Junior6 teaches senior pro some lessons

The 500 spectators gathering at the auditorium by paying 10 deutsche mark each were witness to a historic win scored by Junior6 running on powerful Siemens processor. Hubner, a former world chess championship candidate, was so distressed by his own position after 20 moves that he threw in the towel unexpectedly.

It was an unusual gesture from the German Grandmaster known for his opening preparation. He tried to confuse the machine by selecting an obscure line and was left tied in knots by Junior6. FIDE world champion Khalifman felt that Hubner’s resignation was premature as the latter had not lost any material.

Akopian and Anand were involved in Semi Slav Variation of Queen’s Gambit defence. The Indian Grandmaster, playing with the slight disadvantage of black pieces, was allowed an easy equality by the Armenian. Anand’s ninth move of his King pawn left Akopian without any advantage and after trading of pieces at regular interval, peace was signed.

Top seeded Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik (1.5) was also helpless against Jeroen Piket’s solid handling of white side of Nimzo-Indian defence. The Dutchman emerged with a healthy pawn in the centre but felt Kramnik’s position was too firm to crack.

World champion Khalifman was mildly surprised to see teenaged Grandmaster Peter Leko abandoning his pet Grunfeld Defence and opting for Nimzo Indian defence. Khalifman, who had lost to Leko 1.5-4.5 in their match last year, decided to play it safe and proposed a draw after 15 moves.

Results of Round 2: V Akopian (0.5) drew V Anand (1.5), J Piket (0.5) drew V Kramnik (1.5), Junior6 (1.5) bt R Hubber (0), E Bareev (1) drew M Adams (1.50), A Khalifman (0.5) drew P Leko (1.5).

Indians share second spot

BENASQUE (SPAIN): It was another good day for the Indians as all three of them scored easy victories in the third round to share the joint second position in the Benasque Open Chess tournament here on Sunday. The Indians have 2.5 points each from three rounds.

International master RB Ramesh started the day’s proceedings with a fluent win over Rodriguez Perez in a French tarrasch variation. Playing with white pieces, Ramesh sacrificed a pawn for a lead in the developement.

Perez played some weakening moves on the kingside while Ramesh simply trippled his major pieces on the `C’ file and won a bishop for a pawn on the 20th move. Perez survived a few more moves but accepted the inevitable after the 26th move.

V Saravanan played aggressively against Mayer Schwartz who brought the queen out too early in a ruy-lopez opening. In the ensuing complications Schwartz lost his way and got into a passive position in an opposite coloured bishop middlegame.

Saravanan continued to put pressure and won the opponent’s queen for a rook and bishop. Thereafter he played a weak move giving his opponent an opportunity to hit back but neutralised just in time to finish the game.

Vedant Goswami kept up the tempo and won a fairly good game against Pellicer Cemeli with white pieces in a bogo Indian defence.

Cemeli wasted a few moves with his bishop and allowed Vedant to build a strong centre. After losing a pawn and blundering on an exchange, he resigned on the 35th move to give Vedant a well-deserved victory.

Top seed Lev Psakhis of Israel looked out of form and was held to a draw by Serrano Salvador.