Sasikiran floors Florian, placed second

MUMBAI, July 23: National champion Krishnan Sasikiran outplayed German Florian Handke to share the second spot while double GM-norm holde...

MUMBAI, July 23: National champion Krishnan Sasikiran outplayed German Florian Handke to share the second spot while double GM-norm holder Abhijit Kunte and IM V Saravanan were held to draw in the fourth round of the Open International Chess Championship here.

Sasikiran, who lost the lead after going down to GM Rufet Bagirov of Azerbaijan in the previous round, bounced back into contention with a fine positional victory yesterday from the white side of Nimzo Indian defence to take his points tally to three.

GMs Mark Tseitlin (3) of Israel and Swiss Vadim Milov (3) shared the point to join him at second position even as the top spot in the 11-round Swiss League event got crowded again.

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Grandmasters Sergey Volkov and Nukhim Rashkovsky (both Russia) joined overnight leaders IMs Bagirov of Azerbaijan and Israel’s Dmitry Tyomkin at the top with 3.5 points.

The top board clash between Bagirov and Tyomkin ended peacefully after some shadow boxing by both the players. But GM Rashkovsky played a brilliant gameto score a powerful victory against Othmann of UAE.

Kunte and Saravanan (both 2.5 points) were held to fighting draw by two Germans.

While Kunte was forced to share the point by Oliver Koeller who swapped heavy pieces in the English opening after the Indian had wrested the initiative by opening the Queen’s flank, Saravanan failed to press home his overwhelming advantage against Fide Master Schmidt.

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Saravanan was in an advantageous position against Schmidt but squandered away his chances in the endgame when he overlooked a rook move by his opponent to draw the game.

Former national champion and GM norm holder DV Prasad (2) also bounced back into the fray by accounting for David Koenig of the United States. Prasad won his second game in the tournament after two consecutive defeats.

Koenig employed the open variation of the Ruy Lopez but Prasad obtained a technical edge in the middle game. After winning a pawn, Prasad, looking for his final GM norm here, sacrificed his e’ pawn and queened his f’pawn, forcing Koenig to give up the struggle.

National junior champion S Kidambi (2) was however unlucky to lose in a drawn rook and pawn ending against the experienced Russian IM Alexander Cherneav.

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GM Pravin Thipsay (2.5) was held to his second draw in a row by Fide Master Jenni Florian of Switzerland in a hair-raising battle stretching to 56 moves from a Sicilian Alapin variation. Thipsay was held by little-known Luis Baquero of Colombia in the third round.

IWM Anupama Gokhale went down to GM Ciric of Yugoslavia.

Important results (fourth round)

Bagirov (Azerbaijan) 3.5 drew with Tyomkin (Israel) 3.5; Mark Tesitlin (Israel) 3 drew with Vadim Milov (Swi) 3; Rashkovsky (Rus) 3.5 bt Othmann (UAE) 2.5; K Sasikiran (Ind) 3 bt Handke (Ger) 2; Kunte (Ind) drew with Koeller (Ger) 2.5; Florian (Swi) 2.5 drew with Thipsay (Ind) 2.5; Schmidt (Ger) 2.5 drew with Saravanan (Ind) 2.5.