Mihail Marin wins title

BENASQUE, JULY 16. international Master R.B. Ramesh chalked out a creditable draw against top seeded GM Lev Psakhis of Israel and finished tied for the second place after the 10th and final round of Benasque Open chess tournament here.

Grandmaster Mihail Marin clinched the Benasque title with a slender half a point lead over the rest of the pack when he scored an easy win against Izeda Tzabarri.

Marin aggregated 8.5 points in this mega event where 420 players challenged their wits over a fortnight.

Ramesh (8 points), faced the Sicilian Rossolimo variation with black pieces against Psakhis, who played aggressively from the opening and appeared to have cornered his young opponent. Ramesh was tied second with six other players.

The Indian, who has 2450 Elo points against 2611 of Psakhis, wriggled himself out of the mess with an exchange sacrifice for a pawn and a pair of bishops.

Psakhis tried to penetrate the black's forte with his queen and rook when Ramesh sacrified his remaining two bishops to get perpetual checks and escape with a draw to move to eight points and remain unbeaten throughout the tournament.

IM V. Saravanan, however, failed in the last round as he lost to Guerra Bastida.

Saravanan faced the `G5' system against his King's Indian defence and got a slightly inferior position from the opening. The Indian managed to create some counterplay using the open `B' file after sacrificing a pawn. But in the middlegame he lost a piece and the game to finish with 6.5 points and 47th place in the final standings.

Vedant Goswami won the final round game with black pieces after getting a comfortable position from the beginning. Goswami saddled his opponent with an isolated `D' pawn in the center. The Indian then proceeded to exchange the right pieces and entered the enemy position with his queen and knight with a good attacking game. Goswami collected 6.5 points and was placed 57th in the final standings - a creditable finish by his standard.

Marin had an easy time on the top board against Tzabarri with the English opening. Marin opened the center quite early and entered the `D6' square with his queen.

Tzabarri could not do much to abort such pressure and went down meekly to allow Marin a clear half point lead of the rest.

On the second board, IM H hidalgo (8) held GM Komljenovic (8) to a draw.

Important results: Marin (8.5) beat Izeda (7.5); Hidalgo (8) drew with Komljenovic (8); Mousziszian (8) drew with Jansa (8); Licak (7) lost to Velicka (8); Psakhis (7.5) drew with R.B. Ramesh (8); Guena Bastida (7.5) beat Saravanan (6.5).

Final standings: 1. Mihail Marin; 2. Komljenovic, Mousziszian, Velicka, Jansa, Hidalgo, Ramesh, Polak; 9. Hernandez, Gonzalez, Kuzmin, Psakhis; 47. Saravanan, 57. Vedant Goswami.

- PTI

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