Sulskis retains lead after ninth round

Overnight leader Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania retained his lead with a draw against Sergei Ovsejevitsch of Ukraine in the ninth round of the 13th Goodricke International Open chess tournament in Kolkata on Monday.

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran, who prevailed over Arsen Yegiazarian of Armernia, is just one point behind with two more rounds to go in the prestigious tournament.

Sulskis now needs just a point from his remaining two games to clinch the coveted title.

Playing on the top board, Sulskis was in a difficult position against Ovsejevitsch in the exchange variation of the queen's gambit declined as he had lost a rook for knight. But he wriggled out to force a draw as the position was blocked.

Sasikiran, after four consecutive draws, won today, outwitting Yegiazarian in a Nimzo Indian defence. Though Sasikiran had a passed pawn on the d-file, the game was veering towards a draw in a queen and bishop ending. But the Armenian blundered in the endgame and lost.

International Master Sandipan Chanda kept his final GM norm hopes alive with a victory over GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia in a Benoni defence. Chanda erred in the opening but his opponent failed to capitalise. On the contrary, he allowed Chanda a dangerous passed pawn on the c-file which in the end proved costly for the Russian GM.

GM Dibyendu Barua squandered a winning position against GM Alexander Goloshchapov of Ukraine in a Sicilian defence and had to be content with a draw.