The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Sasikiran, Harikrishna back to winning ways

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Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Sasikiran, Harikrishna back to winning ways

DUBAI, APRIL 23. Indian Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran, P. Harikrishna and Surya Shekhar Ganguly returned to their winning ways to remain in joint second position at the end of the fourth round of the Dubai International Chess Championship here.

The trio, who had to be content with a draw in the earlier round, came back strongly to garner full points and remain in title hunt with five more rounds to go in this tournament.

The top-seed, GM Liviu-Dieter Nispeanu of Romania emerged as the sole leader with four points from as many rounds after outplaying Tamaz Gelashvili of Georgia. He is now followed by a pack of 11 players, including Sasikiran, Ganguly and Harikrishna, with 3.5 points each.

GM R.B. Ramesh also posted a much-needed victory over compatriot Deepan Chakravarthy who fell prey to a well-analysed variation in the Sicilian Sveshnikov. Also scoring victories were IM Rahul Shetty and IM norm holder Manthan Chokshi who defeated Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and Mohamed Eissa of UAE respectively.

Young hopeful Parimarjan Negi continued with his fine form and held Women Grandmaster Firuza Velinkhanli to a creditable draw, while S. Satyapragyan failed to deliver the goods against GM Al-Modiahki Mohamad of Qatar who played a fine attacking game to catch his younger rival off-guard.

Sasikiran, playing white, defeated GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan in just 25 moves from a Kings Indian defence game.

In the opening itself, Iuldachev found himself at sea after achieving a complicated position and Sasikiran took control of the proceedings in copybook fashion to knock down a pawn on the Kingside that drew the curtains on Iuldachev.

Harikrishna was again at his resourceful best as he accounted for GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia.

Important results (fourth round, Indians unless specified): Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom) 4 bt Tamaz Gelashvili (Geo) 3, Nelson Mariano (Phi) 3.5 drew with Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov (Aze) 3.5, K. Sasikiran (3.5) bt Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 2.5, Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 3.5 bt Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 2.5, Alexei Fedorov (Blr) 3 drew Vugar Gashimov (Aze) 3, Megaranto Susanto (Ina) 3 drew with Jobava Baadur (Geo) 3, Zurab Sturua (Geo) 2.5 lost to P. Harikrishna 3.5, Evgenij Miroshnichenko (Ukr) 2.5 lost to Yuri Kruppa (Ukr) 3.5, Elshan Moradiabadi (Iri) 2.5 lost to Pavel Eljanov (Ukr) 3.5, Artashes Minasian (Arm) 3.5 bt Goran Dizdar (Cro) 2.5, Surya Shekhar Ganguly 3.5 bt Awam Wahono (Ina) 2.5, Al-Modiahki Mohamad (Qat) 3.5 bt S. Satyapragyan 2.5, Izoria Zviad (Geo) 2.5 lost to Nadera Barlo (Phi) 3.5, Viorel Iordachesvu (Mda) 2.5 drew with Mahjoob Morteza (Iri) 2.5, Alexander Goloshchapov (Ukr) 3 bt Abhijeet Gupta 2, R.B. Ramesh 2.5 bt Deepan Chakkravarthy 1.5, D.V. Prasad 2 drew with Arash Roghani (Iri) 2, Rahul Shetty 2.5 bt Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) 1.5, Parimarjan Negi 2 drew with Firuza Velikhanli (Aze) 2, Aarthie Ramaswamy (1) lost to Almulla Mohammed (UAE) 2, Manthan Chokshi 2 bt Mohamed Eissa (UAE) 1 — PTI

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