Vellamayor and Gallaghar share lead

Vellamayor and Gallaghar share lead
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kolkata, February 11: Philipino GM Buenavent Vellamayor and GM Joseph Gallaghar of Switzerland were jointly in the lead with five points after the fifth round of the 12th Goodricke International Open chess tournament here on Sunday.

Overnight leader Vellamayor finished with a draw against GM Victor Mikhalevski by giving perpetual checks in the Trompkovsky open, while Gallaghar prevailed over Nasir Wajih of India.

GM Dibyendu Barua (4.5) outplayed GM Evegeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan in his favourite Guico Piano opening to jump to the second spot alonside three others including IM Sandipan Chanda.

In a Bishop versus Knight ending, Barua gave little room to Vladimirov and created two passed pawns to clinch the game.

Chanda, who has a GM norm to his credit, also improved his position by humbling Iranian IM Eshan Ghaem Maghami in a Sicilian defence.

Important results: (Round V): V mikhaelevski (Isr-4.5) drew B Villmayor (Phil-5); J Gallaghar (Swiss-5) bt N Wajih (Ind-4); L Ravi (Ind-4) drew A Kharlov (Rus-4); D Barua (Ind-4.5) bt E Vladimirov (Kaz-3.5); M Sorokin (Arg-4.5) bt A Barsov (Uzb-3.5); I Rausis (Lat-4) drew RB Ramesh (Ind-4); P Harikrishna (Ind-4) drew Z Rahman (Ban); S Chanda (Ind-4.5) bt EG Maghami (Iran-3.5); A Kunte (Ind-4) bt A Deshmukh (Ind-3); PDS Girinath (Ind-3.5) drew TS Ravi (Ind-3.5); CS Gokhale (Ind-4) bt L Malupande (Zam-3); GB Prakash (Ind-4) bt K Murugan (Ind-2.5); N Sanjay (Ind-3) drew T Markowski (Pol-3); D Komarov (Ukr-3.5) bt A Al-Rakib (Ban-2.5); D Reinderman (Neth-3.5) bt R Shetty (Ind-2.5); DK Sharma (Ind-3.5) bt N Das (Ind-2.5); S Vijaylakshmi (Ind-3.5) bt J Gokhale (Ind-2.5); K Humpy (Ind-3.5) bt S Jha (Ind-2.5).