R B Ramesh bags second Grandmaster norm

Indian chess had more to cheer on Thursday, when International Master R B Ramesh won his second Grandmaster norm, to add to the WGM norm achievement by S Meenakshi on Wednesday, at the British Open Chess championships at the Riviera Palace in Torquay, England.

Ramesh upstaged compatriot Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte to achieve his second GM norm. The Indian Oil Corporation employee now needs one more to complete the requirements of the Grandmaster title.

Meenakshi won her maiden WGM norm in style, holding GM Mark Hebden of England to a draw.

In addition to the WGM norm, the Indian Airlines scholarship holder also obtained her IM norm with the result.

Meanwhile, the lead remained unchanged as GM Luke Mcshane of England drew with GM Pendyala Harikrishna to stay ahead by half a point.

Seven players follow the Englishman closely with just two rounds remaining in this 10,000 pound sterling (Rs 750,000) first prize tournament.

They are GM Jonathan Speelman, GM Peter Wells, Stewart Haslinger (all from England), GM Joseph Gallaghar (Switzerland) GM Jonathan Rowson (Scotland), Harikrishna and Ramesh.

Top seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran came back into the reckoning for top honours with a resounding victory over Paul Littlewood of England.

Sasikiran has six points and is in joint eighth position along with GM Bogdan Lalic, IM Pert Nicholas (both England) and IM Surya Sekhar Ganguly.

The Chennai-based Ramesh will cherish the victory against Kunte with white pieces for a long time. He has had a brilliant run here against an opposition with an average ELO rating of 2462.

Ramesh knew he needed for a victory and he did precisely that, as Kunte went for an erroneous plan in the middle game.

This was Ramesh's third victory against a Grandmaster in this tournament after he beat John Emms of England in the fifth and Dibyendu Barua in the eighth round. His only loss came against Harikrishna in the sixth round.

It was a marathon topsy-turvy battle at the top as Harikrishna, black, faced the Rossolimo attack against his Sicilian defence for the second time in this tournament.

The early part of the middle game posed some problems for Harikrishna as he was saddled with a weaker pawn structure. However, as the pieces got exchanged at regular intervals, Mcshane's advantage slowly vanished.

Not the one to give up easily, Mcshane tried hard and eventually won a piece but by then all his pawns were off the board.

In the Rook and knight versus rook endgame Harikrishna gave no chances and the game was drawn after 106 moves.

Speelman gave a brilliant display of attacking chess to outclass World Juniors girls champion Koneru Humpy. He employed the Reti opening and got the game transposed to a reverse Benoni wherein Humpy failed to find the right plan.

Earlier reports:
Round 8: Meenakshi bags maiden WGM norm
Round 7: Harikrishna wins to remain in joint lead
Round 4: Indians slip to second position
Round 3: Humpy wins; emerges joint leader
Round 2: Sasikiran emerges joint leader
Round 1: Sasikiran begins on winning note

Result Round 9:

Bd  WHITE                      Result  BLACK                          PIN
  1 MCSHANE,Luke J        (6½)  ½ - ½  HARIKRISHNA,Pentala   (6)     6   3
  2 ROWSON,Jonathan       (6)   ½ - ½  GALLAGHER,Joseph G    (6)     4  14
  3 SPEELMAN,Jon          (5½)  1 - 0  KONERU,Humpy          (5½)    2  20
  4 WELLS,Peter           (5½)  1 - 0  EMMS,John M           (5½)   18   5
  5 LALIC,Bogdan          (5½)  ½ - ½  PERT,Nicholas         (5½)    8  22
  6 RAMESH,R.B            (5½)  1 - 0  KUNTE,Abhijit         (5½)   23  19
  7 HASLINGER,Stewart G   (5½)  1 - 0  LANE,Gary             (5½)   41  21
  8 SASIKIRAN,Krishnan    (5)   1 - 0  LITTLEWOOD,Paul E.    (5)     1  26
  9 D'COSTA,Lorin         (5)   ½ - ½  FLEAR,Glenn C.        (5)    54   9
 10 TURNER,Matthew J      (5)   ½ - ½  GORMALLY,Daniel       (5)    13  11

