New Delhi, January 14
On a day when the top of the table started sorting itself out, the big news was India’s best bet and tournament second seed Surya Shekhar Ganguly being held by countrymate young Swapnil Dhopade. The 18-year-old from Maharashtra stuck to his game in Round 3 of the Parsvnath International Open Chess, and the 48-move game finally came to an end in a stalemate. GM-elect Abhijeet Gupta was the other shock of the day, as he went down to Ram Prakash after a long-drwan 58-move game.
There are 27 players with the full three points, and that includes top seed Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, third seed Russian Igor Kursunov and Spaniard Elizbar Ubilava. India’s other hope Abhijeet Kunte is also part of the top pack. Another GM with a bad second day was Vietnamese Nguyen Anh-dung. He was held by Indian FM Rishpal Singh.
