Agencies & PNN
Gibraltar/Bhubaneswar, Feb 4: Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout continued her dream run as she secured her first Grandmaster (GM) norm after defeating Grandmaster Tamir Nabaty of Israel in the eighth round of the Masters section of Gibraltar Chess Festival here Wednesday.
With her third Grandmaster scalp in a row, Padmini took her tally to six points out of a possible eight and this is the best ever performance from the Orissa girl. A huge gain of over 50 points also means that Padmini is ready to become the third highest-rated Indian girl behind Koneru Humpy and D Harika, the only two Indian girls with the Grandmaster title.
Having beaten Keydan Troff of United States and compatriot Sandipan Chanda in the last two rounds, Padmini continued her demolition and downed Nabaty from the white side of a Caro Kann Advanced variation game.
The Indian capitalised on an optical error on move 12 to net a pawn and then produced some skilled technique to romp home in 47 moves.
With six points in her kitty now, Padmini just needs to appear for the next round game against elite Grandmaster P Harikrishna, and even a loss will confirm her maiden Grandmaster norm.
“At last the Grandmaster norm and crossing the 2,400 Elo rating mark. Ages since I did it,” Padmini wrote on her FB page as congratulatory message flooded it. Father Ashok, however, is not ready to be overwhelmed at the success. “Her hard work has just started. She will have to perform consistently in important tournaments for the next two norms that will make her a Grandmaster,” stated Ashok.
Meanwhile Harikrishna was held to a draw by defending champion Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria and inched up to six points with just two rounds remaining in the 1,75000 Pounds Sterling event.
At the top, Hikaru Nakamura of United States stretched his lead to a full point after outclassing Yangyi Yu of China. The American moved to an astounding 7.5 points out of a possible eight and now stands a full point clear of nearest rivals Axel Bachmann of Paraguay, David Howell of England and Daniel Naroditsky of United States – all of whom have 6.5 points apiece.
Harikrishna, Padmini and B Adhiban are the three Indians still in contention for a podium finish but they all need a super effort in the last two rounds. With six points in all, they share the fifth spot with 15 others.
Adhiban defeated Gil Popilski of Israel from the black side of a Sicilian Taimanov. Popilski went for some unwarranted complications in the early opening and found himself in a lost middle game pretty soon. Adhiban finished the formalities in quick time.
