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V KRISHNASWAMY
NEW DELHI, JUNE 4: KRISHNAN Sasikiran and Pentyala Harikrishna, the two best known names after Viswanathan Anand on the international circuit, got into their stride and registered two wins each on the third day of the men's National A chess championships. Sasikiran's two wins carried him into the joint lead with overnight leader Ponnuswamy Konguvel, who with one win and one draw stayed on top of the leaderboard after five rounds in the 19-round tournament.
Five of the nine games ended in draws in the fifth round and in the evening it was six out of nine. In an attempt to reduce the pressure on themselves, the players are often resorting to quicks draw inside 20 moves against rivals, who they feel know their game well enough.
On a day when two rounds were scheduled, Sasikiran and Harikrishna were outstanding, veteran Pravin Thipsay, a seven-times National champion, had a disappointing day. After a quick 15-move GM draw with DV Prasad in the fourth round, Thipsay caved under time pressure and blundered from a winning position in his fifth round against Neeraj Mishra. Thipsay is finding it had to come to terms with the new time control, which require the players to complete 40 moves in one hour and 30 minutes.
Lanka Ravi did not what hit him as Sasikiran outplayed him a neo-Gruenfeld game in the fifth round. Sasi had black. For quite sometime, Lanka seemed equal but suddenly Sasikiran was on top. In next to no time, the game had turned Sasikiran's way and the Chennaite grabbed the full point in 34 moves of sterling display.
In the morning Sasikiran outplayed Nassir Wajih in the morning in 33-move battle over the King's Indian defence. The 20-year-old Sasi had white and he did not waste that advantage. Nassir lost his game in the opening itself with some error-filled game and lost a pawn, from where he could never quite come back.
In the fourth round in the morning, Konguvel turned in a fine performance with a authoritative win over Lanka Ravi in a Caro Kann defense game. Lanka Ravi who like Thipsay is also having problems with the clock, had a poor position in a queen and minor piece endgame. Konguvel not the kinds to overlook such good positions did justice to the situation and got the full point in 41 moves. Later in the evening he quickly drew in 14 moves from an accelrated dragon against Surya Sekhar Ganguly. Konguvel had black.
Neeraj Mishra got a gift of sorts, as Thipsay bludnered from a near-winning position. In a Sicilian-Taimanov, Thipsay looked overwhemingly strong. In a queen-rook ending he was a pawn up and could well have got a piece, but he overlooked an obvious pawn push. He then blundered and overlooked a mate in time pressure. In a desperate attempt to survive gave away a rook. But it was in vain, as he lost in 42 moves.
In a Sicilian-Rossolimo Harikrishna outplayed Neeloptal Das with black pieces and set the tone for the day in the morning's fourth round.
Continuing on his morning's superb display, Harikrishna annihilated the muich-senior Shekhar Sahu in a one-sided ghame in 46 moves. Hari played with white in a Czech Benoni. The 14-year-old hari took control of the centre and then exterted pressure form the king-side. He won a pawn, ensured the exchange of queens and then won in a simple but excellent end game.
Men: 4th round:
P Konguvel (3.5) beat Lanka Ravi (2); K Sasikiran (3) beat Nassir Wajih (0); D V Prasad (2) drew P M Thipsay (2.5); G B Prakash (2) drew Abhjit Kunte (2.5); Atanu Lahiri (2.5) drew S S Ganguly (2.5); N Das (0.5) lost to P Harikrishna (2); S Jha (1.5) drew V Saravanan (0.5); S C Sahu (2) beat K Murugan (1.5); N K Mishra (2) drew Saptarishi Roy Chowdhry (1.5; Dibyendu Barua (2) – bye.
5th round:
Lanka Ravi (2) lost to K Sasikiran (4); Pravin Thipsay (2.5) lost to Neeraj Mishra (3); P Harikrishna (3) beat S C Sahu (2); Nassir Wajih (0.5) drew with Neeloptal Das (1); Dibyendu Barua (2.5) drew with Sriram Jha (2); SS Ganguly (3) drew with P Konguvel (4); Abhijit Kunte (3) drew with DV Prasad (2.5); V Saravanan (1) drew with GB Prakash (2.5); Saptarishi Roy Chowdhry (2) drew with Atanu Lahiri (3); K Murugan – bye
Points (after five rounds):
4: Sasikiran and Konguvel 3: Harikrishna, Mishra, Ganguly, Kunte, Lahiri 2.5: Thipsay, Barua, Prakash, Prasad 2: Lanka Ravi, Sahu, Sriram Jha, Saptarishi Roy 1.5: Murugan 1: Neeloptal, Saravanan 0.5: Wajih
Women's Event: V KRISHNASWAMY NEW DELHI, JUNE 4:
SUBBARAMAN Vijayakshmi took one more step in her endeavour to wipe away memories of a rather disappointing display at the Asian Zonals last month. In the third round of the women's National A chess championships at the CDC Eventspecific Hall, Vijayalakshmi outclassed Pallavi Shah, who not only beat her in Colombo but also annexed the title to earn a place into the next Knock out World Championships. Vijayalakshmi shares the lead with Anupama Gokhale, who thrashed Dolan Champa Bose with black pieces to move to 2.5 points from three rounds.
While Viji was in terrific form, her sister and last year's runners-up S Meenakshi went down to Swati Ghate in another game, as six of the women's games produced results.
M R Sangeetha, who came in from Tamil Nadu only today after completing her examinations began in a winning way beating Saheli Dhar Barua in her third round game. Sangeetha will play her first and second rounds against Saimeera Ravi and Drona Harika on the first rest day. Sangeetha will have black in both those games.
Doubles Women's Grandmaster nrm holder and former World Under18 champion Aarthie Ramaswamy defeated Nisha Mohota in another game.
In what was the most keenly anticipated game, Viji turned her clash against Pallavi into a no-contest with a fine show. Opening with the queen pawn, Viji got early advantage and was helped by Pallavi's passive play in the Benoni defence. Bringing in a fine piece sacrifice, Vijayalakshmi destroyed whatever was left of Pallavi's defence and collected her full point in 35 moves.
Against young Dolan Champa Bose of Bihar, veteran Anupama looked in some problems in the Pirc defence. But the yougnster was unable to consolidate her position and went down. Anupama, a former National champion got coutnerplay on the queen side and won a rook and with it the game in 35 moves. The fourth round will see an interesting clash between the two leaders, Vijayalakshmi and Anupama Gokhale. Viji will have black.
Results: Women 3rd round:
S Vijayalakshmi (2.5) beat Pallavi Shah (0.5); Dolan Champa Bose (0.5) lost to Anupama Gokhale (2.5); Y Pratibha (2) beat D Harika (0.5); Swati Ghate (2) beat S Meenakshi (1); Aarthie Ramaswamy (2) beat Nisha Mohota (1); M R Sangeetha (1) beat Saheli Barua (1) Saimeera Ravi (0.5) drew with Bhangyashree Thipsay (1.5).
Sangeetha's games against Saimeera and Harika will be held on first rest day.
All material © Mark Crowther
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