Kunte, Sasikiran stay in race foe chess tourney

Sasikiran (PSCB), who also achieved the Grandmaster norm along with Kunte recently, came back from the jaws of defeat to subdue 43-year-old IM RaviHegde. The win increased Sasikiran ‘s tally to 9.5 points and he now occupies the second place.

GM Dibyendu Barua of TISCO was forced into a draw by IM GB Prakash to claim the third spot with nine points. In a tournament where most of the top players are struggling to maintain form, Kunte seems to be relishing the contest. Playing with black pieces against Sareen, the bearded Kunte opted for the Scheveningen Variation of Sicilian Defence against the e4 openingand maintained equality until the middle-game where both sides had oppositely squared bishops.

Kunte picked out on the `e’ file pawn of Sareen attacking methodically tofinally win it on the 35th move. Later, in the end-game, Kunte made effective use of his active pieces to target Sareen’s exposed King, keeping it under constant threat. With the writing on the wall, Kunte achieved victory on the 53rd move with a successful combination.

Sasikiran displayed subtle variations to score a win from a losing position.Facing the English Opening of Hegde, the Grandmaster played some passive moves to be left cramped in the centre.

Soon, Hegde doubled his queen and bishop on the long al-h8 diagonal to launch an attack on Sasikiran’s kingside. Hegde’s plan worked well but when just on the verge of victory the player blundered with weakmoves that gave Sasikiran the room to fight back.

Neutralising the board, Sasikiran made the most of an exchange of passed pawns on the queenside that resulted in a deserving win in 55 moves.

Unlike Sasikiran, Grandmaster Barua had to be satisfied with a draw against IM GB Prakash. The players followed the theory of Queen’s Gambit declinefor 19 moves when Barua came up with a novelty. It, however, turned out to be a rash move and pushed the the advantage towards Prakash.

Realising the error, Barua played actively and repulsed all of Prakash’sthreats but that was of no help as the winning position was already lost. With no more chances forthcoming, Prakash agreed for a draw.

Smiles returned to IM P Harikrishna’s face as the 14-year-old scored a win after two successive defeats.

He outwitted IM Lanka Ravi (PSCB) in a game of Queen’s Indian defence. As is his wont, Harikrishna deviated, this time soon after the 10th move. To hold Harikrishna’s tactics, Lanka decided to complicate the game giving up twominor pieces for a rook and two pawns.

Harikrishna now used the actively placed minor pieces well to create attacks. Defending against the nasty threats was a tough job and Lanka had to part with two extra pawns that gave Harikrishna a huge material advantage that ultimately forced Lanka Ravi to resign the on 34th move.

IM Neelotpal Das of Goodricke Academy outlassed Sundararajan Kidambi of Tamil Nadu in the Grunfield defence game exploring a new line on the 10th move playing a4. Unacquainted with the intricacies of the position Kidambi was left cramped. In the end game, Kidambi went into time trouble only to give up immediately.

GM Pravin Thipsay was held by Sriram Jha of LIC after a keen tussle while Sandipan Chanda forced Fide Master TS Ravi to split the point. Games will resume, after a rest day, on Friday.

Results (14th round): Pravin Thipsay (7.5) drew Sriram Jha (4.5), Neelotpal Das (6) bt S Kidambi (4.5), Ravi Hegde (6) lost to K Sasikiran (9.5), Lanka Ravi (4) lost to P Harikrishna (6.5), K Murugan (6) drew SS Ganguly (7.5), TS Ravi (7.5) drew Sandipan Chanda (6.5), Vishal Sareen (5.5) lost to Abhijit Kunte (11), GB Prakash (5.5) drew ibyendu Barua (9), Atanu Lahiri (4.5) drew DV Prasad (8), V Sarvanan (6.5) bye.

Game of the Day

White: Vishal Sareen Black: Abhijit Kunte

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Qc76. Be2 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Be3 d6 9. Kh1 Be7 10. f4 O-O11. Qe1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. a3 Bb7 14. Qg3 Bc6 15.Rae1 Rae8 16. e5 dxe5 17. Bxe5 Qc8 18. Bd3 g6 19. Qh3Nd7 20. Ne4 Bxe4 21. Rxe4 f5 22. Ree1 Nxe5 23. fxe5Rd8 24. Qh6 Rd4 25. Rf4 Rfd8 26. Rxd4 Rxd4 27. Qe3 Qd728. Qf3 Rd5 29. a4 Bb4 30. Re3 bxa4 31. Bxa6 Rd1+ 32.Bf1 Qd4 33. Rd3 Rxd3 34. Qxd3 Qxb2 35. Qa6 Qxe5 36.Qxa4 Bc5 37. Qe8+ Kg7 38. Qd7+ Kh6 39. Qd2+ g5 40. g3Kg6 41.Qd3 Bb6 42. g4 Qc5 43. gxf5+ exf5 44. Qg3 h545. h3 g4 46. hxg4 hxg4 47. c4 Kg5 48. Be2 Qd4 49. Qg2Qa1+ 50. Bf1 Qd4 51. Be2 Qh8+ 52. Qh2 Qa1+ 53. Kg2 Qe1Sareen resigns.