Tweet
Dubai, Apr 11 (PTI) World''s second youngest Grandmaster ever Parimarjan Negi played out a draw with top Iranian Ghaem Maghami Ehsan to be in joint second spot after the end of the sixth round of the Dubai International Open chess tournament here. Grandmaster Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova emerged as the sole leader from a six-way lead in the previous round at the expense of GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia.
The Moldovan took his tally to a very impressive 5.5 points out of a possible six and is now a half point clear of the nearest eight rivals including Negi and Maghami who both have 5 points each. There was a little drama on the top board when Parimarjan refused to budge when Maghami said the slight cold that the Indian suffered was troubling him because of constant sneezing and cough.
Parimarjan was cool to tackle the situation and continued playing nonchalantly to get a better position out of a Sicilian Najdorf. However, Maghami could find some solace in the counter play that came his way and got the half point.
2008 world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta was quite unlucky to miss out on a winning opportunity against Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan. Playing the white side of a King''s Indian defense, Abhijeet went for the blood with a fantastic piece sacrifice in the middle game that crippled the pieces of Guseinov.
As the game progressed it appeared easy pickings for Abhijeet but a late blunder by him turned the tide completely. Barring Negi, the other Indian Grandmasters continued to suffer as S Arun Prasad had to concede a draw to talented Shiven Khosla who played white.
GM R R Laxman also could not improve his standing much in the event after he was held to a draw by Iranian lady Ghader Pour Shayesteh. D Harika retained chances of her second Grandmaster norm by holding Grandmaster Tamaz Gelashvili of Georgia.
After feeling a bit sad about the fifth round when she had thought that the game had been agreed as drawn against Eduardo Itturizaga and eventually losing, Harika was a picture of confidence as she kept Gelashvili''s pieces at bay. After a flying start that had netted him three victories against Grandmasters, Tejas Ravichandran succumbed to his third straight loss Harutjunyan Gevorg of Armenia.
Despite the loss, Tejas still has excellent chances to make an International Master norm. (More) PTI Corr SHN.
Powered by WizardRSS | Free Autoblog Plugin
