Harikrishna proves a hard nut for Aarthie

The tie between Harikrishna and World Under-18 championaarthie in King’s Indian defence (Yugoslav variation) was a tough battle.

When it was transposed to an end game Harikrishna’s bishop was shackled by his own pawns with his rook and knight in good combination.

But by the time Aarthie brought her knight into play, Harikirshna had broken open on the kingside and brought up his king to support his advanced pawn.

Aarthie toiled hard to force at least a draw but finally gave up on the 58th move when Harikrishna’s king started to march on menacingly.

In another clash, Sandipan Chanda of India suffered a setback against compatriot GM Sasikiran with white side of Ruy Lopez while in a dull and drab all-Russia affair GM Ionov drew with GM Fominyh after just 15 moves in Caro-Kann defence.

International Master Surya Sekhar Ganguly was fully stretched by National champion and International woman Master S Vijayalakshmi before they agreed to a draw.

The duel between Sorokin and Kunte changed from Nimzo-Indian to a king Indian attack and was also well contested. The Argentine took long to make his moves in the opening stages while his Indian rival looked very good at tactical play.

When Kunte offered a pawn on queen side for attack on his enemy king it looked as though a decisive result would materialise, but Sorokin found a way out of the difficult situation and forced the latter to repeat the queen’s move and earn a draw in 30 moves.

Chanda and Sasikiran clashed in a Zaitsev variation of Ruy Lopez and played for a win. The former, however, got into time trouble and bungled to lose his e4 pawn to give his rival the much needed advantage to force a win in 54 moves.

Ganguly and Vijayalakshmi exhibited their tactical prowess in their match which commenced in an irregular King-pawn opening.

The fireworks started as early as the 12th move when Ganguly offered a free pawn b4. Vijayalakshmi declined the offer.

Ganguly then went for complicated moves to force his rival to think long and hard. When the tactical skirmishes were over and smoke was cleared, Vijayalakshmi had a passed king rook pawn on seventh rank which Ganguly stopped from queening and the game ended in a draw after 74 moves.

Results (Round six): GM E Vladimirov (Kaz, 3.5) bye; GM S Ionov (Rus, 2) drew with GM A Fominyh (Rus, 3); IM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (Ind, 2.5) drew with IWM Vijayalakshmi (Ind, 2); GM Sorokin (Arg, 3.5) drew with GM A Kunte (Ind, 2); IM P Harikrishna (Ind, 3.5) beat IWM Aarthie R (Ind, 0.5), IM S Chanda (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Sasikiran (Ind, 3).