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Four share lead after eighth round

Raakesh Natraj

Chennai: There was another reshuffle of the leader pack as eight of the top 10 boards registered definitive outcomes in round eight of the India Cements Chennai Open international chess tournament here on Sunday.

Four players, including overnight leader Evgeny Postny, share the lead with seven points while a pack of seven trails the leaders by half a point.

Alexander Areshchenko (6.5) and Postny (7) played out a draw on board one. But Ni Hua (7), Alon Greenfeld (7), Tamir Nabaty (7), Niaz Murshed (6.5) and Martyn Kravtsiv (6.5), playing with white pieces, recorded wins in the adjoining five boards.

Areshchenko battled a ticking clock, as he sought to ensure safe passage for his unconnected pawns on the a, c and e files in a classic bishop and pawns vs. knight and pawns end game. The Ukrainian might have missed the winning move in the frenzied finale, as both players had less than two minutes on their clocks during their final moves.

Truce was signed after Areshchenko gave up his bishop for two pawns but was unable to make it count.

Sahaj Grover (6.5) got the better of Mohammed Nubairshah Shaikh (5.5) in 34 moves of the English opening.

Grover, playing black, embedded his e pawn deep inside Shaik's half as the opening yielded to the middle game. The match revolved around the e3 square, where Grover's pawn had made itself comfortable and Shaikh could never really displace it. Sheikh, instead, went for the jugular, attempting to check-mate black on the back ranks, but was soon an exchange down for his troubles.

The result meant Shaikh will have to win his next match to make good a nine-game IM norm while the win catapulted Grover into the top 10.

B.S. Shivananda (6) become the country's latest IM after his 28-move draw with black against B. Adhiban (6). Zheng Chongsheng (6) too completed his nine-game IM norm after a win over Konstantin Chernyshov in round eight. Michelle Catherina's (5) draw against N. Srinath ensured the Chennai girl her maiden WIM norm.

Important results: Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr 6.5) drew with Evgeny Postny (Isr, 7.0), Ni Hua (Chn, 7.0) bt Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukr, 6.0), Alon Greenfeld (Isr, 7.0) bt Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 6.0), Tamir Nabaty (Isr, 7.0) bt M.S. Thej Kumar (6.0), Niaz Murshed (Ban, 6.5) bt Hannes Stefansson (Isl, 5.5), Mravtsiv Martyn (Ukr, 6.5) bt Ashwin Jayaram (5.5), K. Rathanakaran (5.5) lost to Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukr, 6.5), B. Adhiban (6.0) drew with B.S. Shivananda (6.0), Mohammed Nubairshah Shaikh (5.5) lost to Sahaj Grover (6.5), Abhijeet Gupta (6.0) bt Vikramaditya Kamble (5.0), Abu Sufian Shakil (Ban, 6.0) bt S. Arun Prasad (5.0), Arjun Tiwari (5.5) drew with Deepan Chakkravarthy (5.5), Sauravh Khherdekar (5.5) drew with Neelotpal Das (5.5), R.R. Laxman (6.0) bt G.B. Prakash (5.0), Debraj Chatterjee (Ban, 5.0) lost to Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman (6.0), Sundararajan Kidambi (6.0) bt Akash Thakur (5.0).

Standings (after round eight): 1 to 4. Evgeny Postny (Isr, 7), Tamir Nabaty (Isr, 7.0), Ni Hua (Chn, 7.0), Alon Greenfeld (Isr, 7.0), 5 to 10. Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr, 6.5), Mikhailo Oleksienko (Ukr, 6.5), Martyn Kravtsiv (Ukr, 6.5), Sahaj Grover (6.5), Niaz Murshed (Ban, 6.5), Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 6.5).

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