New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) Parimarjan Negi stopped his run of losses while Krishnan Sasikiran got back to his winning ways in what turned out to be a good day for the Indians in the AAI Grandmasters Chess here Thursday.
Negi completed a comprehensive 27-move win over Wesley So of the Philippines while Sasikiran after draws in previous two games took just 30 moves following a Queen’s Indian opening for a full point against Czech Viktor Laznicka in the eighth round. In the third game of the day, Fabiano Caruana beat Hou Yifan to extend his lead to 1.5 points with two rounds to go.
Caruana, who continues to be the only unbeaten player in the tournament, scored his fifth win. With 6.5 points he is 1.5 points ahead of the second place Sasikiran, who has five points. Wesley So and Viktor Laznicka have four points each, Negi has 2.5 and Hou Yifan two.
‘It was not really that easy because I took some risks today,’ said Sasikiran. ‘At one point I offered a sacrifice which he need not have taken then but he did and it became a bit easier. Maybe the Kh1 (on 23rd move) from him was the mistake that helped me get to the win faster.’
It was Sasikiran’s second win over Laznicka in the tournament as he had earlier beaten him in the third round.
The 17-year-old Indian National champion Negi approached the round rather cautiously but was surprised to see his rival, Wesley, play the Petroff defence, something he had played only once before against a noted opponent, Alexei Shirov, last year. ‘It was a big surprise to see him use the Petroff, maybe he just wanted to play solid and also surprise. I thought I wouldn’t take any chances,’ said Negi.
But it was So who made the big error when he played Be7 on the 18th move and from there on the game turned decisively in Negi’s favour. It was thereafter only a matter of time as Negi won in just 27 moves. It was by far the quickest game in terms of moves and took less than three hours.
Negi and Sasikiran are both due to play Asian Team Chess in China next month and then the World Cup in Russia.
Negi, who had drawn his third round with Wesley So before his run of losses began in the fourth round, now has 2.5 points from eight games.
There are two more rounds to go in the 10-round Category-17 tournament, which comes to an end Saturday.
Points after eight rounds:
6.5 points – Caruana
5 – Sasikiran
4 – Wesley So and Laznicka
2.5 – Negi
2 – Hou Yifan
