Sasikiran widens lead with seventh win

NAGPUR, MARCH 31: With International Master Tejas Bakre drawing with IM RB Ramesh 6.5, leaders IM Krishnan Sasikiran 7.5 widened the ...

NAGPUR, MARCH 31: With International Master Tejas Bakre drawing with IM RB Ramesh 6.5, leaders IM Krishnan Sasikiran 7.5 widened the lead between him and the rest of the field to one point after his victory over Fide Master TS Ravi in the BPCL 36th National A Chess Championship at the VBA Hall.

Sasikiran had little trouble outwitting Ravi in 35 moves. Others to win the eighth round were IM and two Grandmaster Norm holder Abhijit Kunte 5.5, third place, IM Ponnuswamy Konguvel 4 and IM Devki Prasad 4. The remaining five games ended in draws.

Sasikiran-Ravi game was the Scotch Gambit. Ravi denied Sasikiran the right to castle his King by capturing the f7 with his bishop. However, the ONGC lad attacked Ravi8217;s castled King by doubling his rooks and using a strong bishop on d5. Ravi, known for his lack of speed, overstepped the time limit and lost on the 36th move.

Kunte white and SK Rathore played the Ruy Lopez game in which no pieces were exchanged till the 32nd move but the former was a pawndown. On the 33rd move, Kunte made a bold sacrificed of his queen for two rooks. Rathore could have utilised the opportunity to squeeze Kunte but failed to convert his chances and even missed a draw due to time pressure. Kunte was through in 56 moves.

Playing white, Konguvel 4 faced Shankar Roy8217;s 1 Sicilian Defence. By the 24th move most of the major pieces were off the board. Both the players had two rooks but Konguvel had four pawns to Roy8217;s three and he converted the advantage to win in 46 moves.

DV Prasad 4 opened with the King pawn and RG Hegde 2.5 replied with the Sicilian Defence. Intending to push through his passed pawn on a5, Prasad initiated an attack on the queen8217;s side. He exchanged pieces at the right time. He also bartered a pawn on queen8217;s side and guided the game into an ending with queen, two rooks and pawns on both sides. As Hegde8217;s tactical sequence backfired, Prasad was able to push his d8217; pawn right upto d78242; and bagged a full point on the 46th move.

RB Ramesh, a potentialthreat to sole leader Sasikiran, could not garner full point against Tejas Bakre. Ramesh played the King pawn opening, while Bakre retaliated with the Sicilian defence. Bakre also won a pawn on the 19th move, but was unlucky to miss a winning continuation.

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V Saravanan 4.5 and GM Pravin Thipsay 4.5 decided to share the point. Anup Deshmukh 4 and G B Prakash8217;s 4.5 settled for a draw. There were draws between Neeraj Mishra 3 and Suvrajit Saha 3, and Verghese Koshy 3 and Neelotpal Das 5 were drawn.

Results 8th round: N K Mishra 3 dr S Saha 3, T S Ravi 4 lost to Sasikiran 7.5, N Das 5 dr V Koshy 3, R B Ramesh 6. dr T Bakre 3, A Kunte 5.5 beat S K Rathore 2.5, Saravanan 4.5 dr P M Thipsay 4.5, P Konguvel 4 bt S Roy 1, A Deshmukh 4 dr G B Prakash 4.5, D V Prasad 4 bt R G Hegde 2.5.