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Indian aspirants miss the bus
The Hindu, Sunday, April 16, 2000
Guntur, April 15: The objective of conducting the Chalapathi Grandmasters intenational chess tournament - providing the aspirants a chance to get either the GM title or norm - was lost by the end of the 12th round as the three foreign players took the first three slots .
Grandmasters Andrey Shariyazdanov (.5), alexander Fominyh (8.5) and Leonid Yurtaev (8) were placed in that order and the only Indian who matched them was National champion Krishnan Sasikiran, tied for the fourth spot with GM Ildar Ibragimov (7.5 points).
Teenage senstaion Sandipan chanda, who looked the best bet for getting the GM title a few days back as he already had one GM norm, has disappointed in the last three games and lost to andrey Shariyazdanov today. It is now doubtful whether he will get even the half-a-point to clinch the IM title when he takes on Sasikiran Tomorrow.
Local favourite and IWM Koneru Humpy's dreams of snatching two points in the last two games to grab the Woman Grandmaster norm too were dashed when she drew with IM Zia-ur-Rehman of Bangladesh. Her remaining game will only be of academic interest. In what was easily the best game of the day, Leonid Ibragimov in just 35 moves. Veteran Yurtaev pulled off a creditable win from the Whiteside of Caro-Kann Defence. Employing the Panov Borvinnik attack, a system with which white voluntarily accepts an isolated pawn on "d" file in return for attacking chances against black king, Yurtaev showed his skill while converting what looked like a weak position into a strong point.
On the 23rd move, white played d5 to give vital thrust to the pieces. In the midst of the attack, he suddenly made a King move which helped black bottle up the black queen on 'h' file. After methodically exchanging black's only active pieces - rook and bishop- Yurtaev tied the remaining ones into a defensive position. Using his queen an knight. Yurtaev threatened an unavoidable mate which saw Ibragimov quit on the 35th move.
Sandipan Chanda came a cropper against top seed Andrey Shariyazdanov today. In the Pelican Defence employed by the Russian, Chanda deviated from his previous game patterns after the 13th move and opted for queenside play, targetting black's weak 'b' pawn. Soon, white was able to obtain a passed pawn on 'b' file. The question was what white could do with it as black had a double bishop advantage.
The keen tussie finally saw shariyazdanov make good use of the advantage of his central pawn majority. After obtaining one pair of rooks, Shraiyazdanov won the 'b' pawn and ultimately tied down white to defend the 'f' pawn. White thus lost any winning chance as black pushed its piecesfurther and Sandipan gave up on the 47th move.
Humpy, who had a theoritical chance of achieving the GM-norm by winning the last two games , settled for a drawin the penultimate round game with IM Zia-ur-Rehman. In the Double Finachetto system with white, the Bangladeshi had little problems in equlising that system. He sought to play on dark squares and even sacrificed a pawn on the 38th move in order to take some chances. But Humpy defended her fortress effectively and steered the game into a rook and pawn ending which subsequently ended in a stalemate after 66 moves.
Strong show by Sasikiran
GM-elect Sasikiran played the open Morphy defence in Ruy Lopez superbly against GM Pravin Thipsay. In the opening, the seasoned Thipsay seemed to have a slight edge since his opponent's 'e' pawn was isolated. However, he lost the momentum in teh end-game and allowed Sasikiran to regroup his rook and knight very effectively. Thipsay who was in timepressure once again on both time controls, played listlessly in the level ending to lose on the 62nd move.
The game between GM-norm holder D.V. Prasad and GM Alexander Fominyh ended in a draw after the 31st move. Though Prasad held the initative, Fominyh's ability to introduce a novelty-g6-clearly took the Indian by surprise and seemed to have upset his gameplan. Fominyh soon played Qc2 and Nd5, not the usual line. These moves scotched Prasad's hopes of a surprise win. Interestingly, Prasad had refused a peace treaty by his rival earlier.
GM Dibyendu Barua was in good form against IM V. Saravanan in Sicilian Pelican. Saravanan, however, manged to steer the game into a level position where two rooks and bishop combined to force Barua to repeat the position. This enabled Saravanan to claim a draw after 30 moves.
In another long battle, GM-elect Abhijit Kunte and IM G.B. Prakash were involved in a 72 - move draw.
The results (12th round):
Leonid Yurtaev (8) bt Ildar Ibragimov (7.5);
D.V.Prasad (5.5) drew with Alexander fominyh (8.5);
dibyendu Barua (6.5) drew with V. Saravanan (4.5);
Abhijit Kunte(6) drew with G.B. Prakash (3.5);
Koneru Humpy (6) drew with Zia-ur-Rehman 92.5);
Pravin Thipsay (4.5) lost to K. Sasikiran (7.5) and Sandipan chanda(6) lost to A. Shriyazdanov (9.5).
Sunday's pairings:
Shariyazdanov-Leonid Yurtaev;
Sasikiran-Sandipan Chanda;
Zia-ur-Rehman-Pravin Thipsay;
G.B. Prakash0-Koneru Humpy;
V. Saravanan-Abhijit Kunte;
Alexander fominyh- Dibyendu Barua and Ildar Ibragimov - D.V. Prasad.