Sasikiran helps India share honours with Hungary

Sasikiran helps India share honours with Hungary
PTI
Jul 17, 2011, 09.18pm IST

NINGBO (China): Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran survived some anxious moments before eventually defeating Zoltan Almasi to help India salvage a 2-2 draw with Hungary in the first round of the World Team Chess Championship that got underway.

Much before Sasikiran's hard-earned victory, P Harikrishna did well to hold highly regarded Peter Leko on the top board while GN Gopal split the point with Csaba Balogh on the fourth, but Surya Shekhar Ganguly went down to world's best woman player Judit Polgar to give Hungary the lead which forced Sasikiran to play for a victory with black pieces.

Meanwhile Armenia emerged as the early leader in world's premier team championship giving Israel a 3.5-0.5 drubbing.

Without their star player Boris Gelfand, Israeli team lacked sting and Levon Aronian led from the front at the expense of Emil Sutovsky in this white wash.

The United States went down to Russia 1-3 losing with black pieces on second and fourth board while lowest rank Egypt sprang a surprise knocking down 1.5 points off Ukraine.

The other match in the ten-teams round-robin event was a 2-2 draw between China and Azerbaijan.

Sasikiran had reasons to be worried in the middle game after Almasi seized the initiative out of a Breyer variation in the Ruy Lopez. It was a typical middle game with white striving for a king side attack but Sasikiran did well to stay in the game after complicating matters a great deal.

Almasi was on top for quite some time but let the game slip out of hand gradually after being an exchange up.

Earlier Harikrishna played his pet Ctalan opening as white and apparently had a slight edge in the ensuing endgame against Peter Leko. Subsequent exchanges led to further simplifications and Harikrishna liquidated to a drawn rook endgame with three pawns on the same flank.

Judit Polgar turned out to be a tough opponent for Ganguly in the Sicilian defense wherein the former played black. Ganguly could not prove an advantage and was slowly saddled with a passive position but did well to stay in the game creating some problems on the king side.

It was in the late stages of the middle game when the Indian faltered and allowed Judit a strong king side attack that proved decisive.

GN Gopal was the preferred choice for India ahead of national champion Parimarjan Negi and he did not disappoint, drawing a fine game against Csaba Balogh. Interestingly, all Hungarian opponents were higher ranked than Indians who had won the Bronze medal in the last edition at Turkey.

Results round 1: USA lost to Russia 1-3. Gata Kamsky drew with Sergey Karjakin; Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Alexander Onischuk; Yuri Shulman drew with Peter Svidler Nikita Vitiugov beat Robert Hess;

Armenia beat Israel 3.5-1.5. Levon Aronian beat Emil Sutovsky; Michael Roiz drew with Sergei Movsesian; Vladimir Akopian beat Evgeny Postny; Tamir Nabaty lost to Gabriel Sargissian;

Egypt lost to Ukraine 1.5-2.5. Ahmed Adly lost to Vassily Ivanchuk; Zahar Efimenkov drew with Amin Bassem; El Gindy Essam lost to Alexander Moiseenko; Samy Shoker beat Alexander Areshchenko;

China drew with Azerbaijan 2-2; Wang Hao drew with Teimour Radjabov; Vugar Gashimov lost to Wang Yue; Li Chao drew with Rauf Mamedov; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Yu Yangyi;

India drew with Hungary 2-2. P Harikrishna drew with Peter Leko; Zoltan Almasi lost to Krishnan Sasikiran; Surya Shekhar Ganguly lost to Judit Polgar; Csaba Balogh drew with G N Gopal.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

In spite of 1st loss, Caruana secures at least a tie for 1st place

Fabiano Caruana suffered his first loss today. However, in spite of the loss, he still secured at least a tie for 1st place. Sasikiran is a full point behind going into the last round.

Round 9 results

So, Wesley	- Hou, Yifan	½
Laznicka, Viktor	- Caruana, Fabiano	1-0
Sasikiran, Krishnan	- Negi, Parimarjan	½

Standings after 9 rounds

1.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2714	6½
2.	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2676	5½
3.	Laznicka, Viktor	g	CZE	2681	5
4.	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2667	4½
5.	Negi, Parimarjan	g	IND	2622	3
6.	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2612	2½

Official website: http://www.aaichess.com

Good day for India

AAI Grandmaster Chess Tournament - Round Eight
Caruana wins again, wonderful day for Indians

New Delhi, June 30: Parimarjan Negi stopped his run of losses while Krishnan Sasikiran got back to his winning ways in what turned out to be good day for the Indian duo in the AAI Grandmasters Chess Tournament.

Negi completed a comprehensive 27-move win over Wesley So of the Philippines while Sasikiran after draws in previous two games took just 30 moves following a Queen’s Indian opening for a full point against Czech Viktor Laznicka in the eighth round on Thursday. In the third game of the day Fabiano Caruana beat Hou Yifan to extend his lead to 1.5 points with two rounds to go.

Caruana continues to be the only unbeaten player in the tournament scored his fifth win and with three other draws. With 6.5 points he is 1.5 points ahead of the second place Sasikiran, who has five points. Wesley So and Viktor Laznicka have four points each, Negi has 2.5 and Hou Yifan two.

Replay the games with computer analysis

“It was not really that easy because I took some risks today,” said Sasi. “At one point I offered a sacrifice which he need not have taken then but he did and it became a bit easier. Maybe the Kh1 (on 23rd move) from him was the mistake that helped me get to the win faster,” said Sasi, who with his 30-move win is now second place.

Parimarjan Negi and Krishnan Sasikiran

On his recent run with four wins and two draws in the last six rounds after starting with two losses, Sasikiran laughed and said, “Maybe the weather cooling down also helped me. I like playing in slightly cooler weather. There is two more games to go. As such before the tournament I was hoping to get to either plus three or plus four and I am right now plus two.” It was Sasi’s second win over Laznicka in the tournament as he had earlier beaten him in the third round.

The 17-year-old Indian National champion Negi approached the round rather cautiously but was surprised to see his rival, Wesley, play the Petroff defence, something he had played only once before against a noted opponent, Alexei Shirov, last year. “It was a big surprise to see him use the Petroff, maybe he just wanted to play solid and also surprise. I thought I wouldn’t take any chances,” said Negi.

But it was So who made the big error when he played Be7 on the 18th move and from there on the game turned decisively in Negi’s favour. It was thereafter only a matter of time as Negi won in just 27 moves. It was by far the quickest game in terms of moves and took less than three hours.

Asked is the nightmarish part of the week is over, Negi smiled and said, “I don’t know whether the nightmare is over as there are two more rounds to go, but this win was certainly welcome. There is always some pressure when you play a tournament, but I feel I have not been able to convert my chances. If you notice I have had my chances in many games, but was not able to use that.”

Negi and Sasi are both due to play Asian Team Chess in China next month and then the World Cup in Russia.

Negi, who had drawn his third round with Wesley So before his run of losses began in the fourth round, now has 2.5 points from eight games.

“It was a nice win. It is good to be 1.5 points ahead with two rounds to go, but no tournament is over till the last,” said the shy Caruana with a slight smile. He won in 46 moves from a Sicilian Najdorf.

There are two more rounds to go in the 10-round Category-17 tournament, which comes to an end on Saturday.

Points after eight rounds:
6.5 points - Caruana
5 - Sasikiran
4 - Wesley So and Laznicka
2.5 - Negi
2 - Yifan

Results of the eighth round: F Caruana beat H Yifan; Negi P beat W So; V Laznicka lost to K Sasikiran

Draw for the Ninth round: V Laznicka v F Caruana; K Sasikiran v Negi P; W So v H Yifan

Official website