The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Girinath shares lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 30, 2007
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Sport - Chess

Girinath shares lead

NEW DELHI: Hyderabad's genial International Master P.D.S. Girinath pulled off the biggest upset of the Dubai Open chess tournament when he brought down top seed Jaan Ehlvest in the seventh round in Dubai on Saturday.

Girinath's 40-move victory with black pieces was the biggest of his career and made him part of the 10-man leaders' pack at 5.5 points. Half-a-point behind were D. Harika, K. Humpy and R.B. Ramesh. Harika and Humpy drew in 48 moves and Ramesh beat Tamil Nadu youngster B. Adhiban.

The talking point of the day was Girinath's stunning conquest. Girinath, rated a modest 2378 as against Ehlvest's 2640, managed to inflict the tournament's first defeat on the U.S.-based GM following a smartly planned attack.

After giving up a queenside pawn in the 31st move, Girinath launched a kingside offensive that surprised Ehlvest. Sensing grave danger, Ehlvest gave up his queen for a rook and knight to avoid an immediate loss. But Girinath quickly tightened his grip by placing his queen on a strategic square and advancing one of his lone queenside pawn to the sixth rank. At this stage, Ehlvest chose to give up.

The results (seventh round, involving Indians): D. Harika (5) drew with K. Humpy (5); Jaan Ehlvest (USA, 4) lost to P.D.S. Girinath (5.5); Mohammad Al Modiahki (Qat, 5) bt S. Kidambi (4); G.N. Gopal (4.5) drew with Ahmed Adly (Egy. 4.5); R.B. Ramesh (5) bt B. Adhiban (4); S.P. Sethuraman (4) lost to Mohammad al Sayed (Qat, 4.5); Saleh Jasim (UAE, 3.5) lost to Tejas Bakre (4.5); S. Meenakshi (4.5) bt Hrant Melkumyan (Aze, 3.5); Homayoon Toufighi (Iri, 4.5) bt Aditya Udeshi (3.5); Eesha Karavade (4) drew with Irine Kharisma Sukandar (Ina, 4); Vikramaditya Kamble (4) drew with Mehdi Mahdavirad (Iri, 4); Aarthie Ramaswamy (3.5) lost to Salor Sitanggang (Ina, 4.5); M.R. Lalith Babu (4) bt Nagueb Saleh (UAE, 3); Ishaq Saeed (UAE, 3) lost to Kruttika Nadig (4); Tirta Chandra Purnama (Ina, 3.5) bt Prasanna Rao (2.5); Mohammad Darwish (Syr, 2.5) lost to Sahaj Grover (3.5); Obay Ali (Sud, 2) lost to N. Srinath (3); Mohammad Saud (UAE, 3) bt Shiven Khosla (2); Shatrughan Jha (3) bt Eissa Mohammad (UAE, 2).

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