Chanda suffers first defeat

International Master Sandipan Chanda tasted his first defeat and IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy her first victory in the fourth round of the Ubeda International Open chess tournament in Ubeda, Spain.

Chanda lost to GM Alexander Fominyh of Russia while Aarthie defeated J Mora Manez of Spain on day four which saw Sriram Jha, R B Ramesh and Rahul Shetty drawing their respective games and K Visweswaran, C S Gokhale and D K Sharma ending on the losing side.

Chanda played an imaginative game against the experienced Fominyh but stumbled towards the end to lose his first game. He sacrificed an exchange early in the middlegame of Sicilian Taimanov variation which led to an unclear position. Chanda became very ambitious and allowed Fominyh to wriggle out with a mini combination and went a pawn down.

Fominyh played precise moves in a Queen and Pawn ending to win in 59 moves.

Aarthie played a wonderful attacking game against Manez from the white side of Sicilian English attack. She was about to checkmate her opponent when Manez gave up on the 25th move.

Sriram Jha held GM R Vera to a lucky draw from the white side of the Slav Exchange variation. Jha offered a draw initially in the opening which Vera declined. Vera played a fine positional game to slowly gain the upper hand only to blunder later in the endgame and settle for a draw after 70 moves.

Ramesh drew with IWM Sidorova of Russia after enjoying a better position for most part of the game from the black side of the Bogo Indian defence.

Shetty was involved in a dull draw with IM L Dominguez of Philippines from the black side of Sicilian Taimanov variation.

Sharma played the Queens Gambit Declined variation as white against V Mejjers and got a slight advantage from the opening. Mejjers rashly advanced his kingside pawns but Sharma didn't find the right counter and lost his 'g' pawn without compensation.

A decisive attack on his kingside saw Sharma give up after 40 moves.

Playing white in a Sicilian Taimanov variation, Visweswaran obtained a slight advantage from opening against against Arzimendi Martinez of Spain.

However, he blundered on the 17th move by playing 'Be3' where he lost a piece and resigned on the 20th move.

Gokhale lost to Kharrakulov of Uzbekistan from the black side of the Petroff defence. Gokhale had a weak pawn on 'c6' square which proved his nemesis as he resigned on the 43rd move.

Results of round 4: Sandipan Chanda (2.5) lost to Alexander Fominyh (3.5); Sriram Jha (2) drew with R Vera (2); K Visweswaran (2) lost to Arzimendi Martinez (3); D K Sharma lost to V Mejjers (3); Khamrakulov (2.5) bt C S Gokhale (1.5); L Dominguez (2) drew with Rahul Shetty (2); E Sidorova (1.5) drew with R B Ramesh (1.5); R Aarthie (1.5) bt J Mora Manez (0.5).