Leaders play it safe

By S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA, AUG. 14. The fierce battle for the 10 coveted berths for the World championship hotted up on Tuesday at the end of the eighth round of the 11-round third Asian Individual chess championship at the Gorky Sadan here.

The top eight boards saw calculated drawn encounters as the leaders played safe. In contrast, 15 boards starting from 11th, ended decisively barring board No. 20 which ended in a draw. This meant, those trailing in points were trying hard to catch up the leaders to stay among the first ten.

Chinese Grandmaster Xu Jun kept the lead with seven points drawing a Sicilian Classical Dragon variation against GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan in 10 moves. Iuldachev retained the second place with 6 points. Five players - Vietnam GM Anh Dung Nguyen, IM P. Harikrishna, Uzbek IM Tahir Vakhidov, Iranian IM Ehsan Ghaem Mghami and Uzbek GM Alexei Barsov, shared the joint third spot with 5.5 points each.

Eighteen players were bunched together at the joint fourth place with five points each. GM norm aspirant IM Pentyala Harikrishna settled for a 12-move draw in a Reti Opening against IM Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan on the third board. Harikrishna, in sight of his third and final GM norm, would have to win or draw his game against a Grandmaster in the next round depending on the rating. He had to either draw against a GM with a rating higher than 2540 or beat a GM whose rating was lower than 2540.

Barsov and Nguyen drew in 24 moves in a Slav defence. Both played with a lot of circumspect before signing the peace treaty. The best played draw was between Indian IM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and GM Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan. Faced with a Sicilian Scheveningen variation, Ganguly went for an exchange and pawn sacrifice for a tremendous attack. His opponent had some compensation by returning the exchange. Ganguly went for a spectacular rook sacrifice for a perpetual draw.

GM Dibyendu Barua was back in the reckoning with a brilliant win over Kazakh GM Darmen Sadvakasov in a sharp Sicilian Najdorf variation. Barua opened up the position on the Kingside by concentrating his forces against the opponents King. He even offered his Bishop and Rook to create a mating net. With this 36- move win, Barua has taken his tally to five points.

GM Praveen Thipsay drew against Krishnan Sasikiran in a rook and pawn endgame. In a very sharp variation of Kings Indian Defence, Sasikiran had two bishops against Thipsay's bishop and knight. After some complication, the draw was evident on move 30 and ultimately they shared the points on move 43.

lThe results (eighth round): Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 6 drew with Xu Jun (Chn) 7; Alexei Barsov (Uzb) 5.5 drew with Anh Dung Nguyen (Vei) 5.5; P. Harikrishna (Ind) 5.5 drew with Tahir Vakhidov (Uzb) 5.5; S.S. Ganguly (Ind) 5 drew with Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 5; Wang Zili (Chn) 5 drew with Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 5; Li Wen Liang (Chn) 5 drew with Yurtaev Leonid (Kgz) 5; Shukhrat Safin (Uzb) 5 drew with Mohamad Al-Modiahki (Qat) 5; Yu Shaoteng (Chn) 5 drew with Zhang Pengxiang (Chn) 5; Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iri) 5.5 bt Sergey Zagrebelny (Uzb) 4.5; K. Sasikiran (Ind) 4.5 drew with P.M. Thipsay (Ind) 5; Peng Xiaomin (Chn) 5 bt Ziaur Rahman (Ban) 4; Odeev Handszar (Tkm) 5 bt Utut Adianto (Ina) 4; D. Barua (Ind) 5 bt Darmen Sadvakasov (Kaz) 4; Abdulla Al-Rakib (Ban) 4 lost to Wu Wenjin (Chn) 5; Morteza Mahjoob (Iri) 4 lost to Liang Chong (Chn) 5; Eugene Torre (Phi) 4 lost to Liang Jingrong (Chn) 5; B. Villamayor (Phi) 3.5 lost to Wang Yue (Chn) 5; Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban) 3.5 lost to Murtas Kazhzaleyev (Kaz) 4.5; Abhijit Kunte (Ind) 4.5 bt D.V. Prasad (Ind) 3.5; Amir Mallahi (Iri) 4 drew with Vladimir Magai (Kaz) 4; Rogelio Antonio Jr (Phi) 4.5 bt Aleksandar Wohl (Aus) 3.5; Vladimir Egin (Uzb) 3.5 lost to Petr Kostenko (Kaz) 4.5; P. Konguvel (Ind) 4.5 bt Orazly Annageldyev (Kaz) 3.5; Rolando Nolte (Phi) 4.5 bt Jamshed Isaev (Tjk) 3.5; Pavel Kotsur (Kaz) 4 bt Sriram Jha (Ind) 3.5; Taibur Rahman (Ban) 3.5 drew with Fernie Donguines (Phi) 3.5; Elshan Mordiabadi (Iri) 3 lost to Salaua Izmukhambetov (Kaz) 4; S. Manfuzur Rahman (Ban) 3 lost to Lanka Ravi (Ind) 4; Thien Hai Dao (Vei) 2.5 lost to Liu Dede (Ina) 3.5; Mark Paragua (Phi) 3.5 bt Chito Garma (Phi) 2.5; Enamul Hossain (Ban) 3 drew with Imad Hakki (Syr) 3; Sandipan Chanda (Ind) 3 drew with N.K. Mishra (Ind) 3; Mahmood Lodhi (Pak) 2.5 lost to Anvar Nazarov (Tjk) 3.5; Milan Turpanov (Kgz) 2.5 lost to Anvar Nazarov (Tjk) 3.5; Ronald Dableo (Phi) 3 bt H.T. Trang (Vei) 2; Arash Roghani (Iri) 2.5 drew with Mohsen Ghorbani (Iri) 2.5; Abu Sufian Sakil (Ban) 2 drew with TDR Pieris (Sri) 1.5.

Pawar set to take over as AICF chief

KOLKATA, AUG. 14. The hugely successful All India Chess Federation (AICF) is set to get a new president in Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar. The change of guard is expected to take place at the AICF's annual general meeting on September 1 in New Delhi.

The outgoing president, Mr. Dhruv M. Sawhney, who served the AICF for 12 years, will, as per the convention, propose the new name before relinquishing his post. Mr. Sawhney, the CMD of Triveni Group of Industries, was the driving force and inspiration of the federation.

Mr. Sawhney will continue to be associated with the AICF as honorary president as per the Constitution. Mr. N. Mahalingam, a doyen of industry and philanthropist, headed the AICF from 1985 to 1989 before Mr. Sawhney.

Mr. Pawar is the chairman of NIIT, India's leading software industry. He came forward to sponsor the world chess championship in New Delhi and has been sponsoring world champion Viswanathan Anand for a number of years.

Meanwhile, multinational computer giant Wipro, has confirmed sponsorship for International Master Pentyala Harikrishna for one year on his tour of Europe. Harikrishna is expected to play in England, France, Switzerland and Greece. He will also participate in the Commonwealth chess championship in London from August 18 to 27.

- Our Special Correspondent

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