Indian teen Subramaniyam upsets Chinese GM, shares top spot

Moscow : India's 13-year-old Bharat Subramniyam stunned Chinese Grandmaster Jiancho Zhou in the fourth round to jump to joint top spot in the 'A' group of the Aeroflot Open chess tournament here.

Playing with white pieces, Subramniyam, an International Master, outlasted Zhou in a long-drawn game in 74 moves for his third win in the tournament on Saturday. He now shares the top spot with Azerbaijan GM Rauf Mamedov, who was held to a draw by India's S P Sethuraman. Both Subramniyam and Mamedov have 3.5 points.

Subramniyam had earlier registered his second victory in the event by beating the second seeded Gabriel Sargissian. Sethuraman and compatriot B Adhiban are in joint second with six others, on three points. Adhiban outclassed Turkey's Emre Can to stay close to the leaders.

Meanwhile, in the 34th Cannes Open in France, young Indian player D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grandmaster ever, was in the lead with two others -- China's Chongseng Zeng and Frenchman Harutyun Bareghyan -- with 6.5 points after eight rounds. Gukesh beat Lucas Di Nicolantonio in the eighth round in 72 moves.

Results of Aeroflot Open 'A' Group 4th round: S P Sethuraman (IND) 3 drew with Rauf Mamedov (AZE) 3.5; Bharat Subramaniyam (IND) 3.5 beat Jiancho Zhou (CHN) 2.5; B Adhiban (IND) 3 beat Emre Can (TUR) 2; Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) 2.5 drew with R Praggnanandhaa (IND) 2.5; Vaibhav Suri (IND) 2.5 drew with Aravindh Chithambaram 2.5; SL Narayanan (IND) 2.5 drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (IND) 2.5; N R Visakh (IND) 2.5 drew with Bogdan-Daniel Deac 2.5; M Pranesh (IND) 2.5 drew with Rasmus Svane 2.5; Karthikeyan Murali (IND) 2.5 drew with Evgeny Zanan 2.5; David Paravyan 3 drew with Pouya Idani 3.