Sulskis maintains lead
in Goodricke chess

Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania continued to lead the table after beating top seed Alexie Aleksandrov of Belarus in the seventh round in the Goodricke International Open chess tournament in Kolkata on Saturday.

With today's win, Sulskis took his tally to six points and has a clear one point lead. He is followed by three players -- Krishnan Sasikiran, Alexie Aleksander and Maxim Sorokin, who have five points each.

Sulskis, playing with black, overcame Aleksandrov's challenge in 40 moves in a Nimzo Indian defence. Aleksandrov had two central connected pawns but Sulskis won both the pawns and broke open his rival's kingside after which the latter resigned.

Sasikiran, once again, played a sharp game, with the white pieces against Alexander Goloshchapov of Ukraine. In a Grunfeld defence, Sasikiran obtained a passed pawn in the centre but Goloshchapov had an extra pawn and two pawns on the queen side.

Sasikiran brought his king over to the queenside to block the pawns. His opponent won the central pawn in return for the two queenside pawns after which the game headed towards a draw.

Russia's Sorokin got some advantage from the opening against GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan in the open variation of the Ruy Lopez. But Kotsur exchanged off the pieces and went into a rook ending and ensured the draw.