Khalifman succumbs in sixty moves, Round One to Barua

Las Vegas, Aug 1: Indian grandmaster Dibyendu Barua of India opened his campaign at the FIDE World Chess Championships in style with a st...

Las Vegas, Aug 1: Indian grandmaster Dibyendu Barua of India opened his campaign at the FIDE World Chess Championships in style with a stunning victory over Russian Alexander Khalifman in the first round here yesterday.Playing with white pieces against 36th seed Khalifman, Barua, seeded 72, posted an impressive 60-move win. He needs a draw today, playing black in the second match of Round one, to advance to the second round. If Barua loses, he will face Khalifman in the tie-breaker tomorrow.

Barua, who arrived on the world chess scene when he was just 13 beating the then World No 2 Victor Korchnoi, is scheduled to meet American Gata Kamsky, who is making a comeback after a three-year hibernation devoted to studies in micr-biology, in the second round. The Indian with an Elo rating of 2550 — 78 rungs below the Russian — is the country’s lone entry at the championship. The seven-round elimination tournament continues through August.

Twentyfive of the scheduled 36 games threw up clear winners. Notableupsets, with black pieces were posted by 85th-seed Pavel Kotsur over Sergey Dolmatov of Russia, seeded 49th; Adres Rodriguez (88) of Uruguay over Karen Asrian (52) of Armenia and Daniel Fridman (78) of Latvia over Utut Adianto (42) of Indonesia. Those posting upsets with the white pieces, besides Barua, were Levon Aronian (87) of Armenia over Eduardas Rozentalis (51) of Lithuania; Ta Shaked (91) of US over Vlastimil Babula (55) of Czech Republic; Ralf Akesson (76) of Sweden over Anthony Miles (40) of England.

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Three players — Amir Bagheri of Iran, Imad Hakki of Syria and Vadim Milov of Switzerland — failed to appear for their games, the last-named because he could not make it in time after winning the Biel festival. Bagheri and Hakki could not get their visas.

Round one (results)

Maya Chiburdanidze lost Vladimir Akopian; Ivan Sokolov bt Sergey Kudrin; Alexander Ivanov lost Gilberto Milos; Utut Adianto lost Daniel Friedman; Imad Hakki lost Hichem Hamdouchi (w/o); Matthias Wahls bt Altin Cela;Alexander Zubarev drew Hannes Stefansson; Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu bt Stefan Djuric; Rafael Leitao bt Amir Bagheri (w/o); Dibyendu Barua bt Alexander Khalifman; Karen Asrian lost Andres Rodriguez; Pablo Ricardi drew Jonathan Speelman; Joel Lautier bt Watu Kobese; Ralf Akesson bt Anthony Miles; Ulf Andersson bt Esam Ahmed Nagib Mohammed; Peter Nielsen drew Joel Benjamin; Vladislav Tkachiev bt Alejandro Hoffman; Vladimir Feldman lost Jordi Magem Badals; Rogelio Antonio Jr bt Alexander Kozak; Jaan Ehlvest bt Friso Nijboer; Tal Shaked bt Vlastimil Babula; Aleksej Aleksandrov bt Julio Becerra Rivero; Liang Chong drew Goran Dizdar; Rustam Kasimdzhanov drew Christian Bauer; Levon Aronian bt Eduardas Rozentalis; Boris Gulko bt Dmitri Reinderman; Slim Bouaziz lost Vasilios Kotronias; Alexey Dreev drew Robert Zelcic; Kevin Spraggett drew Alex Yermolinsky; Xiaomin Peng drew Darmen Sadvakasov; Mihail Kobalija drew Nick DeFirmian; Lev Psakhis drew Alonso Zapata; Mohammed Al-Modiahki drew Ruslan Ponomariov; SergeyDolmatov lost Pavel Kotsur; Dmitry Gurevich drew Sergei Tiviakov; Bartlomiej Macieja bt Vadim Milov (w/o).