Teenager Parnali Dharia recorded her career-best result by defeating top-seeded International Master Aditya Udeshi in the 3rd round of the Kotak Mahindra Bank International Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament here today.
In reply to the Queen Pawn opening of 17-year-old Parnali (ELO 1925), Udeshi (2428) opted for the modern Benoni Defense and the game went on equal footing.
With precise play, Parnali managed to get space advantage, which helped her in maintaining the balance. However, an error on move 26 by Udeshi allowed her to convert the advantage into a full point and move into the top of standings jointly with the other ranked players.
The trend of international masters losing to their lesser known opponent continued as IM-elect, Sameer Kathmale (ELO 2353) was beaten by Atharva Godbole (ELO 1925) of Pune on board 2 while seasoned campaigner, Amardeep Bartakke (ELO 2112) was beaten by another Pune youngster, Atharva Madkar (ELO 1726).
However, the 3rd IM in fray, Vikramaditya Kulkarni (ELO 2346) proved much too strong to Atit Gupta (1840) to score an easy victory and move into a joint lead with 3- points, which is now shared by a total of 11 players.
Six more rounds remain to be played in this 9-round event, which is contested by 140 players across the country who are vying for the first prize of Rs.75,000 in a prize fund of Rs.3,00,000.
The event is conducted by Indian Chess School under the aegis of Mumbai Suburban Chess Association, Maharashtra Chess Association and the All India Chess Federation.
