The Hindu : Laxman causes flutter again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2004

Sport

Sport - Chess

Laxman causes flutter again

By Rakesh Rao

R.R. Laxman of India (left) locked in battle with Saidali Iuldachev. — Photo: Vivek Bendre

MUMBAI, JAN. 13. For the second time in four days, R. R. Laxman stunned a Grandmaster. After dumping Koneru Humpy on the opening day, the 20-year-old repeated the dose to Uzbek Saidali Iuldashev and provided the biggest sensation of the fourth round of the Commonwealth chess championship here on Tuesday.

After some topsy-turvy results on Monday, the day saw the return of some sanity to proceedings. Most of the bigger names, headed by Nigel Short, scored over the underdogs.

On the top board, overnight leader P. Hari Krishna and K. Sasikiran played out a 24-move draw arising out of an irregular opening. Joining Hari in the lead, with 3.5 points, were Russian GMs Pavel Smirnov and veteran Alexander Fominyh after their resounding victories.

Still, the day was not without surprises. Before Laxman scored day's biggest upset, Soumya Ranjan Mishra drew with Uzbek Tahir Vakhidov in just 17 moves. In fact, the 11th seeded Vakhidov, with a rating of 2515, is a norm away from becoming a Grandmaster.

Two other results, too, did not follow the expected lines. Vishal Sareen denied liberties to Abhijit Kunte during their 22-move deadlock and later, Chandrashekhar Gokhale held National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly in 41 moves.

These results meant another good day for Sareen and Gokhale, who had beaten GMs Sandipan Chanda and Stuart Conquest on Monday.

But Tuesday surely belonged to Laxman. Playing black, Laxman gained a good position after opting for the Closed Sicilian variation. Though Iuldashev managed to trap Laxman's knight, the Chennai-youngster continued to march through the middle-game with confidence. With Iuldashev's knight almost out of play, Laxman did not really feel the pinch of playing on, despite being a knight less.

Before long, Laxman's two advanced kingside pawns spelt trouble for Iuldashev. Laxman also managed to gain two pawns, while Iuldashev was busy trying to repulse Laxman's kingside offensive.

Playing increasingly well, Laxman forced Iuldashev to give up his knight for two pawns. However, it did not give Iuldashev any respite since Laxman reached a winning rook and pawn ending. Iuldashev accepted the inevitable on the 72nd move.

Earlier, Short found a much-needed victory at the expense of Prathamesh Mokal in 38 moves of Ruy Lopez. It was just the kind of victory that Short needed after being held by Abhijeet Gupta and Varughese Koshy in the preceding rounds.

The results (Indians unless stated): Fourth round: P. Hari Krishna (3.5) drew with K. Sasikiran (3); Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (2.5) lost to Pavel Smirnov (Rus) (3.5); George Michelakis (RSA) (2.5) lost to Alexander Fominyh (Rus) (3.5); Chandrashekhar Gokhale (3) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (3); Soumya Ranjan Mishra (3) drew with Tahir Vakhidov (Uzb) (3); Prathamesh Mokal (2.5) lost to Nigel Short (Eng) (3); Saidali Iuldashev (Uzb) (2) lost to R. R. Laxman (3); Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) (3) bt Dronavalli Harika (2); Koneru Humpy (3) bt Saptarshi Roy (2); S. Meenakshi (2) lost to Pravin Thipsay (3); Sergey Iskusnyh (Rus) (3) bt Atanu Lahiri (2); Neelotpal Das (2.5) drew with Vladimir Feldman (Aus) (2.5); Sharad Tilak (3) bt Sriram Jha (2); Tejas Bakre (3) bt J. Ramakrishna (2); K. Ratnakaran (2) lost to S. Vijayalakshmi (3); S. Kidambi (3) bt Irina Berezina (Aus) (2); Rishi Pal Singh (2) lost to Niaz Murshed (Ban) (3); Shekhar Sahu (2) lost to D. V. Prasad (3); Yogesh Gore (2.5) drew with M. R. Venkatesh (2.5); Deepan Chakkravarthy (2.5) drew with Nikhilesh Kumar (2.5); G. N. Gopal (2) lost to Rahul Shetty (3); Himanshu Sharma (3) bt Y. Pratibha (2); Varughese Koshy (2.5) drew with M. K. A. Russel (Sri) (2.5); Bhagyashree Thipsay (2.5) drew with Dinesh Kumar Sharma (2.5); Anupama Gokhale (2) lost to P. Konguvel (3); S. G. Joshi (2) lost to S. Poobesh Anand (3); Vikas Sharma (2.5) drew with T. S. Ravi (2.5); Somak Palit (3) bt Sai Krishna (2); Sai Meera (2.5) drew with Ravi Hegde (2.5); Ndawana Mosenya (BSW) (2) lost to N. Sudhakar Babu (3); Nisha Mohata (2.5) drew with N. Vinuthna (2.5); Anzel Laubscher (RSA) (1.5) lost to Stuart Conquest (Eng) (2.5); Sandipan Chanda (2.5) bt James Coleman (Eng) (1.5); V. S. Negi (1.5) lost to R. B. Ramesh (2.5); Abhijeet Gupta (2.5) bt N. Neelakanthan (1.5); Parimarjan Negi (1.5) lost to S. Satyapragyan (2.5); P. D. S. Girinath (2) drew with Y. Sandeep (2); Gurpreet Pal Singh (2.5) bt Aswin Jayaram (1.5).

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