UBEDA (SPAIN), January 28: Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua (6) of India staved off possible defeat in a hard fought eighth round match of the Ubeda International chess tournament today.International Master D V Prasad (4.5) fell out of the race for the Grandmaster norm with a loss to German GM Thomas Luther (5.5) while other Indians have to win in both the remaining rounds to earn their norms.
IM Lanka Ravi (5.5) missed a golden chance to join Barua on second spot when he failed to convert his advantage into victory against I M David Lobzanitz (5.5) of Georgia.
National champion Abhijit Kunte (5.5), still recovering from a bout of flu, agreed for a draw against Armenian GM Karen Movsizian (5.5) after 27 moves of modern defence. Former national champion Prasad avoided a drawish ending and went down fighting to GM Thomas Luther (5.5) of Germany.
International Masters P Konguvel (5) and K Murugan (4.5) came back into contention with smooth wins over Women's Grandmaster Elena Deniclan (4) and Israeli ArkadyShevelev (3.5) respectively.
S Vijayalakshmi (4) defeated Joaquim Durao (3) of Spain in Italian game. National women's champion Anupama Gokhale (3.5) held highly rated Salvador Alonso (3.5) of Argentina to a draw after a hard fought battle in Benko Gambit.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
