IM Himanshu Sharma beats Armenian GM Gevorg

Mumbai: International Master Himanshu Sharma put up a creditable performance as he beat Armenian Grandmaster Harutjunyan Gevorg to be in joint second place with 6.5 points at the end of eighth round of the 7th Mumbai Mayor`s Cup International Open Chess Tournament here on Sunday.

On the top board, GM Pantsulaia Levan of Georgia, the overnight joint leader with GM Aleksandrov Aleksej of Belarus, scored over IM Swayams Mishra in King`s Indian defense classical variation, winning in 49 moves to snatch a point which propelled him to the top. On the second board, IM P Shyam Nikhil held GM Aleksej for a draw in their game which started in Slav by giving perpetual checks. The game stretched to 54 moves. Aleksej slipped to joint second with Himanshu. IM Sharma outplayed his opponent GM Harutjunyan Gevorg in an Old Indian Defence game. The Indian was in total control and with regular exchange of pieces he managed to take four pawns for a knight. However, on the 48th move, Himanshu made a mistake of capturing his opponent`s knight with a Rook rather than a Bishop, which extended the game to 76 moves. But the Indian still held the advantage before Gevorg resigned as he was unable to halt Himanshu`s pawns from reaching the last line. Another Indian IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh R also held GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil for a draw in the game of Sicilian Defence which lasted for 46 moves.