Chanda upstages Barua

“I was lucky to win,” was the candid acceptance of Shariyazdanov after his fortuitous victory over Indian International Master Devaki Prasad. Shariyazdanov maintained his half a point lead with 5.5 points.

Ziaur Rahman had a huge advantage against Russian GM Alexander Fominyh, whose victory was hard to believe, considering his King’s escape route were not many without losing material. However, Zia conferred after the game, he has been playing badly for the last two months and could not find out the reason for his poor form. After cornering the Russian thoroughly, Zia could have gained lasting edge with the exchange of rooks and knight but doubled the rooks instead and unnecessarily sacrificed a pawn to lose the thread of the position. Finally, he could not even get a draw! Prasad’s familiarity in the Queen’s Indian Defence was clearly reflected in his game with Shariyazdanov, who, to his surprise found himself at the receiving end after the opening phase. Prasad’s 22 Bd4 posed a lot of problems for the Russian. However, Shariyazdanov managed to find a way to make Prasad consume a lot of time. Prasad advantage notwithstanding was bothered by 33 Qd2 and tried hard to find an answer but could not do it andallowed a `c’ passer which decided the issue in his opponent’s favour.

Krishnan Sasikiran tested, troubled and tortured Russian Ildar Ibragimov for nearly seven hours before conceding a draw. Sasi missed a winning line in the 60th move (Qe8) when he could have taken Ibragimov’s knight. He did not take the knight thinking Ibragimov is getting perpetual checks by force which was an illusion.

Saravanan-Prakash, Humpy-Yurtaev were keenly-contested encounters but failed to produce a result. Humpy’s performance in this strong event till now has been creditable. The encounter between former National champions Pravin Thipsay and Abhijit Kunte ended in a quick draw. Both were happy with the outcome probably because of their current form.

Chanda went for the rarely ventured 5 Bd3 in the Petroff Defence which was once used by Peter Leko against Vladimir Kramnik according to Chanda. The position looked to be okay until Barua slipped under time pressure, losing a couple of pawns. Barua tested Chanda’s temperament for some time before calling it a quit.

The postponed encounter between Prasad and Yurtaev will be played on Monday.

Results (7th round): K Humpy (Ind) 2 drew L Yurtaev (KGZ) 3.5, A Shariyazdanov (Rus) 5.5 bt DV Prasad (Ind) 2.5, Ziaur Rahman (Ban) 1.5 lost to A Fominyh (Rus) 5, K Sasikiran (Ind) 4 drew I Ibragimov (Rus) 4, PM Thipsay (Ind) 2.5 drew Abhijit Kunte (Ind) 3, GB Prakash (Ind) 2.5 drew V Saravanan (Ind) 3.5, Sandipan Chanda (Ind) 4.5 bt D Barua (Ind) 4.

MOVES: Sandipan Chanda-Barua: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. h3 d5 7. 0-0 Be7 8. c3 0-0 9. Bc2 h6 10. d4 Bd6 11. Re1 Re8 12. Rxe8+ Qxe8 13. Nbd2 Nbd7 14. Nh4 g6 15. Nf1 Bf8 16. Qd3 Bg7 17. Ng3 c5 18. Bd2 cxd4 19. cxd4 Nf8 20. Re1 Qd8 21. Nf3 Ne4 22. Ne5 Nxd2 23. Qxd2 Qg5 24. Qxg5 hxg5 25. Bb3 Be6 26. Nf3 Bf6 27. Rc1 Nd7 28. Nf1 Nb6 29. Ne3 a5 30. a4 Rd8 31. Rc5 Nc4 32. Bxc4 dxc4 33. d5 Bd7 34. Nxc4 Bxa4 35. Rxa5 b5 36. Ne3 Bxb2 37. Nxg5 Bc1 38. Ne4 Bxe3 39. fxe3 Kg7 40. Nc3 f5 41. Nxb5 Bb3 42. Nc3 Kf6 43. Rb5 Bc4 44. Rc5 Bd3 45.Rc6+ Kf7 46. Kf2 g5 47. Kf3 Re8 48. g4 Rh8 49. Kg3 Re8 50.Kf2 Re5 51. Rb6 Re8 52. Nb5 Rh8 53. Nd6+ Kf6 54. Nxf5+ Ke5 55. Ne7 1-0.