Chandigarh-based 18-year-old Himal Gusain pulled off the biggest upset of his budding career by defeating former Asian women and World junior girls' champion Hoang Thanh Trang in the third round of the Parsvnath International Open chess championship here on Monday.
On a day when five other Grandmasters, including top seed Sandipan Chanda, were forced to split points by lesser-rated rivals, 19 players formed the leaders' group with three points each.
The day's biggest upset came in the fifth hour of play with Gusain's 86-move triumph. The 31-year-old Vietnam-born Trang, who represents Hungary, opted for the French Defence. Though Gusain was not aware of the correct continuation, he capitalised on an error from Trang on the 20th move to trade a rook for a bishop and a knight.
He later claimed a pawn and triumphed after missing an easier route to victory. On the top board, Chanda pressed hard for a win over R. Bhuvanesh but eventually settled for a 67-move draw in Sicilian Defence. Like Chanda, other GMs like Filipono Mark Paragua, Deepan Chakravarthy, Neelotpal Das and R. R. Laxman were part of drawn encounters.
Game of the Day: Himal Gusain (2259) - Hoang Thanh Trang (2435): 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.Nge2 dxe4 6.a3 Be7 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Nxe4 b6 9.g4 Rg8 10.Bg2 c6 11.h3 Qc7 12.Qd3 h5 13.Qf3 Nd7 14.N4g3 hxg4 15.Qxc6 Qxc6 16.Bxc6 Rb8 17.hxg4 Rxg4 18.Rh8+ Bf8 19.0-0-0 Bb7 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.Bxd7 Ke7 22.Bb5 Rh8 23.d5 Rd8 24.dxe6 Rxd1+ 25.Kxd1 fxe6 26.Kd2 f5 27.Ke3 Kf6 28.Bd3 Rh4 29.f4 Bc8 30.Ng1 Rg4 31.N3e2 e5 32.fxe5+ Kxe5 33.Nf3+ Kf6 34.Nf4 Bb7 35.Bc4 Be4 36.Bd3 Bxf3 37.Kxf3 Rg1 38.Nd5+ Ke5 39.Ne7 Ra1 40.Nxf5 Rb1 41.b3 Ra1 42.a4 a5 43.Ke2 Kd5 44.Kd2 Kc5 45.Kc3 Rh1 46.Ne3 Rh3 47.Nf5 Rh2 48.Nd4 Rh6 49.Ne2 Rh4 50.Kd2 Rh2 51.Ke3 Rh4 52.Nf4 Rg4 53.Be2 Rg3+ 54.Ke4 Rg8 55.Nd3+ Kd6 56.Kd4 Rg2 57.Ke3 Rh2 58.c3 Rh1 59.Nf4 Rb1 60.Bc4 Rg1 61.b4 Rg3+ 62.Kd4 Rg4 63.Ke4 Rg3 64.Nd5 Kc6 65.Kd4 Rg4+ 66.Kd3 Rh4 67.Ne7+ Kd7 68.Nf5 Rg4 69.Bb5+ Kc7 70.Nd4 Rh4 71.Kc4 Rh5 72.Be8 Re5 73.Nb5+ Kd8 74.bxa5 Rxe8 75.axb6 Kd7 76.Kd5 Rh8 77.b7 Rb8 78.c4 Rxb7 79.c5 Kd8 80.Kc6 Rh7 81.Kb6 Rh1 82.c6 Ra1 83.Kb7 Rc1 84.a5 Rc5 85.Kb6 Rc1 86.a6 1-0
The results (Indians unless stated): Third round: R. Bhuvanesh (2.5) drew with Sandipan Chanda (2.5); Rahul Sangma (2) lost to Andrei Deviatkin (Rus, 3); Oliver Barbosa (Phi, 3) bt Ankit Rajpara (2); Abhishek Das (2) lost to Abhijit Kunte (3); Lanka Ravi (2.5) drew with Mark Paragua (Phi, 2.5); Richard Bitoon (Phi, 3) bt P. Konguvel (2); John Paul Gomez (Phi, 3) bt V. A. V. Rajesh (2); Bitan Banerjee (3) bt Kirill Kuderinov (Kaz, 2); Deepan Chakravarthy (2.5) drew with S. L. Narayan (2.5); Saravana Krishnan (2) lost to M. R. Lalith Babu (3); P. Shyam Nikhil (2.5) drew with Mu Ke (Chn, 2.5); M. Kunal (2) lost to Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 3); Prasenjit Dutta (2) lost to Aswin Jayaram (3); Neelotpal Das (2.5) drew with Shardul Gagare (2.5); R. A. Pradeep Kumar (2) lost to M. S. Thejkumar (3); Vaibhav Suri (3) bt Hemant Sharma (2); Himal Gusain (3) bt Hoang Thanh Trang (Hun, 2); Pravin Thipsay (3) bt G. B. Joshi (2); R. R. Laxman (2.5) drew with Anurag Mhamal (2).
