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Kongovel draws, Sashikiran wins

International Master Ponnuswamy Kongovel was held to a draw but other Indians maintained their winning records in the second round of the Benasque Open international chess tournament.

On a chilly day when a cold wind swept through the village, all the results went along expected lines with all the top grandmasters having an easy time. The winner of the Andorra Open, GM Alexey Kuzmin of Russia, however, survived some anxious moments before overcoming Puvili Antonio of Spain.

The Indians were disappointed that for the second round in succession, they had to face unrated opponents. This affects their chances of increasing their rating. Only Konguvel and Sashikiran faced rated opponents and both of them had to play long games.

The tournament has an unusual six-hour session for the whole game. Sashikiran managed to outplay his opponent J M Catala of Spain from white side of a Torre attack game that went into a queen and minor pieces ending.

Konguvel, playing with black pieces, had no such luck, since he could not convert his advantage, gained from a Sicilian Alapin game, that put him a pawn up in the middle game against Martin Fernando (Spain).

Surya Sekhar Ganguly failed to turn up and has been removed from the competition.

Other results:
Granda Zuniza (2)        beat      Rossell Formosa (1)
Asencio Soto (1)         lost to    G Giorgadze (2)
A. Baburin (2)           beat      Asencio linan (2)
IWM Fierro Marta (1)     lost to   Lev Psakhis (2)
Alexey Kuzmin (2)        beat      Puvili Antonio (1) 
Rebol Arbea (1)          lost to   Mikhail Marin (2) 
Rahul Shetty (2)         beat       M Descarrega (1)
Portero (1)              lost to    V Saravanan (2)
Neelotpal Das (2)        beat      Yargas Carlos (1)
Sandipan Chanda (2)      beat       B Angel (1)
Roktim Bandyopadhya (2)  beat       H Loiz (1)