Saravanan, Ramesh continue unbeaten run

BENASQUE, JULY 13. International Master V.Saravanan of India and compatriot R.B.Ramesh continued their unbeaten run by holding their opponents to draws as GM Mahail Marin of Romania took the sole lead for the first time with 6.5 points after the seventh round of the Benasque Open chess tournament here.

GM Marin, who has a rating of 2557, crushed IM Danailov of Bulgaria on a day which saw keenly contested draws dominating the other top board games.

In the most exciting game of the day against IM Thomas Polak, Saravanan played the new move in the opening of the advance Caro- Kann variation. The Indian appeared to have a good position as all of a sudden Polak sacrificed a rook and a Bishop for nothing. The game got murkier by the move when Polak won Saravanan's queen for a rook and two minor peices and appeared to be on the saddle.

Saravanan defended well and the players agreed to a draw near the sudden death time control where Polak certainly could have played for more.

IM Ramesh was held to a draw again with the white pieces by IM Joledano. In a Philidor defence, Ramesh got a clearly better position only to overlook a tactical move by his opponent which landed him in deep trouble.

Ramesh defended well to even win a pawn but in the time battle could not convert the extra pawn in the knight and pawn ending to settle for a draw in 52 moves. Vedant Goswami, the other Indian in the fray, played an excellent attacking game to outplay lowly rated Jose Miguel Ugalde of Spain. Goswami, who has a rating of 2221, sacrificed an exchange to bring the black king out from a Reti opening. He then proceeded to win the black queen and with it the game comfortably.

Marin outplays Danailov

On the top board, GM Mihail Marin outplayed IM Danailov from the black side of Benoni defence. Marin played '95' in the early middlegame and got the initiative going. He then combined the major pieces well to attack the white king and eventually win the game.

With three more rounds remaining, several players were in position to vie for the top honours in this 10-round tournament which has attracted 420 players.

GM Komljenovic, one of the overnight leaders, got into trouble from the white side of the dragon variation but managed to escape with a draw against IM Martin Gonzalez.

Important results: IM Danailov (5.5) lost to GM Mihail Marin (6.5), GM Komljenov (6) drew with Martin Gonzalez (6), GM Kuzmin (5.5) drew with Berzinsh Rolands (5.5), WGM Bojkovic (5) lost to GM Hernandez (6), IM Saravanan (5.5) drew with IM Polak Thomas (5.5), IM R.B.Ramesh (5.5) drew with IM Toledano (5.5), Vedant Goswami (5) bt Jose Ugalde (4), GM Roman Hernandez (5.5) drew with GM Campera (5.5).

- PTI

Charudatta, Madan post wins

MUMBAI, JULY 13. India's Charudatta Jadhav and Madan Bagayatkar recorded wins against Lopez of Spain and Tulio of Honduras, respectively in the sixth round of the first World Cup chess championship for the blind played at Benasque (Spain), today.

Another Indian, Vilesh Bhat, playing with black pieces, drew against Mejias of Andorra while the fourth Indian in the fray, Shirish Patil, went down fighting to Staubach of Germany, an All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) release said here today.

Jadhav and Bagayatkar now have three points apiece while Bhat has 2.5 points and Patil two points to his credit. Four players, including top seed Larduet of Cuba, third seed Yatsishin of Ukraine, fifth seed Suder and 10th seed Gunajew (both from Poland) share the lead with five points each from six rounds.

Bagayatkar, playing with black pieces, scored an impressive win over Tulio while Jadhav, who faced a tactical attack from Lopez, responded with a counter-attack in a kings Indian defence game to win in 39 moves.

The results (sixth round): Tamayo (Cuba) (4.5 pts) drew with Larduet (Cuba) (5), Aguilar (Spain) (4) lost to Yatsishin of Ukraine (5), Suder (Poland) (5) bt Dobierzin (Germany) (4), Gunakew (Poland) (5) bt Qadiri (Iran) (4), Bischoff (Germany) (3.5) lost to Konev (Ukraine) (4.5), M.Bagayatkar (India) (3) bt Tulio (Honduras) (3.5), C.Jadhav (India) (3) bt Lopez (Spain) (2.5), V.Bhat (India) (2.5) drew with Mejias (Andorra) (4), Staubach (Germany) (4) bt S.Patil (India) (2).

- PTI

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