Bhuvanesh, Rathnakaran record upset wins in Chennai chess

Indian International Masters Ramnath Bhuvanesh and Rathnakaran stunned higher-rated Grandmasters to move into shared lead with 3.0 points after the third round of the 7th Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament, here today.
Top seed Grandmaster Ivan Popov of Russia (2.5) was held to a draw by GM Norm hold Siddharth Ravichandran in a short game that lasted 24 moves. Popov remains half a point behind the bunch of leaders.
But it was Bhuvanesh and Rathnakaran who ruled the day, scoring over Grandmasters Alberto David (Italy) and Andrey Baryshpolets (Ukraine) in the second and third boards.
Sharing the lead with Ramnath and Rathnakaran were - GM Cristhian Cruz (Peru), Karthikeyan Murali, Dhopade S Swapnil, Shardul Gagare, Kelkar Abhishek (all India) and Van Huy Nguyen (Vietnam), all at 3.0 points.

The morning round saw two Grandmasters tasting defeat at the hands of lower ranked players. GMs Evdokimov and Nguyen Duc Hoa lost to Indian duo Abhishek Kelkar and Hemant Sharma respectively.