The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Nisipeanu outwits Chanda

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Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Nisipeanu outwits Chanda

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

PUNE, SEPT. 8. On a wet and windy Wednesday afternoon, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu came up with a superb performance to outplay Sandipan Chanda in the fifth round of the Category 16 Super Grandmaster tournament at Le Royale Residency Club.

Nisipeanu's brilliant win over Chanda wasn't the only memorable game in the $10,000 tourney today. Former European and World junior champion Emil Sutovsky of Israel displayed sound tactics to win his game against local lad Abhijit Kunte.

Well placed

With four rounds remaining, Nisipeanu is in a good position to claim the Mayor's Trophy. He has four points and is half-a-point ahead of Rustam Kasimdzhanov, the recently-crowned FIDE World champion from Uzbekistan.Behind Kasimdzhanov is Sutovsky, who was brilliant against Kunte but disappointed against Surya Shekhar Ganguly.

Chanda is also on three points and is the best-placed Indian at the moment, which is something of a surprise. K. Sasikiran, the highest-rated Indian in the field, hasn't had a great tournament so far. He has scored just 2.5 points with a solitary victory, against long-time rival Kunte who has been the biggest disappointment.

After a day's rest, the event will begin on Friday.

Poobesh wins

Meanwhile, in the International Open tournament, S. Poobesh Anand stunned the second-seeded Russian GM Ruslan Scherbakov — who had coached him just a few months ago — in the sixth round.

Playing on the white side of a Benko Gambit, the 18-year-old from Chennai won in 56 moves, a piece up.

Standings after five rounds: 1. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom 2686) 4, 2. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb 2640) 3.5, 3-4 Emil Sutovsky (Isr 2679) and Sandipan Chanda (Ind 2555) 3, 5-6 K. Sasikiran (Ind 2666) and P. Harikrishna (Ind 2609) 2.5, 7-8 Alexander Belivasky (Slo) and Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Geo 2679) 2, 9. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind 2574) 1.5 and 10. Abhijit Kunte (Ind 2532) 0.5.

International Open: Important results (sixth round, Indians unless stated): Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 5 bt K. Ratnakaran 4; Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 4.5 drew with Alexi Barsov (Uzb) 4.5; Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 4.5 drew with Alexander Fominyh (Rus) 4.5; S. Poobesh Anand 4.5 bt Ruslan Scherbakov (Rus) 3.5; Rahul Shetty 4.5 bt Dibyendu Barua 3.5; Praveen Thipsay 4.5 bt Saptarshi Roy 3.5; Sundarrajan Kidambi 4 drew with Deepan Chakravarthy 4; D.V. Prasad 4 drew with S. Vijayalakshmi 4; Parimarjan Negi 4 drew with Saptarshi Roychoudhury 4; Tahir Vakdhidov (Uzb) 4 bt P.D.S. Girinath 3; Sriram Jha 3.5 drew with Tejas Bakre 3.5; R.B. Ramesh 4 bt Eesha Karvade 3; Shukhrat Safin (Uzb) 3.5 drew with Himanshu Sharma 3.5; Dinesh Kumar Sharma 3 lost to M.R. Venkatesh 4; R.R. Laxman 3 lost to Atanu Lahiri 4; Arghyadip Das 4 bt Vishal Sareen 3.

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