Madurai boy youngest Indian to beat GM

The day’s highlight was the defeat of Macedonian GM Toni Naidoski to VK Sindhu on the lower board. The nine-year-old Madurai-based Sindhu became India’s youngest player to beat a GM. Earlier in 1995, Calcutta’s Surya Shekhar Ganguly, at 11, had beaten Uzebek GM Serper at the Goodricke Open.

Sindhu, a fifth standard student of Dolphin Public School, defeated Toni with black pieces in an Irregular Opening in which the GM came under time pressure and resigned in 36 moves. Sindhu had recently finished second in the National under-10 championship at Aurangabad in December 1999 and is currently Tamil Nadu’s under-9 champ.

Chennai’s Ebenezer Joseph jumped into sole lead with four points defeating Dilip Pagey on the top board in a 70-move battle. The two joint overnight leaders played an attacking game from the beginning with Joseph building his attack from the Queen’s side and Pagey counter attacking on the King’s side in the Close Sicilian Opening.

Five players, including three Grandmasters — Evegeny Vladimirov (Kazakhstan), Fominih Alexander (Russia) and Leonid Yurtaev (Kyrgyzstan) — and two Indians Safira Shanaz and Ravi Kumar were placed joint second with 3.5 points each.

Unrated Ravi Kumar from Raipur (MP) shocked IM Anup Deshmukh in 42 moves of a Perc Defence game. With Thursday’s result, Ravi has recorded two upsets. He beat WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay in the second round and held Koneru Humpy in the third.

The world under-18 champion, Aarthie, battled from an inferior position soon after the Nimzo Indian Defence Opening. She won a pawn in the middle-game with her opponent GM Gallagher Joseph of Switzerland coming under first time-pressure. Later, the GM lost a bishop while trying a counter-attack and resigned on the 46th move.

Important results (fourth round) :

Ebenezer Joseph (Ind, 4) bt Dilip Pagay (Ind, 3); GM Dibyendu Barua (Ind, 3) drew Safina Shanaz (Ind, 3.5); WIM Swati Ghate (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Evegeny Vladimirov (Kaz, 3.5); Koneru Humpy (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Fominih Alexander (Rus, 3.5); Deepan Chakravarthy (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Leonid Yurtaev (Kyr, 3.5); IM Anup Deshmukh (Ind, 2.5) lost to Ravi Kumar (Ind, 3.5); GM Andrei Charilla (Rus, 3) bt V Kamble (Ind, 2); Jayant Gokhale (Ind, 2) lost to GM Maxim Sorokin (Arg, 3); GM Goloshchapov Alexan (Rus, 3) bt Sushant Banerjee (Ind, 2); R Aarathie (Ind, 3) bt GM Gallanger Joseph (Swz, 2); Sai Meera Ravi (Ind, 2) lost to IM K Sasikiran (Ind, 3); Sunil Rangarajan (Ind, 2) lost to IM Abhijit Kunte (Ind, 3); GM Pravin Thipsay (Ind, 3) bt LP Khadilkar (Ind, 2); Nirosh de Silva (SL, 3) bt IM Zia-ur-Rahman (Bang, 3); Akshayraj Kore (Ind, 2.5) drew IM RB Ramesh (Ind, 2.5); GM Ibragilmov Ildar (Rus, 1.5) lost to IM DV Prasad (Ind, 2.5); WIM Nisha Mohota (Ind, 1.5) lost to SS Ganguly (Ind, 2.5); Atanu Lahiri (Ind, 1)lost to SR Radha (Ind, 2); Jaya Arunmathi (Ind, 1) lost to WIM S Vijayalakshmi (Ind, 2); P Harikrishna (Ind, 2) bt NL Kulkarni (Ind, 1); Ashwini Pacchapurkar (Ind, 1) lost to Tejas Bakre (Ind, 2); Santosh Sapkal (Ind, 1) lost to WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind, 2); Jayshree Sankpal (Ind, 1) lost to Saheli Dhar Barua (Ind, 2); IM V Sarvanan (Ind, 1.5) bt Pushpalata Mangal (Ind, 0.5); GM Toni Najdoski (Mec, 0) lost to V K Sindhu (Ind, 1).

Indian Oil employee DV Prasad played a controlled game to defeat Russian GM and No 2 Ibragilmov Ildar in the black side of Nimzo-Indian Defence. Prasad sacrificed a pawn to gain control over the centre. In the middle-game he brought his Queen and Bishop for attack and as calculated won his opponent’s bishop to force the Russian GM to resign in the 40th move. This was Prasad’s third win over the same opponent in as many games with black pieces.