Indian grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca moved into the sole lead at the first Chola Chess Open International Grandmasters tournament in Chennai after winning his fifth-round game on November 3. Playing White, he defeated Armenia’s Samvel Ter-Sahakyan to reach 4.5 points from five rounds.
The official tournament standings put Mendonca half a point ahead of Karthikeyan Murali, M. Pranesh and S. L. Narayanan. Pranesh and Karthikeyan drew their meeting on the top board, while Narayanan shared the point with Pa Iniyan.
Top seed Aravindh Chithambaram also drew, against Alisher Suleymenov, leaving him on 3.5 points. The results broke the five-player tie that had existed at the top after four rounds.
Mendonca’s victory is also recorded by the independent ChessEver game service, which identifies the encounter as a Catalan Opening. The nine-round Swiss tournament is being played at Welcomhotel by ITC Hotels on Cathedral Road and runs until November 7. Four rounds remain after the completed fifth-round games.
Archive illustration: chess pieces photographed in March 2008, not the Chola tournament. Photo: “Chess” by Frank Black Noir, CC BY 2.0. Display may be cropped to fit.
