The Hindu : Sasikiran wriggles out of Vijayalakshmi's grasp

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

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Sport - Chess

Sasikiran wriggles out of Vijayalakshmi's grasp

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

Photo: Vivek Bendre

Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan (left) making a move against Zhang Peng Xiang of China in the 7th round of the Commonwealth chess championship in Mumbai on Thursday.

MUMBAI APRIL 24. K. Sasikiran heaved a sigh of relief. The game was drawn when he could have lost. His opponent, S. Vijayalakashmi, somehow still managed to sport a smile as she walked into the analysis room.

With three rounds remaining, the Commonwealth chess championship, incorporating the International open tournament, is heading for an interesting finale at Hotel Tulip Star.

After the seventh round on Thursday, there are two men in the lead, the top seed Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and the 14th seed Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam, with six points each.

They are followed half-a-point behind by three players, India's Dibyendu Barua, Zhang Peng Xiang of China and Uzbekistan's Marat Dzhumaev.

Then on five points there are 14, including eight Indians--Sasikiran, Vijayalakshmi, Abhijit Kunte, who held third seed Vasilios Kotronios of Cyprus to a draw, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Praveen Thipsay, Sandipan Chanda, Neelotpal Das and Sekhar Sahu, who shocked the British champion and double GM norm holder R.B. Ramesh in just 18 moves.

On a day when Koneru Humpy's miserable form continued, going down to Vikramaditya Kamble, G.B. Prakash held seventh seed Russian GM Ruslan Sherbakov to a draw and Saptarshi Roychoudhury split the point with ninth seed Tahir Vakdhidov of Uzbekistan.

G. Rohit held GM Shukhrat Safin of Uzbekistan to a draw while Anup Deshmukh was upset by B.S. Sivanandan.

Swati Ghate shocked Roktim Bandyopadhyay and extending the theme of the women power, S. Meenakshi took half-a-point off Lanka Ravi.

And it was another good day for the Indian kids as D. Harika, Deep Sengupta and G.N. Gopal drew with International Masters Reefat Bin Sattar of Bangladesh, Sriram Jha and Ravi Hegde respectively.

Vijayalakshmi, who beat Sasikiran at the Wipro GM tournament in Hyderabad in 2000, was threatening to cause a major upset as she moved into a minor piece ending, from which she should have won. But she failed to play correctly and let Sasikiran, who had employed Grunfeld Defence, off the hook.

"I know I should've won," she said, after signing the peace treaty after 63 moves.

Sasikiran admitted he played a strange game. "It was easily one of my worst games in recent times," he said. "I'm glad I didn't lose."

On the top board, Kasimdzhanov, had Zhang Peng Xiang in considerable time pressure and won in 57 moves on account of a passed pawn in the centre. On the third board, Nguyen Anh Dung's patience paid off as Evgeny Vladimirov, after sacrificing a pawn and then an exchange, blundered a piece. Nguyen, with white pieces, won the Nimzo Indian game in 52 moves.

Important results (seventh round): Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb) 6 bt Zhang Peng Xiang (Chn) 5.5; Nguyen Anh Dung (Vie) 6 bt Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 5; Maxim Sorokin (Arg) 5 drew with Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 5.5; S. Vijayalakshmi 5 drew with Krishnan Sasikiran 5; Vasilios Kotronias (Cyp) 5 drew with Abhijit Kunte 5; Dibyendu Barua 5.5 bt Ruslan Pogorelov (Ukr) 4.5; Sandipan Chanda 5 drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly 5; G.B. Prakash 4.5 drew with Ruslan Sherbakov (Rus) 4.5; Saptarshi Roychoudhury 4.5 drew with Tahir Vakhidov (Uzb) 4.5; Igor Rausis (Ban) 5 bt Niaz Murshed 4; Alexander Fominyh 5 bt Deepan Chakravarthy 4; Wang Yu 4.5 drew with Ehsan Ghaem Maghami 4.5; G. Rohit 4.5 drew with Shukhrat Safin (Uzb) 4.5; R.R. Laxman 4 lost to Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 5; Prathamesh Mokal 4 lost to Neelotpal Das 5; Pravin Thipsay 5 bt Preetham R. Sharma 4; D. Harika 4.5 drew with Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban) 4.5; Sriram Jha 4.5 drew with Deep Sengupta 4.5; R.B. Ramesh 4 lost to Sekhar Sahu 5; J. Ramakrishna 4 lost to Pendyala Harikrishna 4.5; Ziaur Rahman 4.5 bt P. Konguvel 3.5; N. Sudhakar Babu 4.5 bt Enamul Hossain 3.5; T.S. Ravi 4 drew with Abdulla Al Rakib 4; B.S. Sivanandan 4.5 bt Anup Deshmukh 3.5; K. Visweswaran 4.5 bt Suvrajit Saha 3.5; Akshayraj Kore 3.5 lost to K. Ratnakaran 4.5; Rahul Sangma 3.5 lost to Dinesh Kumar Sharma 4.5; G.N. Gopal 4 drew with Ravi Hegde 4; Koneru Humpy 3 lost to Vikramaditya Kamble 4; S. Meenkashi 3.5 drew with Lanka Ravi 3.5; Swati Ghate 4 bt Roktim Bandyopadhyay 3; C.J. Arvind 3.5 drew with D.V. Prasad 3.5; Rahul Shetty 4 bt Anupama Gokhale 3; C.S. Gokhale 3.5 drew with D. Saisrinivas 3.5.

Sixth round: Zhang Peng Xiang bt Barua; Nguyen Anh Dung drew with Kotronias; Maghami lost to Kasimdzhanov; Sasikiran drew with Chanda; Vladimirov bt Safin; Kunte drew with Sorokin; Dzhumaev bt Fominyh; Sherbakov drew with Pogorelov; Vakhidov drew with Deepan; Ganguly bt Babu; Neelotpal drew with Harika; Deep drew with Ramesh; Sahu drew with Saptarshi; Murshed drew with Wang Yu; Deshmukh lost to Vijayalakshmi; T.S. Ravi drew with Rahman; Abhijeet lost to Rausis; Iualdachev bt Aarthie; Islam lost to Thipsay; Sattar bt Vaighani; Balasubramanium lost to Jha; Kamble lost to Prakash; Lanka Ravi lost to Mokal; Rakib drew with Visweswaran; Prasad lost to Laxman; Saha drew with Kore; Ratnakaran drew with Sangma; Dinesh drew with Gopal; Saravanan lost to Ramakrishna; Vishal lost to Rohit; Preetham bt Kalyan; Harikrishna bt Shrinivas Rao; Meenakshi drew with Humpy.

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