<p> India’s latest Grandmaster V Vishnu Prasanna faltered yet again as he lost to Vitaliy Bernadskiy to end hopes of a revival in the Grand Europe Albena International Chess tournament here. <br /><br /></p>.<p>After raising visions of an improved performance with a 4.5/5 start, Prasanna missed the thread of the position for the second day running and had to pay heavy dividends as Bernadskiy won in style. <br /><br />The second straight loss left Prasanna on 4.5 points with no hopes for a podium finish. <br />International Master Ashwin Jayaram remained on course for a top-10 finish after settling for a quick draw with Grandmaster Vasil Spasov of Bulgaria.<br /><br />Anurag Mahamal also secured a good result drawing with Sandro Mareco of Argentina who played black. <br /><br />Among other Indians in the fray, former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta did some damage control in tournament after being lucky to score a full point against Bulgarian Mario Vutov.<br /><br />Swapnil Dhopade was held to a draw by Dagur Arngrimsson of Iceland, while Sagar Shah ended on the losing side against Melih Yurtseven of Turkey. Lower down, N Raghavi defeated Ivaylo Atanasov of Bulgaria. <br /><br />Following a spate of draws at the top of the tables there was no change in standings at the top. As a result, over joint leaders, Tigran Petrosian and Hrant Melkumyan of Armenia and Vladislav Nevednichy of Romania continued to lead the tables with six points out of a possible seven. <br /><br />While six players are on the heels of the leaders a half point behind, Ashwin Jayaram and Anurag Mahamal are the best performing Indians on five points apiece sharing the 10th spot. <br /></p>
<p> India’s latest Grandmaster V Vishnu Prasanna faltered yet again as he lost to Vitaliy Bernadskiy to end hopes of a revival in the Grand Europe Albena International Chess tournament here. <br /><br /></p>.<p>After raising visions of an improved performance with a 4.5/5 start, Prasanna missed the thread of the position for the second day running and had to pay heavy dividends as Bernadskiy won in style. <br /><br />The second straight loss left Prasanna on 4.5 points with no hopes for a podium finish. <br />International Master Ashwin Jayaram remained on course for a top-10 finish after settling for a quick draw with Grandmaster Vasil Spasov of Bulgaria.<br /><br />Anurag Mahamal also secured a good result drawing with Sandro Mareco of Argentina who played black. <br /><br />Among other Indians in the fray, former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta did some damage control in tournament after being lucky to score a full point against Bulgarian Mario Vutov.<br /><br />Swapnil Dhopade was held to a draw by Dagur Arngrimsson of Iceland, while Sagar Shah ended on the losing side against Melih Yurtseven of Turkey. Lower down, N Raghavi defeated Ivaylo Atanasov of Bulgaria. <br /><br />Following a spate of draws at the top of the tables there was no change in standings at the top. As a result, over joint leaders, Tigran Petrosian and Hrant Melkumyan of Armenia and Vladislav Nevednichy of Romania continued to lead the tables with six points out of a possible seven. <br /><br />While six players are on the heels of the leaders a half point behind, Ashwin Jayaram and Anurag Mahamal are the best performing Indians on five points apiece sharing the 10th spot. <br /></p>