 11 WARD,Chris G          (5)   0 - 1  GANGULY,Sura Sekhar   (5)    17  12
 12 RICHARDS,Heather      (4½)  0 - 1  BARUA,Dibyendu        (4½)   46   7
 13 HEBDEN,Mark           (4½)  ½ - ½  MEENAKSHI,Subbaraman  (4½)   10  49
 14 LEDGER,Dave J         (4½)  0 - 1  SUMMERSCALE,Aaron     (4½)   47  15
 15 SANDIPAN,Chanda       (4½)  1 - 0  TAN,Desmond           (4½)   16  44
 16 WILLIAMS,Simon K      (4½)  ½ - ½  PERT,Richard          (4½)   24  33
 17 WOHL,Aleksander H     (4½)  1 - 0  JONES,Richard S.      (4½)   25  65
 18 GRANT,Jonathan        (4½)  1 - 0  MCDONALD,Neil         (4½)   74  28
 19 BERRY,Neil M          (4½)  ½ - ½  KNOTT,Simon JB        (4½)   53  30
 20 WALL,Gavin            (4½)  1 - 0  ADDISON,Bret C        (4½)   31  68

 21 LEE,Graham            (4½)  1 - 0  COX,John              (4½)   32  39
 22 MUIR,Andrew J.        (4½)  1 - 0  MASON,Don             (4)    43  50
 23 WEBB,Laurence         (4)   1 - 0  SARAVANAN,Venkatachal (4)    52  29
 24 RUDD,Jack             (4)   0 - 1  HANLEY,Craig          (4)    87  35
 25 THOMAS,Nicholas       (4)   ½ - ½  DEVEREAUX,Maxim L     (4)    58  37
 26 WOODWARD,Timothy      (4)   0 - 1  COLLINS,Sam           (4)    72  38
 27 EVANS-QUEK,Suan Shiau (4)   1 - 0  HUTCHINSON,Paul A.    (4)    48  55
 28 VIJAYALAKSHMI,Subbara (3½)  0 - 1  JONES,Gawain C        (3½)   27  62
 29 SHERWIN,James         (3½)  1 - 0  DORRINGTON,Christophe (3½)   34  69
 30 SOWRAY,Peter          (3½)  ½ - ½  TAYLOR,Peter P.       (3½)   36  66

 31 ASHTON,Adam           (3½)  ½ - ½  RAMSAWAMY,Aarthie     (3½)   85  45
 32 THIPSAY,Bhagyashree   (3½)  ½ - ½  SNAPE,Ian L           (3½)   51  73
 33 BIGG,Andrew J         (3½)  1 - 0  DHAR-BARUA,Saheli     (3½)   57  67
 34 GOLDBERG,Jeff         (3½)  0 - 1  SIMPSON,James         (3½)   90  60
 35 BUCKLEY,Simon         (3½)  1 - 0  SHAW,David A          (3½)   61  79
 36 GHATE,Swati           (3½)  0 - 1  WILLMOTH,Robert       (3)    64  77
 37 EAMES,Robert          (3)   1 - 0  MUTTON,Jonathan B     (3)    40  71
 38 LYELL,Mark            (3)   ½ - ½  BUCKLEY,Melanie       (3)    56  81
 39 TRENT,Lawrence        (3)   ½ - ½  TAYLOR,Robert M.      (3)    59  78
 40 WHEELER,John F.       (3)   1 - 0  COOTE,Trevor D.       (3)    63  91

 41 HARBORNE,Matthew J    (3)   0 - 1  WU,Li                 (3)    96  86
 42 NIXON,Thomas CM       (3)   1 - 0  BURNETT,Jim           (2½)   80  76
 43 HUTCHINSON,Norman     (2½)  0 - 1  HOWELL,David W        (2½)   88  70
 44 MARTYN,Rafe           (2½)  1 - 0  EVANS-QUEK,Debbie     (2½)   75  89
 45 MCMASTER,Richard      (2)   1 - 0  DOUGLAS,Timothy       (2)    95  82
 46 TATLOW,Stephen        (1½)  ½ - ½  GREGORY,Stephen J     (2)    92  83
 47 WHITE,Ian R.          (2)   0 - 1  TRUMAN,Richard G.     (1½)   93  94