Negi bounces back, defeats Thijs Roorda

Leiden (The Netherlands): Grandmaster and Asian champion Parimarjan Negi came back into the reckoning with a crushing victory over Thijs Roorda of Holland in the third round of the 6th Leiden International chess tournament.

After drawing the second round game with white pieces against Sjef Rinaarts, Negi started as a huge favourite against Roorda and this time, his white pieces proved too much for the lower rated Dutch opponent. The victory elevated Negi to joint fourth spot in the nine-round tournament. The lead is shared by seasoned Grandmaster Bortosz Socko of Poland, British hope David Howell and young Dutchman Benjamin Bok who all have three points each in their kitty from as many games. Negi with 2.5 points shares the fourth spot along with 12 players including fellow Grandmasters S Kidambi and S Arun Prasad. It turned out to be an easy day for Negi who faced the French defense. The Indian star went for the latest love - the Advance variation and seized the control in quick time in the ensuing middle game. By the 15th move itself, Roorda was facing a very difficult task and just a few moves later, Negi knocked down a pawn to exert more pressure. Roorda finally managed to trade a few pieces to ease the position but Negi picked up another pawn to romp home in just 35 moves. It turned out to be an easy day for Negi who faced the French defense. The Indian star went for the latest love - the Advance variation and seized the control in quick time in the ensuing middle game. By the 15th move itself, Roorda was facing a very difficult task and just a few moves later, Negi knocked down a pawn to exert more pressure. Roorda finally managed to trade a few pieces to ease the position but Negi picked up another pawn to romp home in just 35 moves. Kidambi went for the Grunfeld defense as black against Halderen and faced a topical variation leading to dynamic play. Halderen went for these complication at the cost of a wrecked pawn structure on the king side and his strategy paid off as Kidambi felt the heat and entered a slightly worse endgame after trading off the queens. The resulting position offered little chances to the Indian and peace was signed after 44 moves. At the top of the table, Predrag Nikolic of Bosnia was held to a draw by Polish Michael Luch wherein the latter defended accurately. In other interesting games of the day, Holland`s Edwin Van Haastert went down to Socko while another Dutch Frank Erwich was beaten by David Howell. Important and Indian results round 3 (Indians unless stated): Predrag Nikolic (Bih, 2.5) drew with Michal Luch (Pol, 2.5); Edwin Van Haastert (Ned, 2) lost to Bartosz Socko (Pol, 3); David Howell (Eng, 3) beat Frank Erwich (Ned, 2); Jan-Willem De Jong (Ned, 2.5) drew with Evgeny Vorobiov (Rus, 2.5); Alexander Van Beek (Ned, 2) lost to Benjamin Bok (Ned, 3); Herman Van Halderen (Ned, 2.5) drew with Sundararajan Kidambi (2.5); Parimarjan Negi (2.5) beat Thijs Roorda (Ned, 2); Viacheslav Zakhartsov (Rus, 2.5) beat Nathanael Spaan (Ned, 1.5); S Arun Prasad (2.5) beat Reinaert Verstraeten (Bel, 1.5); Csaba Horvath (Hun, 2.5) beat Simon Algera (Ned, 1.5); Oscar Iturbide Arnedo (Esp, 1) lost to M R Lalith Babu (2). PTI