Barua outplays Sasikiran

Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua of Tisco outplayed top seed GM K Sasikiran of PSCB to throw the 38th edition of the National 'A' chess championship wide open after the conclusion of the 11th round in Delhi on Saturday.

Sasikiran continues to lead the table by a half point margin despite the loss after collecting 8.5 points from 11 games. Half a point adrift of the leader is GM norm holder P Konguvel of PSCB while his teammate and defending champion GM Abhijit Kunte holds the third spot with 7.5 points.

Barua and IM S S Ganguly (PSCB) are locked joint fourth with 7 points. Both Barua and Ganguly have an extra game on hand as they have got ar bye.

Taking off against Sasikiran with white pieces, Barua relived the memories of a sweet victory last month in the Asia Zonal championship. It was a Sicilian Scheveningen yet again and sent clear signals to Barua that he had an ace up sleeve. The game progressed on level terms though Barua managed to get a slight advantage in the form of greater control in opposition camp.

The masterplan of attacking the king by Barua, started once Sasikiran had guided his major pieces on the queenside for a possible breakthrough in the centre. The result was a loss of pawn for Sasikiran and the game took shape in a Rook and opposite colour Bishops endgame. Barua made merry with his extra pawn to register a smooth victory in 62 moves.

Former champion Konguvel, who earned his maiden Grandmaster norm on Friday, was content with a draw against double IM norm holder Sriram Jha of LIC in a Grunfeld Indian defence game with white pieces. In the middlegame the players exchanged a couple of minor pieces and the position became level when truce was agreed to after 27 moves.

Kunte caught IM Shekhar Sahu of BSB off guard in the Catalan opening and won in just 14 moves following a blunder by the veteran player while GM-in-waiting G B Prakash defeated IM Atanu Lahiri of LIC on an otherwise draw marred day.

Results of Round 11: IM Suryshekhar Ganguly (7) drew Nassir Wajih (2.5); Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (4) drew IM P Harikrishna (5.5); GM Praveen Thipsay (4.5) drew IM K Murugan (3.5); GM Abhijit Kunte (7.5) bt IM Shekhar Sahu (5); IM V Saravanan (2) drew IM Neelotpal Das (3); GM Dibyendu Barua (7) bt GM K Sasikiran (8.5); Sriram Jha (3.5) drew IM P Konguvel (8); IM G B Prakash (4.5) bt IM Atanu Lahiri (5.5); IM D V Prasad (6) drew IM N K Mishra (6.5). IM Lanka Ravi (5).