Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran's hunt for elusive victory finally ended as he crashed through the defences of Grandmaster Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in style in the eighth round of the third Marx Gyorgy memorial Grandmasters chess tournament in Hungary.
With just two rounds remaining in the category-15 double round-robin event, Sasikiran moved to sole third spot on 4 points where he is now followed by Berkes on 3.5. Acs along with Sutovsky shares the last spot on three points.
The lead positions, however, did not see a sea change as Viktor Korchnoi, 5.5 points, despite the downfall, remained a half point ahead of Almasi who continued to hold the second spot with a full point margin.
On a day that witnessed black pieces coming out better than the favourable colour in the game, 74-year-old Korchnoi of Switzerland tasted defeat at the hands of youngest participant Ferenc Berkes of Hungary.
Like the second round, the 8th round also witnessed all-exciting encounters and another gainer was Peter Acs of Hungary who made merry at the expense of top seed Emil Sutovsky of Israel.
Interestingly enough, all the three victories of the day were scored by players who had not won a single game till now.
Sasikiran's victory that he had been patiently waiting for over a week finally came his way after a nerve-wrecking complex game with Almasi who played the white side of a Sicilian Classical. Playing an in-vogue variation, Sasikiran managed a tactical position early in the middle game and Almasi failed in his attempt to force a direct attack on the king.
It all started on the 20th move when Almasi put his knight emprise only to find Sasikiran coming up with an exchange sacrifice to steer clear of difficulties.
Winning a minor piece soon after all that was required for Sasikiran was to keep the momentum going and the Indian was consistent enough to romp home in the first time control itself. The game lasted 40 moves.
Berkes, who will be 20 in August this year, turned into Korchnoi's nemesis from the black side of an irregular queen pawn game.
Starting off with a variation akin to the Catalan opening, Korchnoi still managed a miniscule advantage but could not quite nurture it as Berkes slowly brought his pieces near the center played a fine pawn sacrifice on the 14th move to completely unsettle Korchnoi.
The Swiss found some solace in an exchange sacrifice for some time but Berkes remained on target for the remaining part of the game with some deft manoeuvres well compiled with perfect planning.
Once the Hungarian's queen found her way into the heart of white's kingside there was nothing that could save Korchnoi and he called it a day after 48 moves.
Acs had to work much harder for his triumph over Sutovsky who was outdone in the Tchigorin variation of the Ruy Lopez.
It was a slow manoeuvring game wherein Sutovslky's attack on the kingside backfired after he had sacrificed a few pieces. Quickly managing his counter play on the queen side, Acs capitalised on another error by the Israeli to score his first victory after 46 moves.
Results round 8:
Viktor Korchnoi (Sui, 5.5) lost to Ferenc Berkes (Hun, 3.5); Zoltan Almasi (Hun, 5) lost to Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 4); Emil Sutovsky (Isr, 3) lost to Peter Acs (Hun, 3)
The moves:
Zoltan ALmasi v/s Krishnan Sasikiran
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. fxg5 Ng4 12. Be2 Nge5 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. g3 Ng6 15. Kb1 Qa5 16. Rhf1 hxg5 17. Bxg5 Rxh2 18. Bf6 b5 19. Qe3 b4 20. Nd5 Rxe2 21. Qxe2 Bb5 22. c4 bxc3 23. Qf2 exd5 24. Bxc3 Qc7 25. Rfe1 d4 26. Bxd4 Rc8 27. Bc3 Bc4 28. Qd4 Qc6 29. Qd2 Be6 30. Rc1 Qb5 31. Bd4 Rxc1+ 32. Rxc1 Bh6 33. Qxh6 Qd3+ 34. Rc2 Qxd4 35. Qd2 Qxe4 36. Qe2 Qd5 37. b3 Ne5 38. Qh5 Kd7 39. Qh8 Qd1+ 40. Kb2 Nd3+ white resigned.
