Date:28/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/28/stories/2008032860312200.htm

Sport - Chess

Two share lead

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The stirring run of two International Masters, S. Arun Prasad and P. Konguvel, came to an abrupt end in the fourth round of the third Kolkata Open chess tournament at the Gorky Sadan here on Thursday.

Grandmaster Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam and Czech GM Viktor Laznicka put paid to the aspirations of the Indian duo to share the top spot with four points each.

Dung won a pawn against Konguvel in the Grunfeld defence and then pushed it forward to win a piece and the game in 44 moves. Laznicka out-thought Prasad in 51 moves of a Slav defence.

Armenian Grandmaster Smbat Lputian, playing white, halted the dream run of M.S. Thejkumar. GM Sandipan Chanda played the day’s best game. He got the better of Oliver Barbosa of the Philippines.

Third-seeded GM Koneru Humpy continued to face tough games and this time against compatriot GM R.B. Ramesh. She lost a pawn and came under some pressure. Humpy, however, managed to wriggle out and drew the game.

Top-seeded GM Krishnan Sasikiran too struggled against IM S. Satyapragyan in another long game but ultimately managed to win.

Important results (Indians, unless stated otherwise):

S. Arun Prasad (3) lost to Viktor Laznicka (Cze, 4); Nguyen Anh Dung (Vie, 4) bt P. Konguvel (3); Smbat Lputian (Arm, 3.5) bt M.S. Thejkumar (2.5); Koneru Humpy (3) drew with R.B. Ramesh (3); Sandipan Chanda (3.5) bt Oliver Barbosa (Phi, 2.5); Tejas Bakre (3) drew with Adly Ahmed (Egy, 3); Rolando Nolte (Phi, 3) drew with Vladimir Dobrov (Rus, 3); R.R. Laxman (2.5) lost to Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 3.5); Sudhakar Babu (3) drew with Neelotpal Das (3); Krishnan Sasikiran (3) bt S. Satyapragyan (2); Suvrajit Saha (2) lost to Ghaem Maghami (Ira, 3); Alberto David (Lux, 3) bt Somak Palit (2); Safin Shukhrat (Uzb, 3) bt Kenny Solomon (RSA, 2); Dibyendu Barua (3) bt D.P. Singh (2); Ashwin Jayaram (3) bt Mehdi Hasan (Ban, 2); M.R. Venkatesh (3) bt Arun Karthik (2); Rahul Shetty (2) lost to Sundararajan Kidambi (3); Swapnil Dhopade (3) bt K. Rathnakaran (2); Saptarshi Roy (3) bt Satyajit Kundu (2); Matta Vinay Kumar (2) lost to Arghyadip Das (3).