Wajih, Girinath cause upsets

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, FEB. 10. India's Nassir Wajih and P.D.S. Girinath caused major upsets in the fifth round of the 12th Goodricke international Open chess tournament here on Saturday. Wajih shocked GM Dimitri Komarov of Ukraine while Girinath surprised GM Normund Miezis of Latvia at the Gorky Sadan.

GM Buenavent Villamayor (4.5) of the Philippines snatched the sole lead with a fine victory over GM Dibyendu Barua. On the second board, one of the overnight leaders, Argentine GM Maxim Sorokin was tamed by Swiss GM Joseph G. Gallagher in a four knights defence. Sorokin lost a pawn in the middle game after which his position became inferior. He resigned on the 43rd move.

The two GM title aspirants, P. Harikrishna and G.B. Prakash had mixed luck. Harikrishna drew against Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan, while Prakash beat IM elect Vishal Sareen in a Dutch defence in 30 moves. Vladimirov had coached the Indian team and Harikrishna was one of his students.

The 30-year-old Railway employee from Delhi, Wajih refused a draw offer from Komarov on the 27th move in an irregular Sicilian opening. He won a pawn on d4 and emerged with a better position and broke open Komarav's king side. As the Indian won two pawns, his chances of winning improved considerably and in a queen and rook versus queen and rook ending, he forced Komarov to resign on the 38th move.

On the top board, Barua, playing black, obtained a superior position in a Catalan Opening by sacrificing a pawn on c5. Barua handed the initiative to Villamayor when he failed to recapture correctly on the square c5. He then lost two pawns and slumped into a position from where it was difficult to defend. Ultimately he lost in 53 moves.

The Vladimirov-Harikrishna game ended in a draw after a tense battle. The Kazakh won an exchange in the middle game and tried hard to win but the Indian prodigy had a passed pawn on a2 which tied down Vladimirov's rook and king. The game, however, ended in a draw in 60 moves.

National champion Abhijit Kunte lost on time to GM V. Mikhalevski of Israel in a Nimzo Indian defence. IM Lanka Ravi drew against IM Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran in a short game. IM Dinesh Sharma held fourth seed GM Tomasz Markowski of Poland to a draw in 27 moves in a Reti Opening.

The results (Indians unless stated): Buenavent Villamayor (Phi) 4.5 bt Dibyendu Barua 3.5; Joseph G. Gallagher (Sui) 4 bt Maxim Sorokin (Arg) 3.5; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 3.5 drew with P. Harikrishna 3.5; Victor Mikhalevski (Isr) 4 bt Abhijit Kunte 3; Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran) 3.5 drew with Lanka Ravi 3.5; Nassir Wajih 4 bt Dimitri Komarov (Ukr) 2.5; Andrei Kharlov (Rus) 3.5 bt Jayant Gokhale 2.5; Abdulla Al-Rakib (Ban) 2.5 lost to Igors Rausis (Lat) 3.5; Alexei Barsov (Uzb) 3.5 bt N. Sanjay 2.5; R.B. Ramesh 3.5 bt Koneru Humpy 2.5; Ziaur Rahman (Ban) 3.5 bt Arghyadip Das 2.5; Gurpreetpal Singh 2.5 lost to Sandipan Chanda 3.5; C.S. Gokhale 3 drew with Sriram Jha 2.5; Tomasz Markowski (Pol) 2.5 drew with Dinesh K. Sharma 2.5; Dimitri Reinderman (Ned) 2.5 drew with Datu Idelfanso (Phi) 2.5; Miezis Normunds (Lat) 2 lost to P.D.S. Girinath 3; G.B. Prakash 3 bt Vishal Sareen 2; Neelotpal Das 2.5 drew with Saheli Dhar-Barua 2.5; Alexei Khamatgaleev (Rus) 2 lost to Lungu Malupande (Zam) 3; Anup Deshmukh 3 bt Joana Dworakowska (Pol) 2; T.S. Ravi 3 bt Chito Garma (Phi) 1.5; Surya Shekhar Ganguly 1.5 lost to Rahul Shetty 2.5; Shankar Roy 1.5 lost to S. Vijayalakshmi 2.5; Tejas Bakre 2.5 bt Deep Sengupta 1.5; Saptarshi Roy 1.5 lost to Krishnamoorthy Murugan 2.5; Harkamal Singh Sandhu 1.5 lost to Ponnuswamy Konguvel 2.5; B.T. Muralikrishnan 2 drew with Abhijit Gupta 2; S. Meenakshi 1 lost to Nelson Mariano (Phi) 2; S. Satyapragyan 2 bt Anoori Shah 1; Christian Brauer (Ger) 2 bt Oleg Boricsev (Hun) 1; Saheli Nath 0.5 lost to Amon Simutowe (Zam) 1.5; Julia Galianina-Ryjanova (Rus) 0.5 lost to Pankaj Joshi 1.5.

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