NEW DELHI: Favourite P. Hari Krishna scored an important victory over Hungary's Zoltan Almasi and moved closer to the Marx Gyorgy memorial chess title after enlarging his lead to one point after eight rounds in Paks, Hungary, on Saturday.

With two rounds to go, Hari's tally stands at 5.5 points. Ukraine's Zahar Efimenko (4.5) is next, ahead of Almasi and China's Wang Yue (four each). One point from the remaining rounds should see Hari win the title.

Playing with black pieces in the Ruy Lopez game, Hari accepted Almasi's offer and traded a bishop for a rook. Soon thereafter, sensing that Hari was getting ready for the 'kill', Almasi launched a desperate kingside offensive. Undeterred, Hari not only repulsed the attack but also emerged with an extra knight once the series of exchanges ended. Almasi resigned on the 37th move.

Efimenko, who began the round sharing the second spot with Almasi, drew with Hungary's Ferenc Berkes (3.5) in 31 moves of Sicilian Najdorf. Wang Yue tried for 101 moves to make the most of his extra bishop and win against Hungary's Peter Acs (2.5) but in vain.

Kidambi joint second

International Master S. Kidambi drew with second seed Argentine Grandmaster Fernando Peralta to share the second spot with 3.5 points after four rounds of the Badalona International Open chess tournament in Badalona, Spain, on Saturday.

GM R. B. Ramesh, the other Indian among the overnight leaders, however, lost to 17th seeded Italian Fabiano Caruana. From the Indian camp, if Ramesh was the only loser, Swati Mohota emerged as the lone winner of the day. Caruana, Miguel Munoz Pantoja and Jaime Alexander Cuartas shared the lead with four points.

Indians start with a bang

Grandmasters Parimarjan Negi and Dibyendu Barua scored contrasting victories as all five Indians emerged victories in the first round of the 10thHogeschool Zeeland chess tournament in Vlissingen, Holland, on Saturday.

Facing lowly rated players, Parimarjan defeated Oliver de Hert with black pieces in 31 moves. Barua needed 59 moves to down Andries Zisha, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury stopped Jacco Vermeulen in 49 moves, Saptarshi Roy shut out Michael Wise in 27 moves and Roktim Bandyopadhyay won in 42 moves against Henk De Heer.

The results: (involving Indians)

At Badalona: Fourth round: Fernando Peralta (Arg, 3.5) drew with S. Kidambi (3.5); R. B. Ramesh (3) lost to Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 4); Salvador Del Rio Angelis (Esp, 3) drew with P. Konguvel (3); Lluis Maria Perpinya Rofes (Esp, 3) drew with Neelotpal Das (3); S. Satyapragyan (2.5) drew with Jose Ridameya Tatche (Esp, 2.5); Swati Mohota (3) bt Diego Cherin (Ita, 2); Sabrina Vega Gutierrez (Esp, 2.5) drew with Sai Meera (2.5); Prasanna Rao (2.5) drew with Bertrand Valuet (Fra, 2.5); Aarthie Ramaswamy (2) drew with Alejandro Barbero Senidic (Uru, 2).

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