Bright start by Bhagyashree

GRONINGEN, Dec 20: Asian women’s No 2 Bhagyashree Thipsay began her campaign in the 36th international open chess tournament impressively by holding WGM Nina Khurtidze to a draw here yesterday.Bhagyashree played aggressively against her highly rated opponent ELO 2415 and obtained a dangerous initiative in an interesting game arising from the Sicilian defence.In the middle-game, the Indian won a pawn and got into a formidable position.

However, due to severe time trouble, Bhagyashree proposed a draw on the 25th move, which was immediately accepted by the Georgian Grandmaster.Other Indian contenders, however, fared poorly in the opening round. Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay were held to draws by Zhurmely and F Handke respectively while WFM Saheli Dhar Barua fell into a strategical trap and lost to Germany’s Poldaulf in the Leningrad Dutch defence.