Prakash maintains form, holds Dutch GM

The higher seeds continued to have a tough time for the second day in succession and Indian Airelines’ international master Tejas Bakre held GM Dimitri Komarov to a draw from the black side of a Slav Botvinnik game. Komarov was surprised at the in-depth opening preparation of Tejas and decided to sign the truce in the first time control itself.

Playing white Prakash faced the Queens Gambit accepted of Reinderman and allowed black to get a balanced position in the resulting middlegame. Reinderman tried improving his position after the trade of queens but Prakash maintained a keen vigil on black’s resources to steer the game to a draw in the minor piece endgame.

Humpy looked set to attain her woman Grandmaster norm if her form here was any indication. In her pet Reti opening with white pieces the Andhra girl got a slight advantage in the middlegame and slowly started to squeeze Murlikrishnam on both flanks. As the game approached endgame Humpy pocketed a pawn and displayed a picturesque manoeuvre to trap Murlikrishna’s knight.

Indian Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte accounted for his Indian Oil teammate Surya Shekhar Ganguly from the white side of a Ruy Lopez Arkhengelsk variation game. Ganguly played the theoretically established pawn sacrifice but did not continue in the most effective manner. Abhijit came up with a surprising knight manoeuvre after which Surya found it hard to maintain the coordination of his pieces.

Local Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua gave a lesson to Mariano Nelson of Phillipines who omitted from the regular theory in the Sicilian defense.

Showing his prowess in middlegame intricacies, Barua routinely developed his pieces before going for the kill with a well timed attack against the king.

Owing to the sudden demise of Mohan Saha, an arbitor of this tournament, in the wee hours of Wednesday, the players observed a two minutes silence to pay tribute to the departed soul before the start of the game.