Sasikiran shares lead
in Goodricke chess

Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran continued his good showing, outplaying second seed Alexander Motylev of Russia to remain in the lead with two others at the end of the fourth round of the 13th Goodricke International Open chess tournament in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Sasikiran got the better of Motylev in Semi-Slav defence in 49 moves to take his points tally to 3.5, the same as GMs Sarunas Slskis of Lithuania and Arsen Yegiazarian of Armenia.

It was a theoretical battle in which Motylev sacrificed a piece for three pawns and a strong centre. Both followed the famous Topalov-Khalifman game till the 20th move, when Motylev differed with a new move.

Motylev's e4 on the 24th move allowed Sasikiran to block the position after which his extra piece decided the game.

World junior girls' champion and Woman Grandmaster Koneru Humpy overcame her indifferent form to score her first win in the tournament, over national sub-junior champion Somak Palit in a Reti opening.

Humpy won a pawn in the middlegame which proved sufficient to boost her points tally to two.

International Masters Tejas Bakre and Sriram Jha also had a good day forcing highly rated Grandmasters to draws.

Bakre, who split point with GM Alexey Kuzmin (2568) of Russia in the exchange version of the Ruy Lopez opening, has now taken his points tally to 2.5.

In another upset, Jha held Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2513) to a draw in 23 moves in a Nimzo Indian defence at the Alekhine chess club.