Aurionpro Chess: Teenager Hriday Maniar holds GM Mikulas to a draw

Mumbai, Jun 17 (PTI) Promising 13-year-old Hriday Maniar sprung a surprise by holding seasoned Slovak Grandmaster Manik Mikulas to a draw on the opening day of the Aurionpro International Chess Tournament here on Monday.

Despite a rating difference of nearly 500 points, local boy Hriday played with remarkable poise and accuracy, showcasing flawless technique against his far more experienced opponent.

Hriday's commendable showing apart, the remaining 15 GMs had no difficulty in overcoming their opponents in this 9-round Swiss tournament.

More than 290 players from 18 countries are competing in the Aurionpro International Grandmaster Chess tournament and junior international event.

Key Results - Round 1: Levan Pantsulaia (1) bt Raman Siddharth B (0); Petrosyan Manuel (1) bt Gada Om (0); Paichadze Luka (1) bt Shubh Kapur (0); Nikitenko Mihail (1) bt Gogte Soumil (0); Lalit Babu (1) bt Ayaan Trikha (0); Gharibyan Mamikon (1) bt Chavan Aditya (0); Savchenko Boris (1) bt Advik Reddy (0); Panesar Vedant (1) bt Saranya Devi (0); Sanikidze Tornike (1) beat Bhavya Gupta (0); Deepan Chakkravarthy (1) bt Shahan Vohra (0); Davtyan Arsen (1) bt Arjun Singh (0); Nguyen Duc Hoa (1) bt Parkar (0); Slizhevsky Alexander (1) bt Patlolla Indra Reddy (0); Aleksandrov Aleksej (1) bt Shitiz Prasad (0); Fedorov Alexei (1) bt Vageesh Swaminathan (0); Budhidharma Nayaka (1) bt Raj Kapoor (0); Neelotpal Das (1) bt Karthik Gopal G (0); Nithin Babu (1) bt Mithilesh P (0); Nguyen Van Huy (1) bt Laddad Aadhavan Atish (0); Tologon Tegin Semetei (1) bt Gnanaseelan (0); Gochelashvili Davit (1) bt Aabhas Kumar Srivastava (0); Saravana Krishnan (1) bt Jagesia Daksh (0); Manik Mikulas (½) drew Hriday Maniar (½). PTI AM AM APA APA