaa, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and David Gavrilescu of Romania.
With just three rounds remaining in the rapid section, Topalov is at the bottom of the standings with four points.
If Aravindh had a great day, Praggnanandhaa could not really prove his true mettle. In the first game of the day, the Indian missed out an easy draw and had to pay the price for his over-ambitious approach against Alireza.
The Indian had a draw on hand with perpetual check but decided to purse an elusive attack that proved disastrous.
If this was not enough, Praggnanandhaa lost to Topalov in the final game of the day and his overnight tally of four points, just increased by one point thanks to his lone draw with Aronian.
Aravindh played a great game with black pieces against Topalov. According to pundits, the game will definitely find its way in the many future books of chess especially due to a very tricky finish. It was a knight and pawns endgame wherein Aravindh sacrificed his last remaining piece to put Topalov under a zugzwang, which in chess is referred to a situation wherein a player is forced to make a move, but any available move will worsen their position.
Standings after Round 6:
1-2 Firoujza Alireza (Fra), Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) 8 each; 3. Aravindh Chithamabaram (Ind) 7; 4-6: Levon Aronian (Usa), Duda Jan-Kryzsztof (Pol), Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou) 6 each; 7-9: David Gavrilescu (Rou), R Praggnanandhaa (Ind), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 5 each; 10. Veselin Topalov (Bul) 4.
