Sandipan Chanda finds form

Linares, January 17: IM RB Ramesh missed a win and was forced to split the point while Sandipan Chanda struck form once again on an otherw...

Linares, January 17: IM RB Ramesh missed a win and was forced to split the point while Sandipan Chanda struck form once again on an otherwise luckless day for Indians in the ninth round of the Linares international open chess championship here.

Trailing at five points, Ramesh will have to get his act together to catch up with GM Etienne Bacrot 2618 of France who came back into the reckoning with his fifth straight win over GM Motylev of Russia to emerge the sole leader with seven points.

A miscalculation of sorts on the part of previous-round winner Ramesh 2467 allowed IM Mateo Ramon 2372 to escape with a draw. In the Sicilian Taimanov Ramesh had obtained a huge advantage, pushing Ramon to the wall right from the opening. After failing to capitalise on innovative ideas, Ramesh went for a long combination to miss a crucial defence from his opponent to land in an opposite coloured bishop ending. The draw was agreed on the 43rd move.

Sandipan Chanda joined Ramesh on five points with an easy win over IM Agopov 2354 from Finland. Chanda played a rare variation with black in a Scheveningen variation of Sicilian. Unable to withstand the pressure on the Queenside, Agopov lost two pawns to subsequently resign on the 32nd move.Dinesh Kumar Sharma 2353 drew with WGM Almira Skripchenko 2450 of Moldova. IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy 2250 escaped from an adverse position to earn a draw against unrated Spaniard Ramos Martin.

Chandrasekhar Gokhale 2326 held higher seeded Armenian IM Kharatorosian 2405 to a creditable draw. Sriram Jha 2412 was also involved in a draw with lowly rated Sanchez from Philippines.

Rahul Shetty 2331 enjoyed a slight advantage right from the beginning against Shevelevacirc;euro;trade;s Caro-Kann defence. Due to time constraint Shetty had to agree to a draw. Visweswaran 2289 failed to find the right plan in the Sicilian Alapin against young IM Khamrakulov of Uzbekistan and allowed a dangerous attack on his king. In time pressure, Visweswaran lost a piece and the game.

Important results: Bacrot 7 bt Motylev 6; Z Zong 6 bt Epishin 6; RB Ramesh 5 drew with Ramon Mateo 5; Almira 4.5 drew with DK Sharma 4.5; Agopov 4 lost to Sandipan Chanda 5; Khamrakulov 5 bt Visweswaran 4; CS Gokhale 4 drew with Karatorosian 4; Rahul Shetty 4 drew with A Shevelev 4; Sriram Jha 3.5 drew with Sanchez 3.5; San Martin Ramos 3.5 drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy 3.5.