Russian GM Savchenko starts with easy win

Chennai: Top-seeded Russian Grandmaster Savchenko Boris, playing under the FIDE banner, started his campaign at the 13th Chennai Open international Grandmaster tournament here on Sunday with an easy win over Thapa Ganesh Bahadur. Boris arrived into the tournament in good form having won the GITAM University GM chess tournament in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
Other prominent international names who had little trouble winning their first-round games include Belarus’ Alexei Federov and Tran Tuan Minh of Vietnam. Fedorov defeated R Aswinika Mani R while Tran Tuan got the better of Aman Khinvasara. Alexei’s compatriot Stupak Kirill too got off the blocks by easing past S Madhesh Kumar.
While the international players had a good day at the office, the top Indian players in the tournament endured a day of mixed fortunes. GM Deepan Chakkravathy had it easy against Gairick Saha, while RR Laxman and R Anirudh decided to split points after a tough fight.