61st Rubinstein Memorial: Aravindh Chithambaram joint leader after a draw in second round
Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev joined top seed Aravindh Chithambaram at the top of the standings after the second round of the 61st Rubinstein Memorial chess tournament, taking place at the Spa Theater in Polanica-Zdroj, Poland, on Sunday.
India No. 5 Aravindh, who beat England’s Michael Adams in the opening round, was held to a draw by Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum.
Meanwhile, Yakubboev took down Jan Klimkowski, one of the local players. Both Yakubboev and Aravindh have 1.5 points.
The event is a traditional annual tournament honouring Akiba Rubinstein, one of the most influential Polish players in history.
It has a 10-player round-robin format. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one.
In the third round, Aravindh, who has a FIDE rating of 2723, takes on Ukrainian GM Igor Kovalenko.
Round 2 Results
Aravindh Chithambaram (IND) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (GER)
Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) bt. Jan Klimkowski (POL)
Igor Kovalenko (UKR) drew with Mateusz Bartel (POL)
Michael Adams (ENG) drew with David Navara (CZE)
Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL) drew with Pawel Teclaf (POL)
Standings
1 – Aravindh Chithambaram (1.5 points), Nodirbek Yakubboev (1.5 points)
3 – Mateusz Bartel (1 point), Pawel Teclaf (1 point), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (1 point), Matthias Bluebaum (1 point), David Navara (1 point), Igor Kovalenko (1 point), Michael Adams (1 point), Jan Klimkowski (1 point)
Round 3 Pairings (Player on the left will have white pieces)
Jan Klimkowski (POL) vs Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL)
Pawel Teclaf (POL) vs Michael Adams (ENG)
David Navara (CZE) vs Matthias Bluebaum (GER)
Aravindh Chithambaram (IND) vs Igor Kovalenko (UKR)
Mateusz Bartel (POL) vs Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB)
The third round will begin at 6:45 p.m. IST on Monday.