Ramesh holds Pavlovic

IM R B Ramesh did well to hold Grandmaster Milos Pavlovic(Yug) and share the lead with IM Arizmendi Martinez of Spain on 4.5 points on the conclusion of the fifth round of the Biel International Open Masters tournament.

IM Devaki Venkatramanan Prasad remained in hunt for his final GM norm with a quick draw against teammate GM Abhijit Kunte. Both Prasad and Kunte have 3.5 points from their five outings.

The only Indian player to lose today was double Women's GM norm holder Aarthie Ramaswamy who went down to Lichman Petr while IM Ponnuswamy Konguvel scored over Frauenfelder Rudolf.

Ramesh came up with a suprise in the opening by playing a form of the Sveshnikov Sicilian. Playing black Ramesh never looked to be in any difficulty at any stage even as Pavlovic ventured into less trodden paths in the middlegame.

The big deviation from the main line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian came on move 18 when Ramesh deployed his knight on the kingside and put white's entire plan in question. Pavlovic sensed danger as the knight threatened to penetrate and attack the vulnerable queenside pawns.

The draw was agreed after just 22 moves. Ramesh's opening preparation has been his main asset in the tournament.

So far he has an outstanding 2.5/3 score against Grandmasters and only consistency is now required for him to make his maiden GM norm.

Arizmendi capitalised on an opening blunder by IM Igor Yagupov of Russia and won an exchange to register a smooth victory.

Up against a Sicilian Accelerated dragon, P Konguvel playing white got a miniscule advantage after the opening but the exchange of pieces at regular intervals worried him in the initial stages.

By the 14th move the Queen and Knight pairs had disappeared from the board but Konguvel remained undeterred and pushed up his kingside pawns to get control of the key central squares.

The pressure began to build and Rudolf failed to find the best line of defence. The reward for Konguvel came in form of a Rook blunder by his opponent on the 26th move. The game lasted only one more move and helped Konguvel move to 3 points.

Aarthie faced the Sozin variation against her classical Sicilian and got a dynamic equilibrium going into the middlegame against Lichman.

The game was contested keenly and a well-calculated queen sacrifice by Aarthie netted her a desirable position. However, Lichman did not lose heart and brought his counterattack by attacking the queenside pawns.

On the 34th move, Aarthie overlooked an exchange sacrifice and that put her in a difficult position. Good defense at that point might have saved the game but Aarthie fumbled a second time on 44th move to lose a piece through a discovered attack. Lichman wrapped up the game in 71 moves

Earlier report:
R B Ramesh in joint lead