Sturua, Bacrot joint winners in Linares chess

Grandmaster Sturua Zurab (2580 ELO points) of Georgia and GM Etienne Bacrot (2618) of France jointly won the eighth Linares International Open chess championship, bagging 8.5 points each at the end of the 11th and the final round.

Among the Indians, International Master R.B.Ramesh (2467) figured in the prize list with 6.5 points from amongst a field of 43 Grandmasters and 70 international masters.

GM Bacrot showed his class with a crushing victory over GM Sulskis in style to finish the event in a positive note.

Playing White, Bacrot employed the Nimzo-Indian defence and brought Sulskis' King out in the open early and won the game comfortably.

GM Sturua was declared the winner on the basis of a better tie-break record.

Ramesh had an easy time against GM Garcia Silvino (2371) of Cuba from the White side of the Sicilian Najdorf opening. Silvino misplayed in the opening and allowed Ramesh to get a huge opening advantage and a King side attack.

Ramesh penetrated with his Rook on the 8th rank and won the game in just 18 moves to finish with 6.5 points.

Young I M Sandipan Chanda (2431) blundered a pawn in the opening of Sicilian Paulsen variation and lost tragically to IM Vokarev (2492) of Russia.

Chanda overlooked a simple tactic from Vokarev and lost a pawn on the 10th move itself. He managed to put up some stiff resistance but Vokarev showed good technique to win the game in 49 moves.

K Visweswaran (2289) lost in a Sicilian Najdorf classical variation to IM Martin Del Campo (2421) from Mexico.

Martin made a wrong Rook Sacrifice, which Visweswaran declined and in the process lost a pawn. He further lost another pawn and resigned on the 32nd move. With a half a point more Visweswaran could have got the prize for the best performer in his rating group, that is below 2300.

Pepped up by a win in the previous round, IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy (2250) got the better of Gurieli (2366) of Georgia in a King's Indian Defence 'g3' system.

Aarthie brought her Rook to the 7th rank and won two pawns there. She then put a combination by virtue of which she won two minor pieces and a pawn for her Rook. She then converted the material advantage into a victory comfortably in 55 moves.

Dinesh Kumar Sharma (2353) lost to IM Khamrakulov from a Sicilian O'Kelly variation from the White pieces.

Sharma was slightly in an adverse position right from the opening but it worsened as he blundered a full Rook as it got trapped in the enemy territory. He resigned immediately.

Chandrashekhar Gokhale lost to IM Gonzalez in a Benoni defence opening from the White pieces. Gonzalez sacrificed an exchange in the centre and got a winning position in 32 moves.

Sriram Jha beat IM Peric (2288) of Spain from a Bogo Indian defence. Jha opened the centre in his favour and got both his Rooks out soon and checkmated his opponent in just 25 moves. This proved to be Jha's second checkmate of the event.

Rahul Shetty (2331) beat Hernandez Montalvo of Spain from a Sicilian Pelikan variation with a typical mating attack with his major pieces in an opposite coloured Bishop middlegame. Shetty won in 40 moves.

Important Results:

GM Bacrot (8.5) beat GM Sulskis (7.5)
IM R.B.Ramesh (6.5) beat GM Garcia Silvino (5.5)
IM Vokarev (6.5) beat IM Sandipan Chanda (5.5)
IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy (5.5) beat WGM Gurieli (4.5)
Dinesh Kumar Sharma (5.0) lost to IM Khamrakulov (6.0)
Chandrashekhar Gokhale (4.5) lost to IM Gonzalez (5.5)
Sriram Jha (5.5) beat IM Peric (4.5)
Rahul Shetty (5.0) beat Hernandez Montalvo (4.0)
K Visweswaran (5.0) lost to IM Martin Campo (6.0)
Final standings:

1. GM Sturua (8.5 points)
2. GM Bacrot (8.5 points)
3. Zhang Zhong (8.0 points)
4. GM Kempinski (8.0 points)
5. GM Golod (8.0 points)
6. GM Dominguez (8.0 points)
7. GM Ibragimov (8.0 points)
33. IM R.B.Ramesh (6.5points).