Siddharth achieves maiden GM norm

R. Siddharth of Chennai made his maiden Grand Master norm while six other Indians completed IM norms at the end of the ninth round in the Chennai Open 2010 International Grand Master chess tournament here on Monday.

Siddharth defeated GM Kravtsiv of Ukraine in a same colour bishop ending after 53 moves and achieved his GM norm in style. After one slip by his opponent, Siddharth, a 22-year old M.S. student from Syracuse University in USA made him pay the price.

IM norm achievers

All the IM norm achievers were teenagers. P. Shyam Nikhil (TN), Anwesh Upadyyaya, Swayams Mishra (both Orissa), Vaibhav Suri (Delhi), Fenil Shah, Ankit Rajpara (both Gujarat) made nine-game IM norms. Now, these youngsters can convert these 9-game norms into either 10-game or 11-game norms by winning the next two rounds.

Maxim Turov of Russia stretched his lead from half-a-point to a full point after he defeated Uzbek GM Dzhumaev with the black pieces. Turov leads with 8.5 points.

Tied for the second to fifth places on 7.5 points are M.R. Lalith Babu, Vikramaditya Kamble, Z. Rahman (Ban), R. Jumabayev (Kaz).

Indian players tied for the places from 6 to 14 with seven points include Ashwin Jayaram, S. Satyapragyan, Anwesh Upadhyaya, Somak Palit and R. Siddharth.

In a flurry of tactics, Lalith Babu of Vijayawada won the queen of Shyam Nikhil for insufficient compensation and went on win the game in 33 moves with the white pieces.

Kamble of Mumbai shocked Arun Prasad by gaining access to the king side with his queen and two rooks after 44 moves. Kolkata’s Somak Palit played a remarkable game hurling his pawns forward to attack and surprise GM Laxman of Chennai in 43 moves. Just two rounds remain in this contest sponsored by the Government of Tamil Nadu, LIC and ONGC.

The results: (ninth round, Indians unless stated): M. Dzhumaev (Uzb) 7 lost to Maxim Turov (Rus) 8.5, Anwesh Upadhyaya 7 lost to Rinat Jumabayev (Kaz) 7.5, Z. Rahman (Ban) 7.5 bt M. Manik (Svk) 6.5, Lalith Babu 7.5 bt Shyam Nikhil 6.5, V. Kamble 7.5 bt Arun Prasad 6, Ashwin Jayaram 7 bt Ghaem Maghami (Iri) 6, Swapnil Dhopade 6 lost to D. Kryakvin (Rus) 7, P. Kotsur (Kaz) 6.5 drew with M.R. Venkatesh 6.5, R. Siddharth 7 bt M. Kravtsiv (Ukr) 6, A. Zubarev (Ukr) 6.5 drew with P. Konguvel 6.5, S. Kidambi 6.5 drew with K. Rathnakaran 6.5.

Somak Palit 7 bt R.R. Laxman 6, Swayams Mishra 6.5 drew with Deepan Chakkravarthy 6.5, G.B. Joshi 6 lost to S. Satyapragyan 7, S. Vijayalakshmi 6.5 drew with B.S. Shivananda 6.5, Ganesh Bhat lost to R. Bitoon (Phi) 7, O. Dimakiling (Phi) 7 bt Vinoth Kumar 6, S. Iuldachev (Uab) 6 drew with Fenil Shah 6, R.B. Ramesh 6.5 bt D.P. Singh 5.5, Bitan Banerjee 6 drew with Himanshu Sharma 6.