Pradeep downs Artur Gabrielian at Parsvnath Chess

R A Pradeep Kumar caused another flutter in the premier group of Parsvnath Delhi International Chess tournament, stunning Grandmaster Artur Gabrielian of Russia in the fourth round here today.
Playing with black pieces, Pradeep Kumar continued the rampage by lesser-known Indians in the fray. The Indian took his tally to an excellent 3.5 points following his third victory in four games and stands a good chance to obtain his International Master norm from here.
Russian Grandmasters Ivan Popov and Anton Demchenko along with VItaly Sivuk of Ukraine emerged as the co-leader in the premier event with four points out of a possible four games.

As many as 11 players share the fourth spot on 3.5 points apiece and the highest-rated Indian among them is local Grandmaster Vaibhav Suri who put it across Ankit Gajwa in a neat game.
Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad, meanwhile, continued his dream run in the tournament. After beating Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Belous in the second round, Chandra Prasad added another Grandmaster scalp at the expense of Valeriy Neverov of Ukraine and then in the fourth played out a draw with another Ukrianian Grandmaster Vitaliy Bernadskiy.
Having beaten two Grandmasters and drawn with one, Chandra Prasad is in the thick of things and has an excellent chance to obtain a Grandmaster norm. Given the fact that Chandra Prasad is an untitled player yet, this would be a commendable feat for the 19-year old - almost unthinkable in recent times.

11-year old Nihal Sarin also came up with a sparkling effort to add to the woes of Vladimir Belous here. The Kerala boy was as his nonchalant best in holding the Russian Grandmaster to a draw.
In another notable result, Srijit Paul held Dutch Grandmaster Sipke Ernst to a draw while Mehar Chinna Reddy defeated Grandmaster-in-waiting Narayanan Srinath.