TN’s Muthiah holds GM Farrukh to draw

It was a Reti Opening in which Muthiah applied steady pressure on the queenside with the white pieces. Around the 40th move, the TN boy had a chance to keep up the pressure and go to an endgame a pawn up. But with less time on the clock, Muthiah decided to repeat his position and take the draw instead. 

In another surprise result in the second round, 14-year-old Koustav Chatterjee, rated 2288, waited anxiously for his opponent. American GM Timur Gareyev, rated 2605, who had missed the official car and had not reached the venue. The clock was ticking and the walkover time-limit of 30 minutes was fast approaching. Gareyev  turned up three minutes after the flag fell 

Koustav, who wanted to go for the GM norm, did not want a walkover game against his name and so decided to play the game. He lost the game but this game could count for his norm in the end. 

Azerbaijan GM Arkadij Naiditsch, the top seed with a rating of 2701, had another normal day at the office as he managed to defeat Egyptian Adham Kandil, rated 2294. Third seed Arjuna Awardee GM Abhijeet Gupta rated 2610, also had a not so difficult time in dispatching FM Ankit Gajwa, rated 2284.