IM Ramesh holds up Russian GM in Linares

IM Ramesh holds up Russian GM in Linares
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Linares (Spain), January 12: Admist a tough fourth day’s play for the Indians at the Linares International chess tournament here, International Master R B ramesh stood out with creditable draw against the third seed, Grandmaster V Zvjaginsev of Russia.

In the major upsets of the day, unfancied IM Zulfigarli Ofazerbaijan beat GM Vladimir Epishin of Germany while GM Robert Kempinski of Poland defeated the eigth seed GM Vadim Milov of Switzerland.

The marathon 77-move encounter commenced with the English opening and later transposed into the Pannov-Botvinnik system of the Caro-Kann defence. Following the lines of the recently played Kramnik-Kasparov game until the 13th move, Ramesh deviated to achieve a comfortable position with the black pieces.

In the ending which ensued, it seemed as if white had an advantage in view of his double bishops. However, Ramesh sacrificed a pawn to establish an impregnable fortress. Since it was impossible to make further headway in the resultant ’wrong-coloured bishop’ endgame, the players agreed to a draw. Sriram Jha who took on GM Elianov of Ukraine with the black pieces chose the Seni-Slav defence. The Grandmaster responded with the Moscow variation and made a timely sacrifice of a pawn to gain control of the centre. Jha then equalised the situation by returning the pawn. After a series of exchanges, the players entered a rook and pawn endgame where black was temporarily behind by a pawn.