Team Herald
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PANJIM: After two intense rounds of play at the Late Shri Manohar Parrikar Goa International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2025, top-rated players GM Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB, 2569), GM Mitrabha Guha (West Bengal, 2509), GM Savchenko Boris (Russia, 2481), GM Sethuraman SP (Tamil Nadu, 2560), GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam, 2359) and IM Tologon Tegin Semetei (Kyrgyzstan, 2351) are among the 29 players leading the field with two points each.
They are joined by other prominent names - IM Srihari L R (Tamil Nadu, 2494), IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (Maharashtra, 2379), IM Nitin S (Tamil Nadu, 2338) and IM Gochelashvili David (Russia, 2257), all maintaining perfect scores.
In some of the key top board games of the second round of the tournament organised by the Goa Chess Association under the aegis of All India Chess Federation (AICF) and supported by Sports Authority of Goa, at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Taleigao, on Day Two, GM Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB, 2569) defeated IM Murugan Krishnamoorthy (Tamil Nadu, 2165), while GM Sethuraman SP (Tamil Nadu, 2560) secured a win against CM Vedant Rupeshbhai Varasada (Gujarat, 2154). Another noteworthy result saw GM Savchenko Boris (Russia, 2481) overpowered Daksh Goyal (Delhi, 2101) in a sharp tactical game.
Meanwhile, GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam, 2359) claimed a convincing victory over WFM Shubhi Gupta (Uttar Pradesh, 2049). In a closely contested match, GM Siddharth Jagadeesh (SGP, 2516) was held to a draw by Advaitt Srikant Koduri (Uttar Pradesh, 2105). GM Sayantan Das (West Bengal, 2434) continued his strong form, defeating FM Vinay Kumar Matta (Telangana, 2091).
Goa’s players in the fray, IM Ethan Vaz (2412) and IM Ritviz Parab (2371) are holding steady with 1.5 points each after two rounds.
Both players drew their matches against tough opponents, WCM Charvi A (Karnataka) and WCM Prishita Gupta (Delhi), respectively. Goa’s Grandmaster, Anurag Mhamal (2499) bounced back following his first round loss with a strong win against AIM Premshankar B U (Tamil Nadu) to reach one point, while IM Ameya Audi (Goa, 2422) also stands at one point after two rounds, following a setback to Viresh Sharnarthi (Maharashtra, 2084) in round 2. Despite a challenging match, Chaitanya Gaonkar (Goa, 1874) put up a brave fight before conceding defeat to Uddipan Roy (West Bengal).