Indian Grandmaster R.R. Laxman walked away with the gold medal while Russia’s Pavel Maletin won the overall title in the Parsvnath Commonwealth chess championship that concluded here on Tuesday.
Laxman, playing with black pieces, sprang a major surprise on Argentinean GM Pablo Lafuente in the heavy pieces endgame, to produce his best performance ever.
Maletin won the Commonwealth chess Open title following a 31-move draw against M.R. Lalith Babu on the top board. Both Maletin and Laxman were tied at nine points out of a possible 11 rounds but since Russia are not a part of the Commonwealth, the medal was awarded to the Indian.
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Somdev clears first hurdle
Paris: Somdev Devvarman overcame an indifferent start to beat Jiri Vanek in a fierce three-set battle and progress to the second round of the French Open qualifying event here on Tuesday.
The sixth seed Indian scored a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over his Czech opponent in little over two hours in the first round of the clay court Grand Slam’s qualifiers.
Somdev will next take on Kiwi Daniel King-Turner, who defeated Australian Chris Guccione 6-3 6-3 in his opening round encounter. Somdev made a remarkable comeback after surrendering the opening set. — PTI