Three International Masters - K. Ratnakaran of Kozhikode, R. Balasubramaniam and Sudhakar Babu of Chennai - were among the 12 leaders with four points from four rounds in the first Citadel International FIDE-rating chess tournament here on Monday.
The other nine players were - L. Barath, Ramnath Bhuvanesh, V.A.V. Rajesh, C. Praveenkumar (all TN), Arjun Tiwari (Mah), Joydeep Dutta (WB), O.T. Anilkumar (Ker), G.A. Stany (Kar) and Abhishek Das (Jha).
Six rounds remain to be played in this Rs. two lakh prize money event.
Top-seeded International Master Thej Kumar of South West Railway (Mysore) accepted an early 23-move draw offer from Pune’s Sohan Phadke after the game appeared to dissipate into a drawish bishop ending.
Second seed Ratnakaran, with white, accepted the exchange sacrifice and won when his opponent, T.J. Suresh Kumar, missed a one move tactic in a closed Sicilian opening.
Bhuvanesh, Chennai’s new National ‘A’ qualifier, scored over the experienced Vinoth Kumar in 35 moves with the black pieces to be in the top bracket.
Barath shines again
Barath, meanwhile, continued to make waves. He scalped ICF’s K. Gunasekaran in 64 moves. Barath’s endgame skill helped him win a pawn and create a passed pawn to pocket his fourth straight point.
Important results (fourth round): Sohan Phadke (Mah) 3.5 drew with M.S. Thejkumar (Rly) 3.5, K. Ratnakaran (Rly) 4 bt T.J. Suresh Kumar (ICF) 3, M. Vinoth Kumar (TN) 3 lost to Ramnath Bhuvanesh (TN) 4, C. Praveen Kumar (TN) 4 bt Santu Mondal (WB) 3, Muthu Alagappan (TN) 3 lost to Joydeep Dutta (WB) 4, Sumit Balan (Ker) 3 lost to N. Sudhakar Babu (IB) 4, G.A. Stany (Kar) 4 bt Ajay Srikanth (TN) 3, R.K. Ranjith (TN) 3 lost to R. Balasubramaniam (ICF) 4.
V.A.V. Rajesh (TN) 4 bt P. Lokesh (TN) 3, P. Phoobalan (ICF) 3.5 drew with K. Gopalakrishnan (IB) 3.5, Arjun Tiwari (Mah) 4 bt Vinodh Kumar (TN) 3, U.C. Mohanan (Ker) 3 lost to Abhishek Das (Jha) 4, O.T. Anilkumar (Ker) 4 bt P. Satyanarayana (AP) 3, L. Barath (TN) 4 bt K. Gunasekaran (ICF) 3.
