Kolkata Open Chess: Five Indians among eight in the lead

Five Indians were among eight players in the lead after the eighth round of the 6th Kolkata Open (19th International Open GM Chess Tournament) here Tuesday.

Indians Abhijit Kunte, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, B.Adhiban, S.P.Sethuraman and M.R.Lalith Babu, as also Oliver Barbosa of Philippines, Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh and Russia's Konstantin Landa have each gleaned six points.

While overnight leaders Kunte, Vidit, Barbosa and Rahman drew their games, Adhiban, Sethuraman, Lalith Babu and Landa scored emphatic wins at the Gorky Sadan.

Adhiban, playing black, started with Sicilian defence against compatriot Deepan Chakkaravarthy. The game went on smoothly until move 34, when Adhiban offered a knight sacrifice. When Deepan accepted the temptation, it was curtains for him, as it enabled Adhiban to control the central open files. Deepan resigned after five more moves.

Former Commonwealth champion Lalith Babu chose to play Nimzo Indian defence against local hopes GM Deep Sengupta. Deep sacrificed his bishop on the 20th move to break open his opponent's castle. It was the turn of Lalith to sacrifice his rook on 43rd move to quell Deep's challenge and win comfortably

Grigoryan Avetik of Armenia played a good King's Indian defence against Russian Landa, but landed on the losing side. Both sacrificed their minor pieces but Landa managed to win exchange and his rook virtually won the game.

With a win in the eighth round, over his state mate GM Neelotpal Das, Diptayan Ghosh of the tourney organisers Alekhine Chess Club enhanced his chances for a GM norm. He needs a win against Avetik Grigoryan in the ninth and penultimate round Wednesday.

Sethuraman showcased his brilliant end game techniques against Georgia's Mikheil Mchedlishvili in a Closed Catalan game. Mikheil was forced to give up his dynamic dark coloured bishop and when Sethuraman made a pseudo sacrifice of his rook, it was end of the tale for Mikheil.

In the Alapin variation of Slav defence adopted by Barbosa, Vidit missed some moves and accepted the draw offer by the former.

Important Results of Eighth Round

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 6 drew with Barbosa Oliver PHI 6

Rahman Ziaur BAN 6 drew with Kunte Abhijit IND 6

Landa Konstantin RUS 6 beat Grigoryan Avetik ARM 5

Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 5 lost to Sethuraman S.P. IND 6

Deepan Chakkravarthy J. IND 5 lost to Adhiban B. IND 6

Sengupta Deep IND 5 lost to Lalith Babu M.R. IND 6

Pantsulaia Levan GEO 5 drew with Short Nigel D. ENG 5

Fedorchuk Sergey A. UKR 5 beat Ly Moulthun AUS 4

Gopal G.N. IND 4 1/2 drew with Swapnil S. Dhopade IND 4 1/2

Sundararajan Kidambi IND 4 lost to Abdulla Al-Rakib BAN 5

Shyam Sundar M. IND 4 1/2 drew with Prasanna Raghuram Rao IND 4 1/2

Ghosh Diptayan IND 5 beat Neelotpal Das IND 4

Rathnakaran K. IND 4 lost to Arun Prasad S. IND 5

Karthikeyan P. IND 5 beat Haznedaroglu Kivanc TUR 4

Laxman R.R. IND 4 1/2 drew with Padmini Rout IND 4 1/2