Prakash clinches GM norm

Prakash prepared for Vladimirov but it is difficult to guess his opening because he varies often. A Kings-Indian type of middlegame was entered. Prakash had visualised a trap before and, Vladimirov fell for it, blundering with 16. `a5′, missing 17 `Nb5′, attacking the `c7′ queen with multiple threats. If Vladimirov had grabbed the knight with his pawn, he would lose an exchange by force after a few tactical blows.

He went for the lesser evil, giving the `d6′ pawn. Prakash won another pawn by move 27, forced exchange of queens and reached a double rook ending with his pawn on `d6′ (two steps from queening). The Kazakh could not grab the `d6′ pawn and go into a King-Pawn ending because it is theoretically a lost position. Disappointed with his play, Vladimirov played on hoping for some luck but Prakash made no mistake forcing resignation on the 50th turn with his `e’ passer unstoppable.

Reefat Bin Sattar of Bangladesh continued his magical run, scoring fourth straight victory at the expense of Devaki Prasad, who lost from a position of dominance. Prasad after winning a pawn in the French defence on the 18th move failed to increase his advantage. Reefat capitalised on that, sacrificing an exchange and threatening mate on the `h’ file with his queen on `c6′ and rook on `h4′. Pendyala Harikrishna kept his chances alive for the GM-norm overcoming Abhijit Kunte from the Queen’s-Indian defence in 61 moves. The position looked equal in the middlegame. However, Harikrishna got a timely `f4′ break in the 47th move after which Abhijit’s position crumbled. He won a pawn on the 54th move. He was about to win a piece when Abhijit decided it was enough. He requires three out of three for norm.

“It is impossible to beat you,” proclaimed Alexander Fominyh after drawing for the third consecutive time in a winning position against Sandipan Chanda in a marathon game lasting 94 moves.

Results (9th round): Prakash (Ind) 6 bt Vladimirov (Kaz) 6, Barua (Ind) 4.5 bt Ganguly (Ind) 2.5, Prasad (Ind) 2 lost to Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban) 5, Harikrishna (Ind) 5 bt Abhijit Kunte (Ind) 4, Yuldachev (Uzb) 3.5 bt Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (Irn) 3, Fominyh (Rus) 4.5 drew Sandipan Chanda (Ind) 2.5, Sasikiran (Ind) 5.5 bye.

Soman held to a draw

NAGPUR: Top seed Sachchidanand Soman was held to a draw by G Balaji on Wednesday in the third round of the ongoing 32nd Maharashtra State Selection Chess Tournament. Soman (2.5), who was among the overnight joint leaders, is now a half point away from the third round joint leaders.

Ketan Baricha, Pankaj Joshi, S Kotwal, Vikrant Chole, Sushant Bannerjee and BK Shrivastava are among the third round joint leader with a tally of three points to their credit.

Important Results (Round three): SS Soman (2.5) drew G Balaji (2.5), VN Ghate (2) lost to Pankaj Joshi (3), Ketan Baricha (3) bt Pradeep Paranjpe (2), S Kotwal (3) bt Sumukh Gaekwad (2), Vikrant Chole (3) bt Arjun Tiwari (2), Ravi Shankar (2.5) drew with DG Bhandarkar (2.5), Prasad Deshmukh (2.5) drew with Akash Thakur (2.5), Sushank Banerjee (3) bt Ashwini Kulkarni (2), Yashraj Aidasani (2.5) drew with Tejas Thorat (2.5), BK Shrivastava (3) bt Umesh Panbude (2), Ishwar Ramteke (1.5) drew with Shrikar Sabnis (1.5).