Sasikiran wins to stay ahead

Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran downed Maxim Sorokin of Argentina to share the lead along with Ehsan Ghame Maghami of Iran at the end of the ninth round in the AICF's Golden Jubilee International Open chess tournament in Kozhikode on Sunday.

Both Sasikiran and Maghami registered impressive victories on boards one and two to share the top spot, with seven points each.

Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan and India's youngest Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna were in the second spot, with 6.5 points apiece.

None of the players have made norms so far in the tournament, but according to the Chief Arbiter, K. Ratnakumar, chances of earning one are bright for Vakhidov, who will complete his GM title, Vijayalakshmi and K. Visweswaran.

Visweswaran, who had caused many a surprise, including bagging the scalp of World junior champion Koneru Humpy, almost beat fourth seed Andrey Shariyazdanov before going down after 55 moves of Reti Opening.

On the top board, fifth seed Maghami faced Dutch defence from Dhzumaev. He sacrificed a centre pawn temporarily on the 21st move and began to exert pressure on the king-side. He gave an exchange on the 29th move but won a bishop five moves later. So it was two bishops for a rook, as well as a devastating attack against a defenceless black king. White's queen, rook, double bishop and knight were in absolute control of the board, and Dzhumaev resigned on the 39th move, facing heavy loss of material.

Second-seeded Sasikiran also looked pleased after overcoming Maxim Sorokin, the third seed from Argentina, though he had to play much longer for his win than he expected, after getting such a dominating position in the middle game. His Queen's gambit was accepted by black and he sacrificed a pawn on the queen-side.

White soon built up a strong attack on the king-side, forcing Sorokin to go totally on the defensive. Under time pressure the Argentine blundered too.

Sasikiran got a pawn on the 34th move, and brought his already ominous-looking rook to the seventh rank. He won an exchange four moves later. Black tried to defend for some more time, before giving up on the 49th move.

The game on the third board, between two foreign coaches, Vakhidov and Alexander Lyssenko of Russia, was over soon after it began, when the former blundered a piece on the 17th move, after adopting Nimzo-Indian defence.

Vijayalakshmi has been the most impressive among the six female players, and probably deserved the lucky win against R.B. Ramesh after refusing his offer of draw in an inferior position.

Harikrishna too was fortunate to get the full point against the promising Pune teenager, Prathamesh Mokal, who missed a certain draw in a rook-pawn ending.

On Monday, in the tenth and penultimate round, Vakhidov takes on Sasikiran, Harikrishna meets Maghami, S. Vijayalaskhmi plays Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan and Andrey Shariyazdanov faces Koneru Humpy.

Earlier reports:
Sasikiran bounces back to share lead
Kunte takes match and lead
Sasikiran wins, keeps lead
Sasikiran emerges sole leader