Bad day for Thipsays

LINARES, January 11: Overnight leader Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay lost from a winning position while another Indian GM Dibyendu Barua bounced back with an easy win over Marcello Ripari of Argentina in the third round of the fourth Anibal Grandmaster Chess tournament here yesterday.

IM Lanka Ravi was unlucky not to have won against German GM T Luther. The Indian playing white against Luther8217;s Queen8217;s Gambit declined, positioned himself for a fierce attack by sacrificing a bishop. However, the German managed to defend his King and escape certain defeat.

Thipsay, Barua, Ravi, Devki Prasad, Abhijit Kunte share two points each.Thipsay, who won the first two games, obtained a winning position with black pieces in a Ruy Lopez Spanish game against J Estrada of Mexico but failed to consolidate. He got caught in time trouble and lost the game. His wife, Bhagyashree also lost today to make it a bad day for the Thipsay family.In contrast Barua conjured up an easy win over Ripari in a Sicilian Defence. IM Prasad came up with an excellent endgame technique against M Paragua of the Philippines to post his first win of the tournament.