Safira lets Barua off the hook

Sindhu, a fifth standard student of Dolphin Public School, defeated Toni with black pieces in an irregular opening in which the GM came into time pressure and resigned in 36 moves. Sindhu had recently finished second in the National under-10 championship at Aurangabad in December 1999 and is currently Tamil Nadu’s under-9 champ.

Chennai’s Ebenezer Joseph jumped into sole lead with four points defeating Dilip Pagey on the top board in a 70-move battle. The two joint overnight leaders played an attacking game from the beginning with Joseph building his attack from the Queen’s side and Pagey counter attacking on the King’s side in the Close Sicilian opening. The position was equal with both sides indulging into heavy exchange.

Towards the end, Pagey tempted by Joseph’s move of sacrificing a rook, overlooked the possibility of the opponents’ chance of Queening a seventh ranked pawn and resigned immediately.

Five players, including three Grandmasters Evegeny Vladimirov (Kazakistan), Fominih Alexander (Russia) and Leonid Yurtaev (Kyrazgystan) and two Indians Safira Shanaz and Ravi Kumar are placed joint second with 3.5 points each.

Unrated Ravi Kumar from Raipur (MP) shocked IM Anup Deshmukh in 42 moves of Perc defence game. With Thursday’s result, Ravi has recorded two upsets. He beat WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay in the second round and held Koneru Humpy in the third.

Indian Oil employee DV Prasad defeated Russian GM and No 2 Ibragilmov Ildar in the black side of Nimzo-Indian defence. Prasad sacrificed a pawn to gain control over the centre. In the middle-game, he brought his queen and bishop for attack and as calculated won his opponents bishop to force the Russian GM to resign in the 40th move.

Safira Shanaz left the tournament hall in tears after she allowed Barua escape from the jaws of defeat on the second board. Safira, joint overnight leader, arrived at an ending position with two rooks as against two pawn and queen of her opponent. Being two or three moves away from forcing a mate, with Barua’s King trapped in the corner, Safira overlooked the position and gave perpetual checks to settle for a draw. Barua, who had mishandled the position earlier and was in deep water, breath a sigh of relief: “I was lucky today.”

The world under-18 champion, Aarthie battled from an inferior position soon after the Nimzo Indian defence opening. She won a pawn in the middle-game with her opponent GM Gallagher Joseph of Switzerland coming under first time-pressure. Later, the GM lost a bishop in trying for a counter-attack and resigned on the 46th move.

IM elect Ganguly celebrated his birthday with a win over WIM and current National Junior Championship Nisha Mohota while Sundarajan Kidambi pulled out of the championship because of ill health.

Important results (fourth round)

Ebenezer Joseph (Ind, 4) bt Dilip Pagay (Ind, 3); GM Dibyendu Barua (Ind, 3) drew Safina Shanaz (Ind, 3.5); WIM Swati Ghate (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Evegeny Vladimirov (Kaz, 3.5); Koneru Humpy (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Fominih Alexander (Rus, 3.5); Deepan Chakravarthy (Ind, 2.5) lost to GM Leonid Yurtaev (Kyr, 3.5); IM Anup Deshmukh (Ind, 2.5) lost to Ravi Kumar (Ind, 3.5); GM Andrei Charilla (Rus, 3) bt V Kamble (Ind, 2); Jayant Gokhale (Ind, 2) lost to GM Maxim Sorokin (Arg, 3); GM Goloshchapov Alexan (Rus, 3) bt Sushant Banerjee (Ind, 2); R Aarathie (Ind, 3) bt GM Gallanger Joseph (Swz, 2); Sai Meera Ravi (Ind, 2) lost to IM K Sasikiran (Ind, 3); Sunil Rangarajan (Ind, 2) lost to IM Abhijit Kunte (Ind, 3); GM Pravin Thipsay (Ind, 3) bt LP Khadilkar (Ind, 2); Nirosh de Silva (SL, 3) bt IM Zia-ur-Rahman (Bang, 3); Akshayraj Kore (Ind, 2.5) drew IM RB Ramesh (Ind, 2.5); GM Ibragilmov Ildar (Rus, 1.5) lost to IM DV Prasad (Ind, 2.5); WIM Nisha Mohota (Ind, 1.5) lost to SS Ganguly (Ind, 2.5); Atanu Lahiri (Ind, 1)lost to SR Radha (Ind, 2); Jaya Arunmathi (Ind, 1) lost to WIM S Vijayalakshmi (Ind, 2); P Harikrishna (Ind, 2) bt NL Kulkarni (Ind, 1); Ashwini Pacchapurkar (Ind, 1) lost to Tejas Bakre (Ind, 2); Santosh Sapkal (Ind, 1) lost to WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind, 2); Jayshree Sankpal (Ind, 1) lost to Saheli Dhar Barua (Ind, 2); IM V Sarvanan (Ind, 1.5) bt Pushpalata Mangal (Ind, 0.5); GM Toni Najdoski (Mec, 0) lost to V K Sindhu (Ind, 1).