Aggression pays off for Barua and Bhagyashree

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, JUNE 3. Aggression is something one does not usually associate with the natural playing styles of Dibyendu Barua and Bhagyashree Thipsay. But then, age has nothing to do with it. More often than not, the two veterans have overwhelmed their rivals by adopting peaceful ways. For a change, it was their aggressive tactics that stood out on Sunday.

Although some of the other bigger names continued to take small steps, former champion P. Konguvel jumped into the lead with his second straight victory after three rounds of the National `A' championship at the CDCS Eventspecific office hall here.

The competition among the ladies showed signs of hotting up with some of Saturday's losers bouncing right back with authoritative victories. For the record, S. Vijayalakshmi and sister Meenakshi, who played a friendly draw, were joined by Anupama Gokhale in the lead with 1.5 points.

Barua made his intentions clear and kept Saravanan on the defensive right through their 25-move match. Barua opted for French Defence instead of his much-preferred Petroff and somewhat surprised Saravanan. Barua chose not to castle and built an overwhelming attack after Saravanan decided to castle on the queenside.

Barua appeared headed for a quick win but overlooked the right continuation and allowed Saravanan some counter-play. But the resistance did not last long and soon Saravanan surrendered to signal the end of this violent contest.

The manner in which Barua won, that too, with black pieces, should do his confidence a world of good. It may be recalled that Barua had squandered a golden opportunity to win the Asian Zonal title last month in Colombo after losing the way in the last three rounds. Then on Saturday, Barua drew with fellow-GMs, Pravin Thipsay and Abhijit Kunte, looking apprehensive particularly in the second round. Therefore, a resounding victory was just what a solid contender like Barua needed at this stage of the competition.

Konguvel, boosted by Saturday's conquest of P. Harikrishna, did not have to do much to get the better of Nassir Wajih. In Sicilian Dragon, Konguvel built a steady attack once Wajih opted for the long castle. Strangely, Wajih made some series of dubious moves on the kingside which allowed Konguvel a quick and decisive offensive. Wajih realised his mistake and resigned. This was Wajih's third straight loss.

K. Sasikiran and Harikrishna, seeded one and three, were involved in a 57-move draw after their match followed the King's Indian Defence. Materially, both players were equal but Sasikiran appeared positionally better at times. He may have missed a few promising continuations but never really held the whip.

Earlier, an unsuspecting Abhijit Kunte walked into an opening `trap' in Sicilian Pelican against Sriram Jha. After eight moves and much thinking, Kunte offered a draw which Jha accepted. It would have been interesting if Jha had chosen to play on but the Delhi boy opted to play it safe.

Among the ladies, Bhagyashree was clearly the most impressive winner following the 26-move destruction of R. Aarthie. In their Sicilian Rossolimo game, Bhagyashree managed to flush out Aarthie's king from the back-rank comforts and combined her queen and rooks well to expedite the finish.

Like Bhagyashree, two other players also came back from first- round defeats to post victories.

Nisha Mohota, who lost to S. Vijayalakshmi on Saturday, had the measure of Swati Ghate in 41 moves after their match followed the Larsen set up. Nisha got a promising position early into the game. It was in acute time-pressure that Swati overlooked a salvaging pawn-move on `g' file. Swati's oversight helped Nisha lay the check-mating net which effectively settled the issue.

Saheli Dhar-Barua, too, did not have much difficulty in getting past lesser-rated Sai Meera Ravi. In another one-sided match, Anupama took time to stop Y. Pratibha. Pallavi Shah, needing to make amends after the first-round loss to Pratibha, missed a winning line and let Dolan Champa Bose escape with a draw.

The results:

Men: Third round: K. Murugan (2390) 1.5 bt Neelotpal Das (2423) 0.5; P. Harikrishna (2504) 1 drew with K. Sasikiran (2611) 2; Nassir Wajih (2371) 0 lost to P. Konguvel (2383) 2.5; Lanka Ravi (2381) 2 drew with Atanu Lahiri (2391) 2; Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2456) 2 drew with Neeraj Kumar Mishra (2321) 1.5; Saptarishi Roy (2306) 1 drew with D.V. Prasad (2440) 1.5; Pravin Thipsay (2353) 2 drew with G. B. Prakash (2453) 1.5; Abhijit Kunte (2568) 2 drew with Sriram Jha (2390) 1; V. Saravanan (2428) 0 lost to Dibyendu Barua (2494) 2; Shekhar Sahu (2325) 1 bye.

Women: Second round: Saheli Dhar-Barua (2225) 1 bt Sai Meera-Ravi (2162) 0; Bhagyashree Thipsay (2241) 1 bt R. Aarthie (2291) 1; Nisha Mohata (2257) 1 bt Swati Ghate (2271) 1; S. Meenakshi (2248) 1.5 drew with S. Vijayalakshmi (2424) 1.5; Pallavi Shah (2164) 0.5 drew with Dolan Champa Bose (2187) 0.5; Anupama Gokhale (2249) 1.5 bt Pratibha Y. (2009) 1; D. Harika-M. R. Sangeetha (2009) match will be played on June 7.

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