Tags:
Journalism of Courage
SANGLI, FEB 22: Four Grand Masters including one Indian experienced surprises in the Commonwealth Chess Championship as they suffered opening day jolts with three of them being forced to share points while one from Macedonia was the worst hit losing to Bangladesh’s International Master Reefat Bin Sattar.
At the Krishna Valley Complex on Monday, India’s IM V Sarvanan, though mishandling the opening, managed to hold England’s GM Gallagher Joseph with black pieces in a Sicilian defence game. Another shocking performance came from Sriram Jha of India, who despite blundering in time pressure, held Uzbekistan’s GM Yuldashev Saidali in 43 moves of the old Indian defence.
IM Tehas Bakre drew with GM Pravin Thipsay with ease in the Ruy Lopez opening. Both players, wanting to play it safe, agreed for a draw on the 15th move, with only one piece being exchanged on the board.
However, one interesting match was recorded on the day with IM Sasikiran, here with a one-point agenda of attaining his GM title which he missed by a whisker (at Udaipur and Calcutta recently), going through a fully stretched round before winning over TS Ravi in the Scotch opening.
Sasikiran, with black, escaped safely from the first time trouble and held on to his fort with a pawn up, to force Ravi to resign in 79 moves.
Another Indian WIM S Vijayalakshmi, who also has a similar case like Sasikiran — getting the nine-game norm to complete the WGM title, however, got off to a bad start, losing to Indian GM Dibyendu Barua in a six-hour battle.
Meanwhile, defending champion Atanur Lahiri, winner of the Bikaner Commonwealth Championship, did not take off as per expected, losing to GM Maxim Sorokin of Argentina. The Indian, with black, did not handle the Catalan opening properly and later blundered, resigning in the 19th move.
Important results (1st round):
Suryasekhar Ganguly (Ind, 0) lost to GM Andrei Charilla (Rus, 1); GM Ibragimov Iidar (Rus, 1) bt IM GB Prakash (Ind, 0); Sundarajan Kidambi (Ind, 0) lost to GM Evgeny Vladimiorov (Kyr, 1); GM Maxim Sorokin (Arg, 1) bt Atanur lahiri (Ind, 0); IM DV Prasad (Ind, 0) lost to GM A Goloshchapov (Ukr, 1); GM Gallagher Joseph (Eng, 0.5) drew with IM V Sarvananan (Ind, 0.5); Wim S Vijayalaxmi (0, 0) lost to GM Dibyendu Barua (Ind, 1); GM Fornonih Alexander (Rus, 1) bt IM P Harikrishna (Ind, 0); IM Reefan Bin Sattar (Ban, 1) bt GM Toni Najdoski (Mel, 0); GM Yurtaev Leonid (Kyr, 1) bt S Gokhale (Ind, 0); FM TS Ravi (Ind, 0) lost to IM K Sasikiran (Ind, 1); GM Safin Shurat (Uzb, 1) bt IM Konguvel (Ind, 0); Sriram Jha (Ind,0.5) drew with GM Yuldashev Saidali (Uzb, 1); IM Abhijit Kunte (Ind, 1) bt Nirosh De Silva (SL,0); IM Tejas Bakre (Ind, 0.5) drew with GM Pravin Thipsay (Ind, 0.5); VKV Sudan (Ind) lost to Jayant Gokhale (Ind, 1); WIM Swati Ghate (Ind, 1) bt Chaitanya Vaidya (Ind, 0); SR Radha (Ind, 0.5) drew with WIMNisha Mohota (Ind, 0.5); WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind, 1) bt Pushpalata Mangal (Ind, 0); Krutika Nadig (Ind, 0) lost to Koneru Humpy (Ind, 1); VK Sindhu (Ind 0) lost to R Arathie (Ind, 1)
