Bakre remains in joint lead in Kavala International open
Grandmaster Tejas Bakre remained in joint lead after a hard fought draw with higher ranked Vladislav Borovikov of Ukraine in the fifth round of the Kavala International open chess tournament here.
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Kavala: Grandmaster Tejas Bakre
remained in joint lead after a hard fought draw with higher
ranked Vladislav Borovikov of Ukraine in the fifth round of
the Kavala International open chess tournament here.
After four victories on the trot, the draw by Bakre came
as a breather for the other contestants as the Indian was
joined by former world junior champion Zaven Andriasian of
Armenia and Andrey Rychagov of Russia at the top.
Andrisian defeated Denis Khismatullin of Russia while
Rychagov got the better of Armenian Hrant Melkumyan.
With Bakre, Andriasian and Rychagov in the front, 2008
world junior champion Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta moved within
striking distance of the leaders at the expense of compatriot
Vishnu Prasanna.
Abhijeet and four others share the third spot on four
points each with four rounds still remaining in this strong
open event.
The other Indians in the fray had a mixed day.
The safety first approach by young International Master
Sahaj Grover did not come good as he was grinded by GM Robert
Hess of United States, while Tania Sachdev was subtly
outplayed by veteran Grandmaster Slavoljub Marjanovic of
Serbia.
On the brighter side, D Harika won her second game on the
trot outclassing Botsari Anna-Maria of Greece and Grandmaster
Deepan Chakkravarthy was amongst those who drew in the fifth
round.
Continuing his exemplary run, Bakre denied Borovikov the
full point from a position of strength. Playing the black side
of a Queen pawn game, Bakre, for once, was under pressure in
the middle game as well as the subsequent endgame that arose
but came back strongly with some deft manoeuvres leading to a
drawn endgame.
"It was a tough game for me today as I was on the
defensive quite early in the game, but in anycase it was a
satisfying result as I had to find some difficult defensive
resources," said Bakre in the post game chat.
Abhijeet`s better preparation paid off against Vishnu
Prasanna as on the 21st move he came up with a new idea in the
Slav Botvinnik that he claimed to have analysed three years
back wherein Vishnu did not get a chance to equalise.
Abhijeet was all smiles when he confided, "Well I worked
on it many years back but last year someone played it if I
remember right, luckily Vishnu hadn`t seen it and for me it
was as good as new too!"
PTI
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