Himanshu Sharma and Shyam Nikil share lead
Nagpur (19 Aug 11) :-Third seed International Master Himanshu Sharma of Haryana and Tamilnadu International Master Shyam Nikil share the lead with perfect score after fifth round matches in the 4th Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee Memorial All India Open Fide Rated Chess Tournament here at Naivedhyam Hall on Friday. Opting to play declined variation of Queen’s Gambit with black pieces, Sharma outwitted his Maharashtra rival Chinmay Kulkarni in 50 moves while playing with white pieces in Philidor defence, Shyam Nikil not shown any mercy against International Master Chandrashekhar Gokhale of Air India to seal the match in 42 moves.
In other fifth round encounters, top seed Grandmaster R R Laxman of Railways shook the hands with team mate International Master B T Murali Krishnan in 10 moves signaling a drawn result in Slav defence and second seed International Master Anwesh Upadhyaya of Orissa defeated Niladri Shekhar Bhattacharya of West Bengal in 46 moves arrived out of symmetrical variation of English opening.
Playing white side of Flohr-Mikenas system in English Opening, International Master Akshayraj Kore played it safe and settled for half point against Tamilnadu youngster Manigandan S S in 20 moves while defending champion International Master Rathnakaran agreed to split the point with Nagpur based Fide Master Satchidanand Soman in just 6 moves. International Master S Satyapragyan of Air India defeated Shashikant Kutwal while International Master P Karthikeyan got better off Asian Youth Gold medallist Rucha Pujari in fifth round matches.
At the half way stage, a pack of nine players including Laxman and local star International Master Anup Deshkukh, who beat World Under-10 bronze medalist Abhimanyu Puranik in the fifth round match are now sharing the second spot with a drift of half point from the leaders.
Important Results (Round-5) :- GM Laxman R R of Railways (4.5) drew with IM Murali Krishnan B T of Railways (4.5) 10 moves; Chinmay Kulkarni of Maharashtra (4) lost to IM Himanshu Sharma of Haryana (5) 50 moves; IM Shyam Nikil of Tamilandu (5) beat IM Chandrashekhar Gokhale of Air India (4) 42 moves; IM Akshayraj Kore of Maharashtra (4.5) drew with Manigandan S S of Tamilnadu (4.5) 20 moves; IM Anwesh Upadhyaya of Orissa (4.5) beat Niladri Shekhar Bhattacharya of West Bengal (3.5) 46 moves; FM Soman Satchidanand of Maharashtra (4) drew with IM Rathnakaran K of Railways (4) 6 moves; WFM Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra (3.5) lost to IM Karthikeyan P of Tamilnadu (3.5) 49 moves; Navin Kanna T U of Tamilnadu (4.5) beat Negi V S of Air India (3.5) 29 moves; Abhishek Das of Jharkhand (4) drew with Vikaramditya Sahu of Maharashtra (4) 47 moves; Himal Gusain of Chandigarh (4) drew with Akash Thakur of Railwas (4) 21 moves; CM Abhimanyu Puranik of Maharashtra (3.5) lost to IM Anup Deshmukh of LIC (4.5) 70 moves; IM Swapnil Dhopade of Maharashtra (4) beat Aditya Chakraborty of West Bengal (3) 30 moves; Hardik Satra of Maharashtra (3) lost to IM Singh DP of Railways (4) 41 moves; FM Sauravh Khherdekar of Railways (3.5) drew with Kaustuv Kundu of West Bengal (3.5) 66 moves; Arpan Das of West Bengal (3) lost to Ram S Krishnan of Tamilnadu (4) 32 moves; Manish Uniyal of Delhi (4) beat Kunal M of Tamilnadu (3) 40 moves; Puneet Jaiswal of Jharkhand (3) lost to Pranavananda V of Andhrapradesh (4) 35 moves; IM Rahul Shetty of Air India (4) beat Srivastava Mithilesh Kumar of Delhi (3) 41 moves; Raj Kumar S Singha of Karnataka (3) lost to Deepak Katiyar of Uttarpradesh (4) 56 moves.
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EOM
Nagpur (18 Aug 11) :- Defending champion K Rathnakran got setback to his title defence in the ongoing Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee Memorial Open Fide Rated Chess Tournament as he satisfied with half point against unheralded Karantaka youngster Santoshkashyap in the third round. Playing with white pieces in Kings Indian defence, Santosh played a solid defence game to hold his fancied International Master rival as Rathnakaran not found any breakthrough in the middle game to crack the defence of his rival and agreed to split the point after 31 moves.
Photo: Top seed GM RR Laxman (Right in organge T shirt) in action
In other third round encounters, top seed Grandmaster RR Laxman struggled a bit to beat former National Junior runner-up Brajesh Agarwal of Uttarpradesh. Playing white side of Kings Indian Defence, Laxman found tough to handle the double edged and complicated position in the middle game but once his opponent struggled under time pressure, Laxman raided his rooks to his opponent territory to garner full point in 65 moves. On second board, International Master Anwesh Upadhyay of Orissa opted for English opening to beat highest seeded Services player Rajesh Upadhayay in just 29 moves. International Masters Himanshu Sharma of Haryana and Satyapragyan of Air India defeated Bhatt V R of Uttranchal and Ajoy Haldar of West Bengal respectively without much struggle in the third round.
Important Results (Round-3) :- GM RR Laxman of Railways (3) beat Agarwal Brajesh of Uttarpradesh (2),IM Anwesh Upadhyaya of Orissa (3) beat R Upadhyay of Services (2), Bhatt VR of Uttaranchal (2) lost to IM Himanshu Sharma of Haryana (3), Haldar Ajoy of West Bengal (2) lost to IM S Satyapragyan of Air India (3), IM Swapnil Dhopade of Maharashtra (3) beat S Prasanna of Tamilnadu (2), Santoshkashyap Hg of Karnataka (2.5) drew IM K Ratnakaran of Railways (2.5), IM P Shyam Nikil of Tamilnadu (3) beat Abhijeet Joshi of Maharashtra (2), Mishra Uttam of Chhattisgarh (2) lost to IM Karthikeyan P of Tamilnadu (3),IM Akshayraj Kore of Maharashtra (3) beat Padhya Saumil of Maharashtra (2),K Srikanth of Services (2) lost to IM Murali Krishnan BT of Railways (3),TU Navin Kanna of Tamilnadu (3) beat Pradip Tiwari of Maharashtra (2), Abhishek Das of Jharkhand (3) beat Aditya Chakraborty of West Bengal (2), FM Sauravh Khherdekar of Railways (3) beat Manish Uniyal of Delhi (2), Amardeep Tiwari of Maharashtra (2) lost to Akash Thakur of Railways (3), Kulkarni Chinmay of Maharashtra (3) beat Kaustuv Kundu of Bengal (2).