Humpy wins; emerges joint leader

Fifteen-year-old Grandmaster-in-waiting Koneru Humpy joined the leaders after a thumping victory over James Simpson of England in the third round of the Smith and Williamson British championship at the Riviera Centre in Torquay, on Wednesday.

Draws were the order of the day. 11 players now share the lead on 2.5 points apiece. Besides Humpy, top seed GM K Sasikiran, GM Abhijit Kunte, GM Dibyendu Barua and double GM norm holder Surya Shekhar Ganguly are Indians in a tie for the top position. Eight rounds remain to be played in this Swiss tournament.

The top board duel between Sasikiran and Gallagher turned out to be a tame affair. The top two seeds blitzed out the established manoeuvres of the Caro Kann defence and Sasikiran had no trouble in equalising with the black pieces. Gallagher went for some active play in the centre in a seemingly dull position but only succeeded in exchanging a few more minor pieces that led the game to a level heavy piece endgame where the truce was signed in just 31 moves.

Playing with white pieces Ganguly was up against Kunte who employed the Sicilian Scheveningen defence. The game came to a rather abrupt end as draw was agreed to at Ganguly's behest on the 22nd move. Many pundits thought there was a lot of game at that point.

GM Joanathan Speelman played one of the best games of the day outclassing compatriot GM Neil McDonald with white pieces. McDonald employed the Dutch Leningrad defence but could not match the attacking acumen of Speelman.

The middlegame progressed slowly but Speelman then launched his pieces to do the demolition job. The game lasted 28 moves and Speelman moved to 2.5 points.

IM R B Ramesh drew with GM Chris ward of England while WGM S Vijayalakshmi scored her first victory in the tourney, accounting for Peter Taylor.

Earlier reports:
Round 2: Sasikiran emerges joint leader
Round 1: Sasikiran begins on winning note

Results:
Round 3

Bd  WHITE                      Result  BLACK                          PIN
  1 GALLAGHER,Joseph G    (2)   ½ - ½  SASIKIRAN,Krishnan    (2)    14   1
  2 GANGULY,Sura Sekhar   (2)   ½ - ½  KUNTE,Abhijit         (2)    12  19
  3 RAMESH,R.B            (1½)  ½ - ½  WARD,Chris G          (2)    23  17
  4 SPEELMAN,Jon          (1½)  1 - 0  MCDONALD,Neil         (1½)    2  28
  5 WILLIAMS,Simon K      (1½)  ½ - ½  HARIKRISHNA,Pentala   (1½)   24   3
  6 WALL,Gavin            (1½)  0 - 1  BARUA,Dibyendu        (1½)   31   7
  7 KNOTT,Simon JB        (1½)  ½ - ½  FLEAR,Glenn C.        (1½)   30   9
  8 HASLINGER,Stewart G   (1½)  1 - 0  GORMALLY,Daniel       (1½)   41  11
  9 MUIR,Andrew J.        (1½)  ½ - ½  TURNER,Matthew J      (1½)   43  13
 10 MEENAKSHI,Subbaraman  (1½)  ½ - ½  SUMMERSCALE,Aaron     (1½)   49  15

 11 WELLS,Peter           (1½)  1 - 0  BERRY,Neil M          (1½)   18  53
 12 KONERU,Humpy          (1½)  1 - 0  SIMPSON,James         (1½)   20  60
 13 GHATE,Swati           (1½)  0 - 1  PERT,Nicholas         (1½)   64  22
 14 ROWSON,Jonathan       (1)   1 - 0  JONES,Richard S.      (1)     4  65
 15 WEBB,Laurence         (1)   0 - 1  EMMS,John M           (1)    52   5
 16 MCSHANE,Luke J        (1)   1 - 0  ADDISON,Bret C        (1)     6  68
 17 LALIC,Bogdan          (1)   1 - 0  MUTTON,Jonathan B     (1)     8  71
 18 HEBDEN,Mark           (1)   ½ - ½  SNAPE,Ian L           (1)    10  73
 19 SANDIPAN,Chandra      (1)   1 - 0  SHAW,David A          (1)    16  79
 20 TRENT,Lawrence        (1)   0 - 1  LANE,Gary             (1)    59  21

 21 WOHL,Aleksander H     (1)   1 - 0  BUCKLEY,Melanie       (1)    25  81
 22 BUCKLEY,Simon         (1)   ½ - ½  LITTLEWOOD,Paul E.    (1)    61  26
 23 WHEELER,John F.       (1)   1 - 0  SARAVANAN,Venkatachal (1)    63  29
 24 LEE,Graham            (1)   1 - 0  WU,Li                 (1)    32  86
 25 WOODWARD,Timothy      (1)   ½ - ½  PERT,Richard          (1)    72  33
 26 GRANT,Jonathan        (1)   ½ - ½  HANLEY,Craig          (1)    74  35
 27 SOWRAY,Peter          (1)   ½ - ½  HUTCHINSON,Norman     (1)    36  88
 28 BURNETT,Jim           (1)   0 - 1  DEVEREAUX,Maxim L     (1)    76  37
 29 NIXON,Thomas CM       (1)   1 - 0  COX,John              (1)    80  39
 30 DOUGLAS,Timothy       (1)   0 - 1  TAN,Desmond           (1)    82  44

 31 RUDD,Jack             (1)   ½ - ½  RAMSAWAMY,Aarthie     (1)    87  45
 32 RICHARDS,Heather      (1)   1 - 0  GOLDBERG,Jeff         (1)    46  90
 33 COOTE,Trevor D.       (1)   ½ - ½  MASON,Don             (1)    91  50
 34 THIPSAY,Bhagyashree   (1)   1 - 0  TATLOW,Stephen        (1)    51  92
 35 BIGG,Andrew J         (½)   ½ - ½  HUTCHINSON,Paul A.    (1)    57  55
 36 VIJAYALAKSHMI,Subbara (½)   1 - 0  TAYLOR,Peter P.       (½)    27  66
 37 SHERWIN,James         (½)   1 - 0  DHAR-BARUA,Saheli     (½)    34  67
 38 COLLINS,Sam           (½)   1 - 0  HOWELL,David W        (½)    38  70
 39 EAMES,Robert          (½)   1 - 0  TAYLOR,Robert M.      (½)    40  78
 40 ASHTON,Adam           (½)   0 - 1  LEDGER,Dave J         (½)    85  47

 41 EVANS-QUEK,Suan Shiau (½)   1 - 0  WHITE,Ian R.          (½)    48  93
 42 D'COSTA,Lorin         (½)   1 - 0  EVANS-QUEK,Debbie     (½)    54  89
 43 LYELL,Mark            (½)   0 - 1  HARBORNE,Matthew J    (½)    56  96
 44 MCMASTER,Richard      (½)   0 - 1  JONES,Gawain C        (½)    95  62
 45 DORRINGTON,Christophe (0)   1 - 0  GREGORY,Stephen J     (0)    69  83
 46 MARTYN,Rafe           (0)   1 - 0  TRUMAN,Richard G.     (0)    75  94
 47 WILLMOTH,Robert       (0)   1 - 0  REES,Ioan             (0)    77  97
 48 THOMAS,Nicholas       (½)   ½ - ½  Bye                          58 BYE