Ramesh in line for GM norm

BIKANER, APRIL 20: International Master RB Ramesh continued his dream run by defeating top-seed Grandmaster Anthony Miles of England in t...

BIKANER, APRIL 20: International Master RB Ramesh continued his dream run by defeating top-seed Grandmaster Anthony Miles of England in the fifth round of the Sixth Commonwealth Chess Championship being played here at Lallgarh Palace hotel.

Ramesh has thus far won all his games and is a clear point ahead of nearest rivals GM Alexander Baburin (Ireland), IM DV Prasad, IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay and Atanu Lahiri all of whom have 4 points each.

Playing with the white pieces today, Miles opted for the Symet Recal setup in the Queens Gambit declined. A position akin to the Tartakovar variation with colours reversed arose and Ramesh got his central pawns rolling with irresistible threat on the Kings wing. Miles put up stiff resistance and sacrificed a bishop for three pawns. In the ensuing end game Ramesh played in copy book fashion and blockaded the passer pawns to eventually break through on the Kingside. Miles resigned after 57 moves.

Ramesh is now in contention for his maiden Grandmaster norm alongwith thecoveted Commonwealth champion title.

The duel between Grandmasters on the second board, Dibyendu Barua and Baburin did not provide much excitement and the players decided to sign peace treaty in an unclear position arising out of a Sicilian Nazdorf.

Bhagyashree Thipsay improved her chances for woman Grandmaster norm by getting the better of Roy Phillip of Welsh who played the Alekhine defence with black pieces. Bhagyashree obtained substantial positional advantage out of the opening and uncorked a fine Kingside attack to win comfortably.

Prasad played an exciting game to overcome the challenge of K Visweshwaran in a rarely played variation of Sicilian defence in 42 moves.

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Lahiri defeated former National champion IM P Konguvel in a French defence Tarrasch variation with black pieces. Konguvel got a huge advantage out of the opening but blundered a rook through a tactical oversight to lose rather tamely.

GM Pravin Thipsay (3.5) could make no headway against V Koshy’s (3.5) closed treatment to hisCaro-Kann defence and had to settle for a draw after 15 moves.

IM norm holder CS Gokhale accounted for English IM Andre Webster to move onto 3.5 points. In an irregular opening Gokhale (white) took advantage of his advanced queenside pawns to win in a queen and rook endgane.

Other important results: Mohd Waqar, Pak (2.5 pts) lost to Anup Deshmukh (3.5), Mahmood Lodhi, Pak (3.5) bt Sriram Jha (2.5), K Murugan (3.5) bt SB De (2.5), Swati Ghate (2.5) lost to Sandipan Chanda (3), Subburaman Vijayalaxmi (2.5) drew with Mas Hafizulhelmi, Malaysia (2.5), Vedant Goswami (3) bt Roktim Bandopadhyay (2), P Harikrishna (3) bt Chandrashekar Gokhale (2), Dilip Pagey (3) bt Sudhakar Babu (2), Saheli Barua (2) lost to Surya Sekar Ganguly (3), Soundderrajan Kidambi (3) bt Nassir Wajih (2), Arghyadeep Das (2) lost to GP Singh (3), Rahul Shetty (3) bt Arjun Oberoi (2).