Prathap gets rating; Murali takes lead

Kochi, May 7: A ninth-round reverse did not prove costly for top seed MB Muralidharan, who kept a one-point advantage over the rest of the...

Kochi, May 7: A ninth-round reverse did not prove costly for top seed MB Muralidharan, who kept a one-point advantage over the rest of the field after the 10th round of the Tal Chess Academy8217;s Fide rating tournament for the Air Travel Enterprises Trophy on Sunday.

Suresh, who had an extra pawn in a bishop versus knight ending, messed up the position and lost the pawn. The King and pawn ending ended in favour of white after 59 moves. Prathap Mohan reached 5.5 points and would get international rating in the next list.

PS Ameer jumped into the second position with a 58-move win over UC Mohanan in Sicilian Najdorf. Ameer sacrificed a pawn on the 13th move to trigger off a series of forcing moves that crippled Mohanan8217;s position. Ameer capped his game by sacrificing his knight to promote his Queenside pawn.

Arjun Vishnuvardhan8217;s luck seemed to have run out after his sensation results in the first half. He lost three games in a row from the eighth round and was in the fourth position with 5.5 points. In the ninth round, Arjun lost to PV Gireesh, who won a pawn with the Kings Indian Attack against the French Defence on move 35. Arjun lost the King and pawn ending in 49 moves. In the 10th round, Arjun sacrificed a piece in French Defence to get attack but Unas returned the compliment with an exchange sacrifice. Unas came up with another sacrifice to force mate after 35 moves.

KV Alfred put himself in line for his Fide rating by getting to 4.5 points but he has to wait till the next list to confirm it or get a draw in the last round to ensure it.

Results

10th round: MB Muralidharan 7 w/o Jayakumar 0.5; Arjun Vishnuvardhan 5.5 lost to Unas KA 4; KV Alfred 4.5 bt PV Gireesh 5.5; M Kannan 4 lost to Ganesh Bhat 5.5; PS Ameer 6.5 bt UC Mohanan 5.5; Prathap Mohan 5.5 bt T J Sureshkumar 6.

9th round: UC Mohanan 5.5 bt MB Muralidharan 6; TJ Sureshkumar 6 bt M Kannan 4; PV Gireesh 5.5 bt Arjun Vishnuvardhan 5.5; Unas 3 lost to Prathap Mohan 4.5; Ganesh Bhat 4.5 drew Ameer 5.5; Alfred 3.5 drew Jayakumar 0.5.