Negi drops to 15th,Tejas earns IM norm

Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi dropped to the 15th spot after losing to Eduardo Itturizaga but Tejas Ravichandran managed to earn his maiden International Master norm,beating Vladimir Grabinsky of Ukraine in the penultimate round of the 12th Dubai Open chess tournament on Tuesday.

Playing black,Itturizaga found a hole in Negi’s analysis in the late stages of the middle game and his strike on the queen side to rip apart the Indian’s king position came just in time. The players reached a queen and pawns endgame soon after wherein Itturizaga’s extra pawns were unstoppable.

However,Ravichandran justified his rocking start with a finely crafted victory over Grabinsky from the black pieces. The young Indian had won his first three games against Grandmaster opposition and then lost the next three. A victory in this round has ensured Ravichandran an IM norm even in the case of an eventuality in the next round.