Indian Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly displayed some brilliant tactical skills to comfortably win their second round ties in the Dubai International Chess championship in Dubai.
The trio now lead the fray along with 21 others while the fourth Indian GM R B Ramesh, is following the leaders with 18 others in company, half a point adrift with 1.5 points each in the US $ 41000 prize money tournament being played at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
Sasikiran defeated International Master El Taher Fouad of Egypt Harikrishna accounted for GM Villamayor Buenavent of Phillipines and Ganguly got the better of Shanava Konstantine of Georgia to maintain their cent per cent record in this nine round event.
Meanwhile, IM S Satyapragyan defeated veteran Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov of Russia, young Parimarjan Negi opened his account with a finely crafted victory over Women Grandmaster Ilaha Kadimova of Azerbaijan, WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy got the same result against Shirin Navabi of Iran while Manthan Chokshi scored over Saeed Ishaq of UAE.
IM Rahul Shetty also achieved a creditable result after holding GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan who played black but Abhijeet Gupta and former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakravarthy went down fighting against GM Izoria Zviad of Georgia and Polish prodigy Magnus Carlsen respectively.
Sasikiran had little trouble in converting his slightly superior position against Fouad, who employed the King's Indian defense as black. The game transposed into a sharp middle game and the second seed went for an all out attack on kingside and attained a winning position with precise piece play. The Egyptian eventually lost on time with his opponent in dominating position.
"He had misplaced pieces and the opening was not so good. Once I pushed my kingside pawns the attack began to roll and I won comfortably," Sasikiran said after the match.
Harikrishna showed some superior endgame skills to get the better of Buenavent. Playing defensively with his white pieces Buenavent was taken to task in an equal position where the Indian embarked on an excellent plan to attack the unattended white pawns on the king side.
Once the penetration on the seventh rank took place everything fell in place for Harikrishna and he clinched the issue after 60 moves.
Ganguly played the sharp English attack against Konstantine and caught his opponent unawares on the queen side where he picked a couple of pawns quickly in the middle game. The rest was child's play for the National Champion.
In the other important games of the day, top seed GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania defeated International master Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan showing impeccable technique in a keenly contested game while Ramesh outclassed Abedi Ali of Iran.
Important results round 2 (Indians unless specified):
Tahir Vakidov (1, Uzb) lost to Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2, Rom); K Sasikiran (2) beat Fouad Al Taher (1, Egy) Marat Dzhumaev (1, Uzb) lost to Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov (2, Aze); Viorel Iordachesvu (2, Mda) beat Rauf Mamedov (1, Aze); Safin Shukhrat (1.5, Uzb) drew with Evgeny Vladimirov (1.5, Kaz); Alexei Fedorov (2, Blr) beat Mahjoob Morteza (1, Iri); Kateryna Lahno (1, Ukr) lost to Jobava Baadur (1, Geo); Villamayor Buenavent (1, Phi) lost to P Harikrishna (2); Evgeny Gleizerov (1.5, Rus) drew with Imad Hakki (1.5, Syr); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2) beat Shanava Konstantine (1, Geo); Izoria Zviad (2, Geo) beat Abhijeet Gupta (1); D V Prasad (1) lost to Vugar Gashimov (2, Aze); Rahul Shetty (1.5) drew with Saidali Iuldachev (1.5, Uzb); Evgeny Sveshnikov (1, Rus) lost to S Satyapragyan (2); Magnus Carlsen (1.5, Pol) beat Deepan Chakkravarthi (0.5); R B Ramesh (1.5) beat Abedi Ali (0.5, Iri); Parimarjan Negi (1) beat Ilaha Kadimova (0, Aze); Aarthie Ramaswamy (1) beat Shirin Navabi (0, Iri); Manthan Chokshi (1) beat Ishaq Ahmed (0, UAE).