Overnight leaders disposed

MUMBAI, May 13: Overnight the lead changed hands in the International Rating Chess Tournament at the Andheri Sports Complex. Sandipan Chanda...

MUMBAI, May 13: Overnight the lead changed hands in the International Rating Chess Tournament at the Andheri Sports Complex. Sandipan Chanda, a teenager from West Bengal and Pankaj Josshi of Western were defeated by Roktim Bandopadhyay and K Vishweshwaran after the seventh round here today.

IM8217;s Sharad Tilak of Union Bank, Bangladesh national champion Enamul Hussain, Sandipan Chanda, Pankaj Joshi, top seed GB Prakash ELO 2430, Sriram Jha of LIC 2360, TS Ravi, Avinash Awate, Rahul Shetty of Indian Airlines, Jayant Gokhale of Bharat Petroleum, Atanu Lahiri of LIC are in the second position with 5.5 points.

On the top board Chanda, playing black, opted for the Two Knights defence and gained some advantage to counter Bandopadhyay8217;s King Pawn opening. However, Bandopadhyay activated his queen side and was able to create a passer on the d file which forced Chanda to retreat his pieces to stop the d pawn from queening.

Bandopadhyay combined two minor pieces and rook to win a piece and steered the end-gameto a victory after 61 move.

On the 2nd board Joshi opted for his pet Sicilian Dragon variation against K Vishweswaran8217;s TN King pawn opening. Joshi gained equality easily as his pieces were placed well. By the 21st move, Joshi had achieved a very good position as Vishweswaran was on the verge of losing one minor piece.

To avoid loss of material, Vishweswaran gave up his queen against rook and continued in a hopeless position. Joshi gave the game away in a platter by playing a reckless queen move which allowed Vishweswaran to force mate on his opponent.

WFM Saheli Dhar-Barua Rlys continued her impressive run with a draw against 2nd seed Chandrasekhar Gokhale IA.

RESULTS

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Sandipan Chanda 5.5 lost to Roktim Handopadhyay 6; K Vishweswaran 6 bt Pankaj Joshi 5.5; Enamul Hussain 5.5 drew with Sharad Tilak 5.5; GB Prakash 5.5 bt SR Kidambi 4.5; Saheli Dhar-Barua 5 drew with CS Gokhale 5; Sriram Jha 5.5 bt N Neelakantan 4.5; TS Ravi 5.5 bt Deepak Andurkar 4.5; Rahul Shetty 5.5 bt Manthan Choksi4.5; Jayant Gokhale 5.5 bt Amardeep Bartakke 4.5; Santanu Lahiri 4.5 lost to Avinash Awate 5.5.