Indians off to a good start

In an excellent opening day for the Indians, Sriram Jha stunned Super Grandmaster Oleg Korneev of Russia in the first round of the Ciudad-de-Ubeda International Open chess tournament being held at Ubeda (Spain).

Sriram Jha (FIDE Rating 2412) vanquished sixth seeded Korneev (2600) in just 27 moves from the Black side of the Sicilian Pelikan defence sunday. Jha surprised his higher-rated opponent with a pawn sacrifice first on his 13th move. He then landed the killer blow with a devastating Knight sacrifice on the 'g3' square which allowed black's queen to penetrate the white's castle through the black squares.

Following up with his attack accurately, he made a 'line clearance' sacrifice of a pawn to recover his piece back and trap the white king in a mating net. The grandmaster, who could see no possibility to prevent a checkmate, resigned. Jha who has two IM norms to his credit requires one more to become an International Master.

Dinesh Kumar Sharma and C S Gokhale came up with the other good results for India by holding Grandmasters Bodgan Lalic of England and Suranas Sulskis of Lithuaina in hard-fought encounters.

Playing with Black pieces, D K Sharma opted for the Dutch defence and equalised the game. After the tense struggle ended with the exchange of pieces, the Grandmaster offered a draw on the 37th move which Sharma gladly accepted.

C S Gokhale, who had the white pieces, encountered an irregular set-up resembling the Bogo Indian set-up and emerged with an lasting, though minute edge from the opening. The Grandmaster tried to complicate matters through an exchange sacrifice but could find no more than perpetual checks to draw the game in 38 moves.

International Masters R B Ramesh and Sandipan Chanda scored smooth victories over their lower-rated opponents G Draghici of Spain and Dias Luque respectively. Ramesh took on the Sicilian Classical defence with white pieces and obtained the double bishop advantage from the opening. He converted this advantage to win a pawn and the game in a minor piece ending in 59 moves.

Sandipan Chanda too won his game in a Bishop versus Knight endgame after securing a tiny plus from the White side of the Sicilian Pelikan Defence . The game lasted five hours and 61 moves.

IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy lost her first round encounter to IM Meijurs of Germany in 26 moves from the black side of yet another Sicilian Classical defence opening. She allowed the International Master to launch a strong attack on her King and had to forgo a piece and later resign the game.

IM-elect Rahul Shetty too had a tough day when he let go of his drawing chances and lost in a long drawn out battle to GM Comas Fabrego.

Achieving a near equal position in a Rook and minor piece endgame from the Nimzo-Indian defence, Shetty playing under time pressure in the Sudden Finish stage, erred to lose the game in 60 moves.

K Visweswaran went down in just 20 moves from the Black side of the 'Be3' system of the Sicilian Najdorf defence. In an unclear position he made the costly mistake of grabbing the 'f5' pawn only to find White sacrificing his Knight to for an unavoidable checkmate.

Important Results:
J Ivanov (0) lost to GM Vladimir Akopian (1)
GM K Sakaev (0.5) drew with GM I Yugopov (0.5)
GM O Korneev (0) lost to Sriram Jha (1)
GM Bogdan Lalic (0.5) drew with Dinesh Kumar Sharma (0.5)
C S Gokhale (0.5) drew with GM Suranas Sulkis (0.5)
IM R B Ramesh (1) beat G Draghici (1)
IM Sandipan Chanda (1) beat Diaz Luque (0)
L Comas Fabrego beat Rahul Shetty (0)
IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy (0) lost to IM Meijurs (1)
IM Rodriguez Perez (1) beat K Visweswaran (0)