Godbole holds GM Zinchenko to draw

Mumbai, May 01: India's Atharva Godbole on Friday caused a flutter by holding GM Yaroslav Zinchenko of Ukraine to a draw on the opening day of the 2nd Mayor's Cup International Open Chess tournament at the Goregaon Sports Club.

The Pune-based Godbole, with a low ELO of 1793, forced his Ukrainian rival, who has an ELO of 2531, to agree to a draw in 43 moves after both were left with five pawns each.

Ukrainian top seed Evgenij Miroscnchenko, ranked 51st in the world with an ELO of 2680, defeated India's Leuva Pruthviraj (ELO 1814) in 38 moves to start his campaign in the Rs 12 lakh prize money tournament on a winning note.

The 31-year-old Miroscnchenko, playing with black pieces, forced his Indian rival to his knees by finally bringing his king to promote his centre pawn after all the major pieces had been exchanged in the middle game.

Mumbai's Sudhakar Rokde upset Woman Grandmaster Saumya Swaminathan of Pune in another first round tie.

Miroshnichenko and his Ukrainian compatriot Alexander Areshchenko, world no 68 with ELO of 2657, are the top two players in the fray in the tournament that offers Rs 2.75 lakh for the winner.

The runner-up of the tournament, sponsored by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, ONGC and LIC, would take home Rs 1.90 lakh while the third and fourth placers would receive Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 75,000 respectively.

The tournament has attracted 25 GMs, 35 International Masters and women GMs from ten countries.