Advertisement

Pandya downs Javakhishvili, Harika holds Sargissian

Young Indian Karma Pandya scored a big upset in the first round of Kavala International Open Chess tournament by defeating International Master Lela Jevakhshvili of Georgia, here.

Kavala: Young Indian Karma Pandya scored a big upset in the first round of Kavala International
Open Chess tournament by defeating International Master Lela Jevakhshvili of Georgia, here. The memorable victory for Pandya against a much experienced opponent came rather quick and easy as the Indian went for the closed Ruy Lopez and kept his cards close to his chest for the major part of the game. In trying to seize the initiative Javakhishvili went for a tactical inaccuracy in the late stages of middle game and had to pay heavy dividends after Pandya sacrificed a rook for knight. The Georgian could find temporary solace in giving a piece but the endgame was just lost after sometime. Pandya, however, could not keep up the momentum ticking in his favour and lost to American Grandmaster Joshua Friedel in the second round match later in the day. Meanwhile, former World Junior girls` champion D Harika held top seeded Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia to an easy draw in the second round to stake her claim for the second Grandmaster norm. Playing the black side of a King`s Indian defense, Harika did not give any leeway to Sargissian, who offered a draw in the middle game itself when he could not find a worthy plan to continue the match. Earlier, the Indian had to sweat hard before she could finally dent the position of her opponent Halil Osmanoglou of Greece. Playing white, Harika was on the defensive in the middle game but a mistake by her opponent helped her turn the tide in the round one match. The Indian contingent was off to a flier in the first round as 2008 World Junior champion Abhijeet Gupta made short work of Women International Master Ekaterina Fakhiridou of Greece. Playing the white side of a Czech Benoni Abhijeet was in his element as he followed routine theory and when opportunity arose, the Indian came out with an ingenious plan to score in under two hours of play. In the second game of the day Abhijeet was held to a draw by compatriot International Master Sahaj Grover. After the lone double round of the tournament on the first day, Vishnu Prasanna and Grandmaster Tejas Bakre are among the 10 leaders in this strong 94 players` tournament. There are 29 Grandmasters in all and the total number of titled players exceed 50 per cent. The pick of the Indian among leaders was Prasanna, who defeated Yaroslav Zinchenko of Ukraine in the second round after accounting for Grapsa Georgia of Greece in the opener. Bakre scored over two lower ranked players to be in the leading group. PTI