Thipsay eclipses Chanda

APRIL 13: Koneru Humpy showed her smartness by claiming a photographic draw in a clear minus position against top seed Andrey Shariyadanov...

APRIL 13: Koneru Humpy showed her smartness by claiming a photographic draw in a clear minus position against top seed Andrey Shariyadanov, who under time pressure did not realise that the same position had been repeated thrice. He looked utterly disappointed. Thanks to his compatriot, Alexander Fominyh in spite of agreeing for a friendly draw with Leonid Yurtaev Kyrgyzstan shared the lead with 7.5 points at the end of the 10th round of the Chalapathi International Grandmsters Chess Tournament, here on Thursday.

Sandipan Chanda, who was half a point away from becoming International Master put his pieces in the wrong squares in the opening and never recovered from that. Pravin Thipsay showed why he is so good in clear strategical positions. He did not give the youngster any counter knowing well, he could be dangerous in positions where there is scope for hidden resources.

Chanda8217;s 15 Rad8 plan against the Qe1-g3 setup of Sicilian Scheveningen was not correct. He was forced to push the rook to c8 as Thipsay8217;s position become stronger. Chanda was made to weaken his Kingside with his g pawn becoming a target. Thipsay8217;s 34 Qe3 aiming at the Queenside and kingside finished off Chanda.

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Chanda requires a super effort for getting his GM norm 3 out of 3 against tough opposition but the IM title is well within his reach. Ildar Ibragimov, the second seed is becoming another strong contender for the title. His victories in the last few rounds have been impressive. In today8217;s encounter with India8217;s V Saravanan, who has been going for the irregular Modern defence, not willing to combat GM8217;s in the main variations. His 15th move a5 was dubious and his pieces were not able to combine.

Especially his knights which looked immobile throughout the game. Saravanan8217;s idea of getting rid of his bad knight with 20 Na7 backfired when the Russian did not exchange the knight and went back to c3. Ibragimov8217;s completed the rout in 39 moves.

After losing three in a row, Dibyendu Barua should have felt relieved after scoring over Bangaldesh8217;s Zia-ur-Rahman, who has become the punching bag in the event. Zia8217;s superficial 22 Qb6 indirectly staving off Barua8217;s threat was a mistake as he missed Barua8217;s interemezzo 24 Nc6 which won him a piece. Zia got compensation with three pawns. Normally, it is enough but Barua8217;s two bishops controlled the pawns and squares to win in 62 moves.

Abhijit Kunte-Sasikiran was an interesting battle in the Ruy Lopez Zaitsev Variation. It turned into a Kings Indian type of position with white going for a Queenside pawn storm while black attacking the white king. Abhijit won a pawn but truce was agreed on the 56th move in an unclear position.

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Results 10th round: L Yurtaev Rus 6 drew A Fominyh Rus 7.5, K Humpy Ind 3.5 drew A Shariyazdanov Rus 7.5, I Ibragimov Rus 7 bt V Saravanan Ind 3.5, D Barua Ind 5 bt Ziaur Rahman 2, PM Thipsay Ind 4.5 bt Sandipan Chanda Ind 6, DV Prasad Ind 4.5 drew GB Prakash Ind 3, Abhijit Kunte Ind 4.5 drew K Sasikiran 5.5.