R B Ramesh leaps into joint lead

International Master R B Ramesh continued his dream run by overpowering Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson of Scotland to jump into the joint lead after the 10th and penultimate round of the British Chess Championship in Torquay, England.

He shares the lead along with Englishmen, GM Luke Mcshane and Stewart Haslinger, on 7.5 points.

Four players -- Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran, Joseph Gallagher, Jonathan Speelman and Peter Wells shared the second spot with 7 points each, while nine others including GMs Pendyala Harikrishna and Abhijit Kunte are placed joint third with 6.5 points apiece.

Playing white against Rowson, Ramesh opened with the King pawn and faced the Sicilian Nazdorf. Opting for the ultra sharp English attack, he ensured a bloody battle and caught Rowson amidst a complicated middle game. The queens got traded on the 15th move and Ramesh got his knight kicking around with some fine manoeuvres that netted him one pawn. Ramesh handled the resulting technicalities in copybook fashion and cruised to victory in 63 moves.

It turned out to be a disappointing outing for Harikrishna, who had played some scintillating chess so far in the tournament. Stewart Haslinger, rated just 2310, swindled Harikrishna in the middlegame arising out of a Catalan opening.

Playing white Harikrishna allowed Haslinger to get on top after the exchange of queens on the 11th move. Haslinger, who had an extra pawn by then, digested the material as it came and had a handful of menacing pawns on the queenside by the 25th move.

Harikrishna tried a few tricks towards the end but eventually succumbed to the pressure after 34 moves. Haslinger achieved his maiden 10-game GM norm with this victory.

Sasikiran defeated IM Pert Nicholas of England from the black pieces and is now paired with GM Peter Wells in the final round.

Nicholas proved no match for Sasikiran, going down after conceding a positional advantage to the Indian who won rather easily.

Barua and Kunte also scored fine victories but Ganguly could only manage a draw with GM Bogdan Lalic.

Among the Indian women, IWM S Meenakshi obtained her 10-game norm; Vijayalakshmi scored a fluent victory over Melanie Buckley and Saheli Barua defeated Rafe Martyn.

Bhagyashree Thipsay and Swati Ghate drew their games.

Earlier reports:
Round 9: R B Ramesh bags second Grandmaster norm
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 10:

Bd  WHITE                      Result  BLACK                          PIN
  1 GALLAGHER,Joseph G    (6½)  ½ - ½  MCSHANE,Luke J        (7)    14   6
  2 WELLS,Peter           (6½)  ½ - ½  SPEELMAN,Jon          (6½)   18   2
  3 HARIKRISHNA,Pentala   (6½)  0 - 1  HASLINGER,Stewart G   (6½)    3  41
  4 RAMESH,R.B            (6½)  1 - 0  ROWSON,Jonathan       (6½)   23   4
  5 PERT,Nicholas         (6)   0 - 1  SASIKIRAN,Krishnan    (6)    22   1
  6 GANGULY,Sura Sekhar   (6)   ½ - ½  LALIC,Bogdan          (6)    12   8
  7 EMMS,John M           (5½)  0 - 1  WOHL,Aleksander H     (5½)    5  25
  8 BARUA,Dibyendu        (5½)  1 - 0  LEE,Graham            (5½)    7  32
  9 FLEAR,Glenn C.        (5½)  1 - 0  WALL,Gavin            (5½)    9  31
 10 GORMALLY,Daniel       (5½)  1 - 0  GRANT,Jonathan        (5½)   11  74

 11 LANE,Gary             (5½)  ½ - ½  TURNER,Matthew J      (5½)   21  13
 12 SUMMERSCALE,Aaron     (5½)  ½ - ½  MUIR,Andrew J.        (5½)   15  43
 13 KONERU,Humpy          (5½)  ½ - ½  SANDIPAN,Chanda       (5½)   20  16
 14 KUNTE,Abhijit         (5½)  1 - 0  D'COSTA,Lorin         (5½)   19  54
 15 COLLINS,Sam           (5)   ½ - ½  HEBDEN,Mark           (5)    38  10
 16 HANLEY,Craig          (5)   0 - 1  WARD,Chris G          (5)    35  17
 17 LITTLEWOOD,Paul E.    (5)   1 - 0  BERRY,Neil M          (5)    26  53
 18 MEENAKSHI,Subbaraman  (5)   0 - 1  KNOTT,Simon JB        (5)    49  30
 19 PERT,Richard          (5)   1 - 0  WEBB,Laurence         (5)    33  52
 20 COX,John              (4½)  0 - 1  EVANS-QUEK,Suan Shiau (5)    39  48

 21 MCDONALD,Neil         (4½)  1 - 0  THOMAS,Nicholas       (4½)   28  58
 22 JONES,Richard S.      (4½)  0 - 1  SHERWIN,James         (4½)   65  34
 23 DEVEREAUX,Maxim L     (4½)  ½ - ½  BUCKLEY,Simon         (4½)   37  61
 24 SIMPSON,James         (4½)  ½ - ½  TAN,Desmond           (4½)   60  44
 25 JONES,Gawain C        (4½)  1 - 0  RICHARDS,Heather      (4½)   62  46
 26 ADDISON,Bret C        (4½)  ½ - ½  LEDGER,Dave J         (4½)   68  47
 27 RAMSAWAMY,Aarthie     (4)   1 - 0  BIGG,Andrew J         (4½)   45  57
 28 NIXON,Thomas CM       (4)   0 - 1  SARAVANAN,Venkatachal (4)    80  29
 29 SNAPE,Ian L           (4)   0 - 1  SOWRAY,Peter          (4)    73  36
 30 TAYLOR,Peter P.       (4)   0 - 1  EAMES,Robert          (4)    66  40

 31 MASON,Don             (4)   1 - 0  RUDD,Jack             (4)    50  87
 32 WU,Li                 (4)   ½ - ½  THIPSAY,Bhagyashree   (4)    86  51
 33 HUTCHINSON,Paul A.    (4)   0 - 1  ASHTON,Adam           (4)    55  85
 34 WILLMOTH,Robert       (4)   1 - 0  WHEELER,John F.       (4)    77  63
 35 DORRINGTON,Christophe (3½)  ½ - ½  WOODWARD,Timothy      (4)    69  72
 36 BUCKLEY,Melanie       (3½)  0 - 1  VIJAYALAKSHMI,Subbara (3½)   81  27
 37 TAYLOR,Robert M.      (3½)  0 - 1  LYELL,Mark            (3½)   78  56
 38 HOWELL,David W        (3½)  1 - 0  TRENT,Lawrence        (3½)   70  59
 39 GOLDBERG,Jeff         (3½)  ½ - ½  GHATE,Swati           (3½)   90  64
 40 DHAR-BARUA,Saheli     (3½)  1 - 0  MARTYN,Rafe           (3½)   67  75

 41 SHAW,David A          (3½)  1 - 0  HARBORNE,Matthew J    (3)    79  96
 42 MUTTON,Jonathan B     (3)   1 - 0  MCMASTER,Richard      (3)    71  95
 43 COOTE,Trevor D.       (3)   0 - 1  HUTCHINSON,Norman     (2½)   91  88
 44 BURNETT,Jim           (2½)  ½ - ½  TRUMAN,Richard G.     (2½)   76  94
 45 EVANS-QUEK,Debbie     (2½)  0 - 1  GREGORY,Stephen J     (2½)   89  83
 46 DOUGLAS,Timothy       (2)   1 - 0  WHITE,Ian R.          (2)    82  93
 47 TATLOW,Stephen        (2)   ½ - ½  CHIRUKANDATH MANOJ,Ar (1)    92  98