IM norm for Dinesh Kumar

CALCUTTA, February 14: Dinesh Kumar Sharma scored over International Master Reefat Bin Sattar of Bangladesh to record his maiden IM norm in the ninth round of the Goodricke International Open Chess Tournament here today.

Vishal Sareen 5.5 and PDS Girinath 5.5 obtained their third and final IM norm. While Girinath agreed to a quick draw with candidate IM V Saravanan, Vishal was lucky to wriggle out of a hopelessly lost position and score over GB Joshi who resigned immediately after blundering a piece.

GM D Barua 6 scored a thumping win over GM A Lastin of Russia with black pieces. Barua played the Semislav and sacrificed two pawns in the middle game to initiate a crushing attack on the opponent8217;s king.