Indian Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna and Surya Shekhar Ganguly returned to their winning ways to remain in joint second position at the end of the fourth round of the Dubai International Chess Championship in Dubai.
The trio, who had to contend with a draw in the earlier round, came back strongly to garner full points and remain in title hunt with five more rounds to go in this tournament.
Top seed Grandmaster Liviu-Dieter Nispeanu of Romania emerged as the sole leader with four points from as many rounds after outplaying Tamaz Gelashvili of Georgia. He is now followed by a pack of 11 players including the Sasikiran, Ganguly and Harikrishna, with 3.5 points each in their kitty.
GM R B Ramesh also posted a much-needed victory over compatriot Deepan Chakravarthy who fell prey to a well analysed variation in the Sicilian Sveshnikov. International Master Rahul Shetty and IM norm holder Manthan Chokshi beat Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and Mohamed Eissa of UAE respectively.
Young hopeful Parimarjan Negi continued with his fine form and held Women Grandmaster Firuza Velinkhanli to a creditable draw while S Satyapragyan failed to deliver the goods against GM Al-Modiahki Mohamad of Qatar who played a fine attacking game to catch his younger rival off-guard.
Also on the receiving end were WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy and double IM norm holder Abhijeet Gupta who went down to Almulla Mohammed of UAE and former champion Alexander Goloshchapov of Ukraine respectively.
Sasikiran defeated GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan in just 25 moves from a Kings Indian defence game where the former played white.
In the opening itself, Iuldachev found himself at sea after achieving a complicated position and Sasikiran took control of the proceedings in copy-book fashion to knock down a pawn on the King side that drew curtains.
Harikrishna was again at his resourceful best as he accounted for GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia.
The opening featured a slightly off-track variation of the Grunfeld defence where Harikrishna, black, had little troubles in obtaining the dynamic balance. Sturua went for some unwarranted piece play that helped the Indian secure the double Bishop advantage and the rest was a delight to watch as the Indian forced white king in to a mating net. The game lasted 35 moves.
National champion Ganguly was also not far behind in making his day a memorable one as he gave an endgame lesson to Indonesian Awam Wahono. Playing white, the Kolkata based player was up against an irregular opening set up that gave him a tangible advantage in the ensuing middle game.
The endgame came with Ganguly having an extra pawn and the technicalities were handled perfectly.
In other important games of the day, Nisipeanu defeated Grandmaster Gelashvili Tamaz of Georgia in 49 moves from a Sicilian defence Alapin variation game while 13-years-old IM Carlsen Magnus of Norway caused a major flutter defeating GM Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan in 35 moves.
Important results round 4 (Indians unless specified):
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (4, Rom) bt Tamaz Gelashvili (3, Geo); Nelson Mariano (3.5) drew with Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov (3.5, Aze); Krishnan Sasikiran (3.5) bt Saidali Iuldachev (2.5, Uzb); Magnus Carlsen (3.5, Nor) bt Evgeny Vladimirov (2.5, Kaz); Alexei Fedorov (3, Blr) drew Vugar Gashimov (3, Aze); Megaranto Susanto (3, Ina) drew with Jobava Baadur (3, Geo); Zurab Sturua (2.5) lost to P Harikrishna (3.5); Evgenij Miroshnichenko (2.5, Ukr) lost to Yuri Kruppa (3.5, Ukr); Elshan Moradiabadi (2.5, Iri) lost to Pavel Eljanov (3.5, Ukr); Artashes Minasian (3.5, Arm) bt Goran Dizdar (2.5, Cro); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (3.5) bt Awam Wahono (2.5, Ina); Al-Modiahki Mohamad (3.5, Qat) bt S Satyapragyan (2.5); Izoria Zviad (2.5, Geo) lost to Nadera Barlo (3.5, Phi); Viorel Iordachesvu (2.5, Mda) drew with Mahjoob Morteza (2.5, Iri); Alexander Goloshchapov (3, Ukr) bt Abhijeet Gupta (2); R B Ramesh (2.5) bt Deepan Chakkravarthy (1.5); D V Prasad (2) drew Arash Roghani (2, Iri); Rahul Shetty (2.5) bt Atousa Pourkashiyan (1.5, Iri); Parimarjan Negi (2) drew Firuza Velikhanli (2, Aze); Aarthie Ramaswamy (1) lost to Almulla Mohammed (2, UAE); Manthan Chokshi (2) bt Mohamed Eissa (1, UAE).