Indians have a good day

BENASQUE, (SPAIN) JULY 8: International master Ponnuswamy Kongovel was held to a draw but other Indians maintained their winning records in ...

BENASQUE, (SPAIN) JULY 8: International master Ponnuswamy Kongovel was held to a draw but other Indians maintained their winning records in the second round of the Benasque Open international Chess Tournament here today.

On a chilly day when a cold wind swept through the village, all the results went along expected lines with all the top Grandmasters having an easy time. The winner of the Andorra Open, GM Alexey Kuzmin of Russia, however, survived some anxious moments before overcoming Puvili Antonio of Spain.

Most of the Indian were disappointed that for the second round in

succession, they had to face unrated opponents. This affects their chances of making norms or increasing their rating only Konguvel and Sasikiran faced rated oponents and both of them had to play long games.

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The tournament has an unusual six-hour session for the whole game. Sasikiran managed to outplay his opponent JM Catala of Spain from white side of a Torre attack game which went into a queen and minor pieces euding.

Konguvelplaying with black pieces had no such luck, as his advantage of being a pawn up in the middle game could not be converted into a win in Sicilian Alapin game against Martin Fernando (Spain).

RESULTS

Granda Zuniza (2) bt Rossell Formosa (1); Asencio Soto (1) lost to G Giorgadze (2); A Baburin (2) bt Asencio Linan (2); IWM Fierro Marta (1) lost to Lev Psakhis (2); Alexey Kuzmin (2) bt Puvili Antonio (1); Rebol Arbea (1) lost to Mikhail Marin (2); Rahul Shetty (2) bt M Descarrega (1); Portero (1) lost to V Saravanan (2); Neelotpal Das (2) bt Yargas Carlos (1); Sandipan Chanda (2) bt B Angel (1); Roktim Bandyopadhya (2) bt H Loiz (1).