Sasikiran's win cockles Indian hearts

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28. Success is a great tonic for a sagging morale and K. Sasikiran provided just that. The loss of S. Vijayalakshmi had proved a big dampner for the die-hard fans of Indian chess on the second day of the World chess championship before another resident from Chennai proved a great source of joy here on Tuesday.

Earlier, Abhijit Kunte held higher rated Gilberto Milos to force a tie-breaker on Wednesday but it was second straight defeat for Dibyendu Barua against Kazakh GM Evgeny Vladimirov, the man who trained him for the championship.

The day produced 21 second-round qualifiers leaving 30 players to find their way past the tie-breaker rounds. If two rounds of 30- minute rapid games do not proved decisive, another two games of 15 minutes each would be played. In case the players are still level, four `blitz' games (with each player getting five minutes in each game) would be played.

If still equal, two more games, with white getting six minutes as against black's five, would be played to break the deadlock. In the last mentioned tie-break, if white does not win at the end of his allotted time, he will be deemed to have lost. Coming back to the day's action, when fancied Joel Lautier failed to win against Rafael Leitao and the resultant draw meant exit for him, Sasikiran's victory in 53 moves of Nimzo-Indian defence was best news for the host in the men's section.

He sacrified his queen for a rook and minor piece and went on to convert is advantage into victory which now places him before Dutch GM Loek Van Wely.

Kunte was happy to draw his game against Milos in 29 moves of Queen's Indian defence. He sacrificed a pawn on the 18th move and won it back on the 26th before the peace treaty was signed.

Barua, desperate to win, sacrificed a pawn on the `c' file for some active play but Vladimirov ensured that the Indian had no respite. The Kazakh had no problem in taking the game into the end-game where he enlarged his pawn-advantage to score his second straight win.

lThe results (Round One, Game Two): Hannes Stefansson (Isl, 2557) 0.5 lost to Victor Bologan (Mda, 2641) 1.5; Pawel Blehm (Pol, 2510) 0.5 drew with Smbat Lputian (Arm, 2598) 1.5; Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 2536) 1 bt Jonathan Speelman (Eng, 2623) 1; Alexander Galkin (Rus, 2587) 2 bt Aleksandar Wohl (Aus, 2461) 0; Sergey Volkov (Rus, 2554) 1 bt Konstantin Sakaev (Rus, 2627) 1; Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Ira, 2488) 1 drew with Christopher Lutz (Ger, 2595) 1; Igor Nataf (Fra, 2526) 1.5 drew with Emil Sutovsky (Isr, 2609) 0.5; Rafael Leitao (Bra, 2567) 1.5 drew with Joel Lautier (Fra, 2648) 0.5; Joel Benjamin (U.S., 2577) 2 bt Fabian Fiorito (Arg, 2418) 0; Thein Hai Dao (Vie, 2555) 1.5 bt Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 2630) 0.5; Mohammad Al-Modiahki (Qat) 1 drew with Alex Yermolinsky (U.S., 2596) 1; Mikhail Rytshagov (Est, 2627) 1 drew with Etienni Barcot (Fra, 2613) 1; Utut Adianto (INA, 2583) 1.5 drew with Imad Hakki (Syr, 2429) 0.5; Sune Berg Hansen (Den, 2545) 0.5 lost to Andrei Kharlov (Rus, 2627) 1.5; Aloyzas Kveinys (Ltu, 2522) 0 lost to Vladimir Malakhov (Rus, 2605) 2; Karen Asrian (Arm, 2566) 0.5 lost to Loek Van Wely (Ned, 2643) 1; K. Sasikiran (Ind, 2573) 1.5 bt Amon Simutowe (Zam, 2322) 0.5; Gilberto Milos (Bra, 2633) 1 drew with Abhijit Kunte (Ind, 2556) 1; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 2 bt Dibyendu Barua (Ind, 2502) 0; Pavel Tregubov (Rus, 2620) 1 drew with Alexander Rustemov (Rus, 2534) 1; Rodrigo Vasquez (Chi, 2454) 0 lost to Alexandre Lesiege (Can, 2584) 2; Jaan Ehlvest (Est, 2627) 1 drew with Jesus Noguieras (Cub, 2552) 1; Viorel Iordachescu (Mda, 2594) 1 drew with Michele Godena (Ita, 2485) 1; Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2606) 1 drew with Darcy Lima (Bra, 2525) 1; Alexey Fedorov (Blr) 0.5 drew with Alexander Ivanov (U.S., 2567) 1.5; Amir Bagheri (Ira, 2409) 0.5 drew with Grigory Serper (U.S., 2574) 1.5; Alexander Onischuk (Ukr, 2627) 1.5 drew with Evgenij Agrest (Swe, 2554) 0.5; Artashes Minasian (Arm, 2595) 1 drew with Bong Villamayor (Phi, 2495) 1; Lev Psakhis (Isr, 2529) 1 drew with Emir Dizdarevic (Bah, 2527) 1; Jeroen Piket (Ned, 2649) 1 drew with Gilberto Hernandez (Mex, 2572) 1; Ibrahim Hasan Labib (Egy, 2426) 0.5 drew with Vladislav Nevednichy (Rom, 2582) 1.5; Rafael Vaganian (Arm, 2623) 0 lost to Hichem Hamdouchi (Mar, 2541) 2; Fouad El-Taher (Egy, 2485) 1 drew with Alexej Alexandrov (Blr, 2591) 1; Vladimir Baklan (Ukr, 2599) 1 drew with Ivan Zaja (Cro, 2513) 1; Boris Gulko (U.S., 2643) 1 drew with Alexei Bezgodov (Rus, 2557) 1; Alexander Utnasunov (Rus, 2257) 0.5 drew with Alexander Chernin (Hun, 2572) 1.5.

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