Mishra scores over Thipsay

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, JUNE 4. Blame it on men's pride or women's ego, the pattern of results in the two sections of the on-going National `A' chess championship continues to follow the expected course.

Too egoistic to offer a draw, the ladies willingly fight all the way fought for decisive results, as one witnessed on six out of seven boards. On the other hand, the men, forever looking to prevent any possible damage to their pride, are quick to call for truce at the first suitable opportunity. On Monday, 11 out of 18 boards, spread over two rounds, witnessed deadlocks. It may appear a bit unusual but for those involved, it was just another normal day at work.

The exception defying the `rule' was the top seed, K. Sasikiran, who notched two straight victories - like P. Harikrishna - and joined his ONGC colleague and another former champion P. Konguvel, at the top of the table with four points.

Sasikiran, who had brushed aside Nassir Wajih with expected ease in the morning, took office-mate Lanka Ravi in his stride in the fifth round.

Playing black, Sasikiran was comfortable right through against Lanka Ravi in their New Grunfeld Defence game. Though Ravi managed to maintain a fair balance for a long period, things began to fall apart once the rooks were off the board by the 28th move.

With the players having a queen, bishop, knight and seven pawns each, Sasikiran moved in for the `kill'. He got the desired `break' on the `g' file on the 31st turn and promptly reached an overwhelming position. With Ravi coming under time- pressure, Sasikiran's job was made easier. A series of weak moves saw Ravi facing checkmate or a hopeless king-and-pawn ending. He gave up on the 41st move.

By sheer coincidence, it was Ravi who had become Konguvel's victim in the morning. In that match, Konguvel had benefited from Ravi's inability to find a continuation which could have led to a draw. Konguvel returned in the evening and drew in just 12 moves with Surya Shekhar Ganguly to make sure that he did not squander the lead.

But it was Neeraj Kumar Mishra's surprise victory over Pravin Thipsay late in the day that reinforced the belief that even Grandmasters, too, are capable of overlooking simple continuations under time-pressure.

In Sicilian Taimanov, it was Thipsay who gained an iron-like grip until he cracked under the pressure from the clock. Before losing his way, Thipsay had gained a pawn and appeared to be heading for a simple victory. The turning point came when Thipsay, went for another pawn on the queenside and completely ignored the possibility of Mishra setting up a check- mating net. Mishra quickly moved his queen and rook to Thipsay's back-rank and left the rival king gasping. Thipsay was quick to realise the futility of continuing the game.

Among the ladies, S. Vijayalakshmi and Anupama Gokhale scored comfortable victories to stay ahead. But S. Meenakshi failed to keep their company after losing to Swati Ghate in a topsy-turvy battle. Vijayalakshmi was not required to do much once Pallavi Shah chose the path of self-destruction. After the match followed an irregular line of Benoni, Pallavi failed to anticipate a threat to her castled king and caved in rather meekly in 25 moves. Vijayalakshmi's minor-piece sacrifice was in place and it led to a sudden end to an otherwise sedate battle. The result also helped the defending champion from Indian Airlines avenge the loss suffered recently in Colombo.

Anupama, too, did not have much to think about against Dolan Champa Bose in their contest in Pirc Defence.

In the most interesting battle, Swati cashed in on Meenakshi's series of blunders in time-pressure. This Petroff Defence match witnessed both players squandering their chances in the middle- game. Swati gave a rook for bishop but did not seem to gain much from the bargain. But once the game moved into the closing stages, with both players having just a few seconds on their clocks, Meenakshi got caught in a check-mating web and resigned.

In other decisive battles, late-comer S.R. Sangeetha announced her arrival by stunning Saheli Dhar-Barua while R. Aarthie put Nisha Mohota in her place. Youngster D. Harika tossed away material advantage to lose to Y. Pratibha in the long battle.

The results:

Men (fifth round): P. Harikrishna (2504) 3 bt Shekhar Sahu (2325) 2; Nassir Wajih (2371) 0.5 drew with Neelotpal Das (2423) 1; Lanka Ravi (2381) 2 lost to K. Sasikiran (2611) 4; Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2456) 3 drew with P. Konguvel (2383) 4; Saptarishi Roy (2306) 2 drew with Atanu Lahiri (2391) 3; Pravin Thipsay (2453) 2.5 lost to Neeraj Mishra (2321) 3; Abhijit Kunte (2568) 3 drew with D.V. Prasad (2440) 2.5; V. Saravanan (2428) 1 drew with G. B. Prakash (2453) 2.5; Dibyendu Barua (2494) 2.5 drew with Sriram Jha (2390) 2; K. Murugan (2390) 1.5 bye.

Men (fourth round): Jha drew with Saravanan; Prakash drew with Kunte; Prasad drew with Thipsay; Mishra drew with Saptarishi Roy; Lahiri drew with Ganguly; Konguvel bt Lanka Ravi; Sasikiran bt Nassir Wajih; Das lost to Harikrishna; Sahu bt Murugan; Barua bye.

Women (third round): Y. Pratibha (2069) 2 bt D. Harika 0.5; Dolan Champa Bose (2187) 0.5 lost to Anupama Gokhale (2249) 2.5; S. Vijayalakshmi (2424) 2.5 bt Pallavi Shah (2164) 0.5; Swati Ghate (2271) 2 bt S. Meenakshi (2248) 1.5; R. Aarthie (2291) 2 bt Nisha Mohota (2257) 1; Sai Meera-Ravi (2162) 0.5 drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay (2241) 1.5; M.R. Sangeetha (2009) bt Saheli Dhar-Barua (2224) 1.

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