Ganguly shocks Nguyen

By S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA, AUG. 16. Indian International Master Surya Sekhar Ganguly shocked Vietnam Grandmaster Anh Dung Nguyen in the 10th and penultimate round to collect seven points in the third Asian Individual chess championship at the Gorky Sadan here on Thursday. This meant that the Kolkata-based Ganguly is all set to qualify for the world championship.

Also assured of their place in the world meet were top seed Chinese GM Xu Jun with 8 points and second-placed Saidali Iuldachev, a GM from Uzbekistan, with 7.5 points. Ganguly, GM elect Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan, all on 7 points, have very good chance of making to the world championship from this meet.

In a battle of GMs on the second board, Iuldachev beat Uzbek GM Shukhrat Safin in 40 moves in a Queens Gambit accepted. Safin castled into it and lost a pawn. That was enough for Iuldachev to win in the end game. Xu Jun drew against his compatriot Yu Shaoteng in 24 moves in a Sicilian defence. When Jun defended with Sicilian, Yu went for an English attack but could not break Juns defence. Nguyen went for the Sicilian Dragon and Ganguly opted for the Yugoslav attack resulting in a double-edged queen.

The Vietnam GM sacrificed a pawn on d5 over looking a good defence for white. Nguyen went in for another pawn sacrifice to break open Ganguly's fortress but failed. IM Pantyala Harikrishna drew against IM Zang Pengxiang, who had earned his final GM norm yesterday. Harikrishna, who needed 1.5 points from two games before the start of todays round, settled for a draw in 19 moves in a Slav Defence. Zang equalised very early and in an equal position Harikrishna offered the draw. Harikrishna has drawn Iranian GM elect Maghami as his 11th round opponent and he should beat him to confirm his GM title.

Maghami outplayed IM Odeev Handszar of Turkmenistan in 48 moves in an anti-Grunfeld. Handszar attacked Maghami's king's side by castling on the queens side. But the Iranians attack came faster and won him the opponents queen. In the process the Iranian had to give away a rook and knight. Ultimately, Maghami's better pawn structure earned him the victory.

GM Dibyendu Barua beat GM Murtas Kazhzaleyev of Kazakhstan in a Pirc defence in 41 moves to take his tally to 6.5 points. GM Praveen Thipsay and GM Abhijit Kunte both lost to Eugene Torre of the Philippines, the first GM from Asia, and IM Abdulla Al-Rakib of Bangaldesh respectively. GM Krishnan Sasikiran won his game against Filipino IM Mark Paragua.

IM D.V. Prasad drew against GM B. Villamayor of the Philippines, while IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra drew with untitled Filipino Ronald Dableo. Sandipan Chanda won his game against Arash Roghani of Iran. IM Ponnuswamy Konguvel, IM Lanka Ravi and IM elect Sriram Jha lost.

The results (10th round): Yu Shaoteng (Chn) 6.5 drew with Xu Jun (Chn) 8; Shukhrat Safin (Uzb) 6 lost to Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 7.5; Surya Sekhar Ganguly (Ind) 7 bt Anh Dung Nguyen (Vei) 6; P. Harikrishna (Ind) 6.5 drew with Zhang Pengxiang (Chn) 6.5; Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iri) 7 bt Odeev Handszar (Tkm) 6; Alexei Barsov (Uzb) 7 bt Tahir Vakhidov (Uzb) 6; Peng Xiaomin (Chn) 5.5 lost to Petr Kostenko (Kaz) 6.5; Dibyendu Barua (Ind) 6.5 bt Murtas Kazhzaleyev (Kaz) 5.5; Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 6.5 bt We Wenjin (Chn) 5.5; Wang Zili (Chn) 6 drew with Sergey Zagrebelny (Uzb) 6; Li Wenliang (Chn) 6.5 bt Liang Chong (Chn) 5.5; Mohamad Al- Modiahki (Qat) 6.5 bt Liang Jingrong (Chn) 5.5; Amir Mallahi (Iri) 5 lost to Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 6; Pavel Kotsur (Kaz) 5 lost to Wang Yue (Chn) 6; Rolando Nolte (Phi) 5 lost to Yurtaev Leonid (Kgz) 6; Eugene Torre (Phi) 6 bt P.M. Thipsay (Ind) 5; Abdulla Al-Rakib (Ban) 6 bt Abhijit Kunte (Ind) 4.5; K. Sasikiran (Ind) 5.5 bt Mark Paragua (Phi) 4.5; Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban) 4.5 lost to Darmen Sadvakasov (Kaz) 5.5; B. Villamayor (Phi) 5 drew with D.V. Prasad (Ind) 5; Liu Dede (Ina) 4.5 lost to Vladimir Magai (Kgz) 5.5; Rogelio Antonio Jr (Phi) 5.5 bt P. Konguvel (Ind) 4.5; Morteza Mahjoob (Iri) 4.5 lost to Orazly Annageldyev (Tkm) 5.5; Elshan Moradiabadi (Iri) 4 lost to Utut Adianto (Ina) 5; Ziaur Rahman (Ban) 5 bt Sriram Jha (Ind) 4; Vladimir Egin (Uzb) 5 bt Lanka Ravi (Ind) 4; Jamshed Isaev (Tjk) 4.5 bt Salaua Izmukhambetov (Kaz) 4; Anvar Nazarov (Tjk) 4 drew with Thien Hai Dao (Vei) 4; Arash Roghani (Iri) 3.5 lost to Sandipan Chanda (Ind) 4.5; Mohamad Al Sayed (Qat) 3.5 lost to Fernie Donguines (Phi) 4.5; Taibur Rahman (Ban) 3.5 lost to Aleksandar Wohl (Aus) 4.5; Enamul Hossain (Ban) 4.5 bt Milan Turpanov (Kgz) 3.5; Ronald Dableo (Phi) 4 drew with N.K. Mishra (Ind) 4; Hoang Thanh Trang (Vei) 4 bt Mohsen Ghorbani (Iri) 3; Barlo Nadera (Phi) 3.5 drew with Imad Hakki (Syr) 3.5; Mahmood Lodhi (Pak) 4 bt Abu Sufian Sakil (Ban) 2; Chito Garma (Phi) 3 lost to TDR Pieris (Sri) 2.5; Manfuzur Rahman (Ban) 4 bye.

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