Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 6: GM Debashis Das of Orissa was beaten by Harsha Bharathakoti in the seventh round of the VIIIth Mumbai Mayor’s Cup chess tournament in Mumbai, Saturday. With this defeat Debashis (4.5) slipped to the joint fourth position.
But IM Swayams Mishra (4) scripted a convincing victory against SA Kanan, while FM Rakesh Kumar Jena held Bhambure Shantanu to a draw.
Grandmaster R R Laxman and IM K Priyadarshan scored impressive wins over their respective rivals, GM Ziaur Rahman and GM Nguyen, to join overnight sole leader Kravstiv Martyn in the pole position.
All three players had six points to their credit. India’s Laxman came out all guns blazing against GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh. In a game arising out of Reti Opening, Laxman equalised early from the black side and soon started making inroads on the opponent’s side. Rahman tried to defend his King but the assault proved too much and he resigned on move 40 when faced with a mating attack to provide Laxman with his third win on the trot.
On the third board, another Indian player Priyadarshan was in his element against Nguyen of Vietnam in the Sicilian Defense. With a neat tactical stroke, the Indian IM was able to win a pawn on move 39 and the ensuing Bishop ending was just a matter of technique as he wrapped up the game in 69 moves.
Overnight sole leader GM Martyn settled for an early draw with GM Dmitry Kokarev in just 12 moves. The second spot is jointly occupied by GM Zubov Alexander, GM Pavel Smirnov, GM Luka Paichadze, IM Shota Azaladze and an untitled player, Harsha Bharathakoti. All these players are on 5.5 points.
