The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Sorokin beats Koneru

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 21, 2004

Sport

Sport - Chess

Sorokin beats Koneru

By A. Joseph Anthony

VIJAYAWADA, AUG. 20. Maxim Sorokin got even with Koneru Humpy, defeating her in round three of the Hotel Ilapuram Grandmasters eight match series for the Krishna Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition Society Pushkar Festival Trophy here on Friday. Each has 1.5 points with five rounds to go.

Sorokin's d4 opening met with Bogoliubov defence from Humpy. White enlarged his space advantage, but Black baulked his efforts for a breakthrough initially. Presently, the Russian Grandmaster enforced his edge for easier manoeuvring of his pieces. After the queens were traded at the 28th turn, Sorokin managed to prise open the game on queenside, rendering Humpy's position difficult to defend.

To exert control over queenside and her h6 pawn became an uphill task for Humpy. Sorokin's invasion of her queenside paved the way for his victory, sailing on his strongpoint of positional play that saw a surge in his confidence. "There was nothing spectacular in the game and could therefore have been a bore for the onlookers," Sorokin remarked wryly, although he was visibly satisfied with the final outcome.

Srinivas leads

Children's chess Olympiad champion Dasari Sai Srinivas led the field after three rounds of the international round robin FIDE rating chess tournament with as many points, enjoying a half-point margin over his nearest rival Lalith Babu. Srinivas' king pawn opening got a French defence response from S.K. Khasim. In the end game, Khasim, saddled with a weak f7 pawn and a threat to his king, resigned on the 45th move.

Against K. Chandrahawsa's Trampovsky opening, Y. Sandeep castled early on kingside, an ominous sign of things to come. With no effort at counter play, the Asian under 10 champion persisted with the Fianchetto setup on kingside. Chandrahawsa meanwhile kept her king in the centre, playing h4 and 5 in a bid to mount an attack on Sandeep's king.

She succeeded in opening up the h file, that gave her a distinct advantage. Humpy's younger sister then engineered an exchange beneficial more to her, in that she conceded a knight and rook to capture Sandeep's queen. Thereafter there was no looking back for her in a contest where Black had played passively.

Convincing win

Natalia Sorokina shook off her rustiness with a convincing win over A.P. State runner up D. Laxmana Rao. The latter opened with king pawn, which Sorokina matched with Sicilian defence. Undeterred by the early loss of a pawn, the Russian attacked Laxmana Rao's kingside, which he defended ably. Sorokina's assault got more aggressive, as Laxmana Rao overlooked a mating threat, to cave in shortly after.

The results (third round): D. Sai Srinivas 3 bt S.K. Khasim 0.5, M.L.A. Reddy 2 bt K.V.K. Karthik 1, S. Bhanupriya 0 lost to G. Muralikrishna 1, M.R. Lalith Babu 2.5 bt J. Malleswara Rao 2, K. Chandrahawsa 2 bt Y. Sandeep 1.5, D. Laxmana Rao 1.5 lost to Natalia Sorokina 1.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport