Indians fail to cross 2nd round hurdles

Indians fail to cross 2nd round hurdles
United News of India

Linares (Spain), January 10: It was reversal of fortunes for India today in the second round of the Linares International Open Chess tournament here.While all the Indians who had tasted victory in the first round lost against their respective Grandmaster opponents, most of the others scored smooth wins.

The day’s upsets had in its wrap the top seed GM Akopian (Russia) who was lucky to escape with a draw against IM Salmensuu (Finland) and the fourth seed GM Boris Avrukh (Israel) who went down to IM Mathias Roeder (Germany) in 50 moves in the Petrosian system of the queen’s Indian Defence.

Taking on Grandmaster Constantin Sakaev on the fourth board, IM RB Ramesh played the semi-Slav Defence with the Black pieces. On the 17th move, he startled his opponent by moving his knight to the ‘B6’ square to even out White’s customary opening advantage. Though taken aback, the Russian mastero continued to pose problems for Black and Ramesh faltered in the transistion form the middlegame to the ending. In the bishop versus knight ending that ensued, Sakaev broke through with his king to capture Black’s pawns. Ramesh conceded defeat on the 46th move. In his post game analysis, Ramesh revealed that the new move stuck him in course of his preparation almost a month prior to this event.

Seventeen-year-old International Master Sandipan Chanda (2431) encountered the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence from Azerbaijan’s IM Zulfigarli (2510). Sandipan, in an attempt to seize control of the key ‘D5’ square, embarked on the kingside pawn thrust. However, Black’s 11...Rc8 shattered his plans and also his pawn structure when Zulfigurali uncorked an exchange sacrifice on the ‘C3’ square.

Black had excellant compensation for the exchange in the form of a strong ‘E’ pawn and good piece coordination and soon harvested further material. Chanda gave up the struggle in the endgame when his rook couldn’t match Black’s bishop and knight.

D.K. Sharma (2392) who drew with the second seed in the first round, found himself in a no-win situation right after the opening stage. His Spainish adversary, Esnaola (2017) had just the intention of securing a draw even with White pieces in a Scotch game. Before sharma could realise his opponent’s intention, the game was well on its way into a drawish rook and opposite coloured bishop endgame. Sharma could do nothing more than sign truce on the 28th move.

Facing IM Nalbandian’s Reti opening with the Black pieces, Sriram Jha (2409) achieved equality in the initial stage itself. However, he overlooked a combination in a queen less middlegame to handover the double bishop pair to his Armenian opponent who put it to good use.

He sacrificed a pawn to simultaneously increase the activity of his pieces and restrict that of his opponent. Jha resigned on the 63rd move when he couldn’t prevent White’s pawn from being promoted into a queen. IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy (2262) came back into the reckoning with a comforatable win over Hilario Perez of Spain in 29 moves. Coming across the rare Lowenthal variation of the Sicilian Defence, Aarthie playing with the White pieces, utilised her double bishops to her advantage to gain material and very soon the game.

K Visweswaran (2288) notched a 28-move victory against Mexico’s Bahman. Playing with White pieces, Visweswaran lead his unrated opponent along the lines of a short-Gelfand game in the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence. Sacrificing a pawn to launch an attack on the Black’s king, he overpowered his unprepared opponent to win a bishop. And with checkmate looming, the Mexican resigned.

IM-elect Rahul Shetty’s (2325) Sicilian Defence met the Alapin variation by Carruana of Spain. Rahul won a pawn soon after the opening and conducted a strong attck on the enemy king to clinch the issue in 41 moves. C.S.Gokhale (2355) came against the lesser known but dangerous Larsen attack by Belgium’s A. Frank (2014). Gokhale, who secured a good position after the opening, committed a series of errors to land in serious trouble. The Belgian took advantage of Black’s mistakes to finish off the game in 34 moves, caping it with a neat rook scarifice.

Important Results
GM K Sakaev (2) bt IM R B Ramesh (1), Sandipan Chanda (1) lost to IM Zulfugarli (2), IM T Nalbandian (2) bt Sriram Jha (1), IM Olli Salmensu (1.5) drew with GM V Akopian (1.5), GM Boris Avrukh drew with IM Mathias Roeder (1.5), Esnaola Sensebastian (1) drew with D K Sharma (1), Rahul Shetty (1) bt Carruana Fuentes (0), IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy (1) bt Hilarrio (0), K Visweswaran (1) bt T Bahtman (0), A Frank bt C S Gokhale (0).