Date:03/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/03/stories/2008100357881900.htm

Sport - Chess

Deep in sole lead

Rakesh Rao

NAGPUR: Major surprises were few and far between as results followed a predictable pattern in the sixth round of the Commonwealth chess championship here.

On the top two boards, victory for sole leader Deep Sengupta and second seed Surya Shekhar Ganguly came on expected lines before B.T. Murali Krishnan used his experience to tame a higher seeded Aswin Jayaram.

These results left Ganguly and Murali sharing the second spot at 5.5 points. Seven players follow at five points.

In the battle of International Masters and overnight leaders, Deep came out stronger against Anup Deshmukh and became the only player with an all-win record. Deep justified the difference of 170 rating points over Deshmukh in a tactical warfare that ended in 34 moves when the local favourite chose to resign while facing a certain checkmate.

Mismatch

Ganguly exerted more pressure than S. Satyapragyan could handle and won the 34-move mismatch. Murali, playing black, tamed Aswin in 40 moves.

For the die-hard fans enjoying the midweek holiday by watching some intense battles, Asian junior champion P. Karthikeyan and Delhi’s 11-year-old Vaibhav Suri broke the monotony of expected outcomes.

Karthikeyan ended the unbeaten run of third seed Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh in a complicated game lasting 56 moves. Earlier, an extremely fortuitous Vaibhav ruthlessly punished P. Magesh Chandran for an oversight, claimed a rook and left the 11th seed rueing his second successive defeat. Having returned from America recently, Magesh is playing in the country after six years and for the first time as a Grandmaster.

Veteran GMs, eighth seed Dibyendu Barua and his old friend from Bangladesh, Niaz Murshed, continued to struggle. Barua drew his fourth game and third in succession after facing G.B. Joshi, who was already elated from the moment his protégé Vaibhav won against Magesh.

Seeking much-needed victories, the GM-quartet of top seed Nigel Short, Abhijit Kunte, Abhijeet Gupta and Parimarjan Negi along with IMs S. Kidambi P. Konguvel and Saptarshi Roy got it right to be part of a 28-player pack at 4.5 points.

On a lower board, young K. Priyadarshan emerged a surprise winner over former National ‘B’ runner-up, IM Himanshu Sharma while five-time National ladies champion Bhagyashree Thipsay used her experience to hold another IM, Akshayraj Kore.

The results:

Sixth round: Deep Sengupta (6) bt Anup Deshmukh (5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5.5) bt S. Satyapragyan (4.5); Suvrajit Saha (5) drew with S. Arun Prasad (5); Aswin Jayaram (4.5) lost to B. T. Murali Krishnan (5.5); P. Karthikeyan (5) bt Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 4); R.R. Laxman (4.5) drew with Mohmood Lodhi (Pak, 4.5); Enamul Hossain (Ban, 5.5) bt Vikramaditya Kamble (4); Prathamesh Mokal (4) lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy (5); Vidit Gujarati (4.5) drew with M.R. Venkatesh (4.5); T. Purushothaman (4.5) drew with Niaz Murshed (Ban, 4.5); S.P. Sethuraman (5) bt Pankaj Joshi (4); M. Vinay Kumar (4.5) drew with P.D.S. Girinath (4.5); Nigel Short (4.5) bt Ramnath Bhuvanesh (4); Syed Mahfuzur Rahman (Ban, 3.5) lost to Abhijit Kunte (4.5); Parimarjan Negi (4.5) bt Akshat Khamparia (4.5); Dibyendu Barua (4) drew with G.B. Joshi (4); G. Rohit (4) drew with S. Nitin (4); R. Arun Karthik (4) drew with K. Ratnakaran (4); S. Kidambi (4.5) bt Debashis Das (3.5); Himanshu Sharma (3.5) lost to K. Priyadarshan (4.5); Ophoff Ja (RSA, 4) drew with B. Adhiban (4); P. Konguvel (4.5) bt Soumya Swaminathan (3.5).