Ramesh continues with fine form

LINARES, JAN. 13. Not much action was seen from the Indian contingent at the Linares international chess tournament in Spain with most of the players drawing their games on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Evgeny Nager of Russia took the sole lead with five points after a smooth victory over Polish Grandmaster Robert Kempinski.

International Master R.B. Ramesh continued with his fine form to hold highly rated Grandmaster Alexander Galkin of Russia from the white side of a Caro-Kann defence game in 22 moves. Galkin came up with a powerful novelty on his 11th move (11.Nf6) to equalise the game.

He then lessened white's central grip with the thematic C7-C5 break. After the exchange of white's central 'E5' pawn for black's 'F7' pawn and a sure trading of queens in the offing, the players called it a day and signed the truce.

Facing the former world's youngest Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot of France, Sriram Jha chose to go for a symmetrical pawn structure in an offshoot of the Reti opening.

Inspite of playing with black pieces, Bacrot found himself with an isolated pawn on the 'D5' square to unbalance the situation. He succeeded in this effort when Jha allowed black to shatter his pawn formation on the king side. Bacrot quickly focused his major forces, the queen and rook, on the weak 'G3' pawn and launched an attack. Unable to avoid checkmate, Jha gave up on his 32nd move.

International Women Master Aarthie Ramaswamy stayed on track for her third WGM norm with a draw against GM Martinez Garcia of Spain in 31 moves.

Aarthie responded to the Kengis variation of the Sicilian defence energetically and unleashed a knight sacrifice in the centre on her 14th turn. After regaining the piece, she continued with her attack on the 'F' file to win an exchange on the 21st move.

However the veteran Grandmaster put a stout defence to prevent white from utilising the material advantage to full effect. After a bit of manouevering, the players agreed to a draw.

IM-elect Rahul Shetty played a solid game to hold his much higher rated rival IM Nalbandian of Armenia in a battle lasting 52 moves. Coming across the king's Indian defence for the third time in this tournament, Shetty secured a spatial advantage and restricted the freedom of the black pieces.

Triple IM norm holder, Dinesh Kumar Sharma agreed to a short draw in 22 moves against IM Sergei Krivoshey of Russia. Playing the black side of the Semi-Slav defence, Sharma won two pawns soon after the opening stage. However with his king stuck in the centre and his opponent possessing the bishop pair, he decided to safely settle for a draw.

Important results: GM E. Baher (2616 - 5pts) bt GM Robert Kempinski (2543 - 4); IM R.B. Ramesh (2467 - 3) drew with GM A. Galkin (2590 - 3); Sriram Jha (2412 - 2) lost to GM Etienne Bacrot (2618 - 3); IM S. Krivoshey (2483 - 2.5) drew with Dinesh Kumar Sharma (2353 - 2.5); Rahul Shetty (2331 - 2.5) drew with IM T. Nalbadnian (2481 - 2.5); C.S. Gokhale (2326 - 2) lost to IM P. Froehlich (2451 - 3); IWM M. Calzetta (2296 - 2.5) drew with IM Sandeepan Chanda (2431 - 2.5); IM Cyril Marcelin (2424 - 3) bt K. Visweswaran (2289 - 2); IWM R. Aarthie (2250 - 2) drew with Martinez Garcia (2373 - 2).

- UNI

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