GM Thipsay in second spot

Thipsay adopted his pet advance variation with white pieces against the French defence of Pert Elo rating 2425. The Englishman was slowly put on the defensive as Thipsay methodically improved his space advantage.

Thipsay8217;s major pieces crashed through on the f and c files to checkmate black8217;s King, which was caught in the centre.

Among the other Indians in fray, former National champion Abhijit Kunte suffered a reverse in his quest for the final norm for the GM title, when he lost to top-seeded GM Julian Hodgson England while IM V Saravanan held another English GM Stuart Conquest in a game of fluctuating fortunes.

Youngster Sundderajan Kidambi and IWM Anupama Gokhale could not keep up with their pace from the initial rounds and went down fighting to Swiss GM Callagher and C Duncan of England respectively.

National champion K Sasikiran 2 recovered from his defeat in the previous round to beat T Clarke while World under-12 girls champion Koneru Humpy scored her second consecutive victory against MC Mohan to log two points from four games.

IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay 2.5 defeated Niel Berry 1.5 to move up the ladder.

Important 4th Round Results

IM D Gormally 4 bt GM J Emms 3; GM B Lalic 3.5 drew with GM C Ward 3.5; IM M Turner 3 drew with GM P Wells 3.5; IM Garry Lane 2.5 lost to IM J Rowson 3.5; GM P Thipsay 3.5 bt IM N Pert 2.5; IM A Kunte 2.5 lost to GM J Hodgson 3.5; GM S Conquest 3 drew with IM V Saravanan 3; J Gallagher 3 bt S Kidambi 2; IWM Anupama Gokhale 1.5 lost to C Duncan 2.5; IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay 2.5 bt Biel Berry 1.5; T Clarke 1 lost to IM K Sasikiran 2 MC Mohan 1 lost to IWM K Humpy 2