Abhijeet crushes Romanishin to be joint third

Groningen: Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta crashed through the defenses of legendary Ukrainian GM Oleg Romanishin to grab the joint third spot after the seventh round of Groningen International Open.

Abhijeet took his tally to five points out of a possible seven and he is now just a half point adrift of the leading duo of Dejan Bojkov of Bulgaria and defending champion Illya Nyzhnyk of Ukraine who both have 5.5 points. Shiven Khosla inched closer to his third and final International Master norm by holding IM Roeland Pruijssers of Holland to an easy draw. Shiven now has four points from seven games and the fact that he has played very high opposition here makes him eligible for the norm with possibly two draws from the last two games.International Master Sahaj Grover also came back in reckoning with a fighting victory over Thomas Willemze of Holland. Sahaj moved to 4.5 points and meets talented Dutch youngster Benjamin Bok in the next round. With Nyzhnyk and Bojkov in front, Abhijeet is in a five-way tie for the third spot along with Daan Brandenburg of Holland, Mark Bluvshtein of Canada, Zaven Andriasian of Armenia and Arkadij Rotstein of Germany. Sahaj shares the joint eighth spot.It was a game worth remembering for Abhijeet against Romanishin, the trainer of the Indian women`s team in the Asian games and last Chess Olympiad. Playing the white side of a Queen`s gambit accepted, Abhijeet seized control early in the middle game with his strong central control and firm grip on the king side. PTI