Bakre's GM norm prospects
suffer setback
International Master Tejas Bakre's Grandmaster norm prospects suffered a setback as he lost to GM Sergei
Ovsejevitch of Ukraine in the sixth round in the 13th
Goodricke International Open chess tournament at the Alekhine
Chess Club in Kolkata on Friday.
Bakre, who needs to put up an impressive show in this
tournament to keep his GM norm hopes alive, could not make
much of an impact against his fancied opponent who used all
his experience to come out trumps.
Another Indian, IM Sriram Jha also had a rather
disappointing day as he went down to GM Bogdan Lalic of
England in the Panov-Botvinnik attack in 28 moves.
Strong contender GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia drew with
compatriot Alexander Fominyh in just 14 moves in a Slav
defence.
GM Drazen Sermek of Slovenia and GM Andrey Shariazdanov of
Russia also decided to play safe and took a Grandmaster draw
in 15 moves in the Alapin variation of the Sicilian defence.
GM Abhijit Kunte also took the safe way out by agreeing to
a quick draw in 14 moves against Ruslan Sherbakov of Russia in
a Sicilian defence.
Lithuanian GM Sarunas Sulskis prevailed over Arsen Yegiazarian of Armenia to emerge the sole
leader with five points.
Sulskis, playing on the second board, opted for the
poisoned pawn variation of the Sicilian defence and moved into
an advantageous position which he converted to a victory with
a kingside attack.
GM K Sasikiran and Argentina's Maxim Sorokin were jointly
in the second spot with 4.5 points.
Sasikiran, playing black against Alexsei Aleksandrov of
Belarus, went for the Grunfeld defence and won a pawn in the
end game but it was not sufficient for victory and the rivals
settled for a draw.
World junior girls' champion and WGM Koneru Humpy carved
out a win against Malaysian FIDE Master Wong Zi Zing in 47
moves in a Reti opening to take her tally to 3.5 points.
GM Dibyendu Barua, also on 3.5, beat IM P Konguvel in the
Dragon variation of the Sicilian defence.
IMs Sandipan Chanda and Tejas Bakre suffered setbacks in
their quest for GM norms as they went down to Kazakh GM Pavel
Kostur and GM Sergei Ovsejevitch of Ukraine respectively.
