In a major upset, Indian dark horse D K Sharma held second seed GM Zvjaginsev of Russia to a surprise draw on a day of mixed fortunes for Indians at the First Round of the International Open Chess tournament in Linares. International Master R B Ramesh, with an Elo rating of 2466 points, won easily from white side of the Richter Rauzer variation of Sicilian defence against lowly-rated Spaniard Moreno (2147).
While IM Sandipan Chanda and Sriram Jha won their boards against Espianola Martin and Spaniard Garcia Perez respectively, IM-elect Rahul Shetty lost to GM Kempinski of Poland and C S Gokhale was outclassed by Georgian GM Kacheishvilli. Enterprising Visveswaran lost to GM Gershon Alik of Israel who wrapped up the game in mere 23 moves.
The lone Indian woman in the six-member Indian team, IWM Aarthie Ramaswamy (2262) went down fighting to GM Sulskis of Lithuania (2497). Sharma (2392) employed the Sicilian Alapin variation with white pieces and exchanged pieces at regular intervals. Zvjaginsev tried to win a pawn through a tactical move but Sharma managed to avoid the trap and went on to win two minor pieces for his rook.
Bureau Report