2nd SCS International Grandmaster Chess tournament

Alexei Dreev moves into joint lead, IM Norm for Akshat Khamparia

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going - goes the old adage. That's what top seed Grandmaster Alexey Dreev showed, grinding GM Pablo Lafuente to defeat, in the tenth and penultimate round of the 2nd SCS International Grandmaster Chess Tournament at Hotel Swosti Premium, Bhubaneswar.

The crucial win with black pieces, takes Dreev on top of the table with 8.0 points, along with Alexej Alexandrov, Kravtsiv Martyn and IM Adhiban Baskaran.

Indian Senior National Champion and International Master B Adhiban defeated higher rated German GM Thomas Luther and moved into shared lead. The win propels Adhiban to a top board meeting in the final round against Alexey Dreev. A fighting draw against the Russian veteran would give the young Indian his second Grandmaster Norm.

To have an idea, as to how long Dreev has been a top flight player in world chess, one needs to go back two decades, to the year 1990, when Alexey Dreev played the World Championship Candidates quarterfinal against Viswanathan Anand at Madras, and Adhiban was born two years later. Surely, a battle of youth versus experience, Adhiban versus Dreev.

In another upset IM Praveen Kumar prevailed over Kazakh Grandmaster Anuar Ismagambetov in a Nimzo Indian game full of tactics. Earlier, FIDE Master Akshat Khamparia completed his third and final norm holding IM P Karthikeyan to a draw.

Star performers Padmini Rout (final WGM Norm) and 13 year old Vaibhav Suri (GM Norm)

Round 10 top results:
GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2546 - GM Kovalyov Anton ARG 2615 ½ - ½
GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2587 - GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2655 0 - 1
GM Maletin Pavel RUS 2584 - GM Turov Maxim RUS 2624 ½ - ½
GM Kokarev Dmitry RUS 2612 - GM Bocharov Dmitry RUS 2592 ½ - ½
GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2604 - GM Hera Imre Jr HUN 2558 1 - 0
IM Adhiban B IND 2510 - GM Luther Thomas GER 2541 1 - 0
GM Ibrayev Nurlan KAZ 2390 - GM Vorobiov Evgeny E RUS 2612 1 - 0
GM Simonian Hrair ARM 2521 - Ramnath Bhuvanesh R IND 2350 1 - 0
GM Kasparov Sergey BLR 2504 - Vaibhav Suri IND 2347 ½ - ½
Shreyansh Daklia IND 2287 - GM Czebe Attila HUN 2480 ½ - ½
FM Sai Krishna G V IND 2282 - IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy IND 2412 ½ - ½
GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2525 - Swayams Mishra IND 2397 1 - 0
IM Praveen Kumar C IND 2391 - GM Ismagambetov Anuar KAZ 2524 1 - 0
IM Shyam Nikil P IND 2385 - GM Iuldachev Saidali UZB 2511 0 - 1
GM Sriram Jha IND 2507 - FM Nitin S IND 2363 ½ - ½

Round 10 standings (249 players):
1-4. GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2604, GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2546, GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2655 and IM Adhiban B IND 2510 - 8.0
5-11. GM Bocharov Dmitry RUS 2592, GM Turov Maxim RUS 2624, GM Kovalyov Anton ARG 2615, GM Simonian Hrair ARM 2521, GM Maletin Pavel RUS 2584, GM Kokarev Dmitry RUS 2612 and GM Ibrayev Nurlan KAZ 2390 - 7.5
12-25. GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2587, GM Czebe Attila HUN 2480, Vaibhav Suri IND 2347, GM Hera Imre Jr HUN 2558, GM Kasparov Sergey BLR 2504, GM Harutjunyan Gevorg ARM 2460, IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2493, IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy IND 2412, GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2525, IM Praveen Kumar C IND 2391, Shreyansh Daklia IND 2287, Anwesh Upadhyaya IND 2419, GM Iuldachev Saidali UZB 2511 and FM Sai Krishna G V IND 2282 - 7.0

Round 11 top pairings:
GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2655 - IM Adhiban B IND 2510
GM Kovalyov Anton ARG 2615 - GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2604
GM Bocharov Dmitry RUS 2592 - GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2546
GM Turov Maxim RUS 2624 - GM Simonian Hrair ARM 2521
GM Maletin Pavel RUS 2584 - GM Kokarev Dmitry RUS 2612
GM Hera Imre Jr HUN 2558 - GM Ibrayev Nurlan KAZ 2390
Anwesh Upadhyaya IND 2419 - GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2587
IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy IND 2412 - GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2525
GM Iuldachev Saidali UZB 2511 - IM Praveen Kumar C IND 2391
GM Harutjunyan Gevorg ARM 2460 - GM Kasparov Sergey BLR 2504
Vaibhav Suri IND 2347 - IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2493
GM Czebe Attila HUN 2480 - FM Sai Krishna G V IND 2282
GM Vorobiov Evgeny E RUS 2612 - Shreyansh Daklia IND 2287
GM Luther Thomas GER 2541 - WGM Gara Ticia HUN 2357
GM Sundararajan Kidambi IND 2520 - Bitan Banerjee IND 2311
Palit Somak IND 2385 - GM Ovetchkin Roman RUS 2519
Ramnath Bhuvanesh R IND 2350 - GM Sriram Jha IND 2507