Bakre crushes Hess, in joint lead at Kavala Intl Open chess

Kavala: Continuing with his excellent form in recent months, Indian Grandmaster Tejas Bakre crushed GM Robert Hess of the United States to remain in joint lead after the third round of the Kavala International Open chess tournament.

With his third victory in as many games, Bakre now shares the lead with Andrey Rychagov of Russia, Zaven Andriasen of Armenia and Bulgarian Nikolov Momchil on three points. Bakre punished a reckless opening by Hess who played black. The game transposed to a Modern defence wherein the American was caught off guard when Bakre came up with a spectacular Bishop sacrifice that ripped apart the King`s position. The follow up was also brilliant as Bakre capped it with a rook sacrifice and it was curtains in just 19 moves. Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta also came up with some inspiring display to beat Grigor Grigorov of Bulgaria from the white side of a Benoni defense. Grigorov was in for a surprise early as Abhijeet sacrificed a pawn and entered an endgame where his pieces were better placed. Planning perfectly thereafter, Abhijeet increased pressure on both flanks and cruised home following an optical blunder by the Bulgarian.However, former world junior girls` champion D Harika was not so lucky as she mishandled a nearly winning position against Hrant Melkumyan of Armenia. Harika was put to test early in the opening as by Melkumyan, playing with white pieces, but came back strongly with some exemplary defensive resources. As the game progressed, Harika turned the tide with a tactical stroke but missed a checkmating web that cost her full point. International Master and Grandmaster norm holder Sahaj Grover did well to hold Russian Grandmaster Evgeny Borovio from the black side of a Queen`s gambit.Grover got a decent opening, equalised comfortably and did not give chances to his higher rated opponent. The Indian took his tally to two points out of possible three. Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy scored a fine attacking victory over Greek WIM Marina Makropoulou. Playing white Chakkravarthy went all out for an attack on the queen side and once his pieces reached the eighth rank checkmate was inevitable. On the flip side for the Indians, International Master Tania Sachdev was held to a draw by lower-ranked Alexandros Dounis of Greece. PTI