Top seeded Nigel Short of England was held to a draw by India's grandmaster Sundararajan Kidambi on day one of the 19th International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament here Tuesday.
In a Caro Kann game, Short broke open the castled king side of Kidambi, and nine moves later, exchanged the queens, leaving more disadvantageous pawn islands to the Indian.
The Englishman managed to get two pawns, and managed to cut his opponent's king approaching his marching pawn, but Kidambi defended accurately to extricate half a point.
On the second board, Maharashtra youngster Kathmale Sameer cornered glory by holding second seeded Sergey Fedorchuk of Ukraine in a well-fought 63 moves game.
Fedorchuk gave up his knight aiming to promote his pawn to a new piece, but Kathmale gave back the knight to force a draw.
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Rathnakaran of Railways lost a bishop very quickly, allowing the third seeded Russian grandmaster Konstantin Landa to exchange pieces at will. Though Rathnakaran had four connected pawns in the end game, Land rode on his extra night to log full point.
Promising youngster International Master Dipatayan Ghosh of West Bengal brought cheers to the local fans by beating Bangladesh Fide Master Kh. Animul Islam. GM Neelotpal Das and national women champion Mary Ann Gomes also recorded resounding victories over their respective opponents.