Sasi draws game, in hunt for third spot

Lausanne , May 27: Playing for the third place, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran drew the first game against International Master Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine in the Olymic Young Masters Knockout Chess Tournament here.
In the fight for the coveted title, the first game between GM Etienne Bacrot of France and GM Bruzon Lazarov of Cuba also ended in a draw after a tense struggle.

Double GM-norm holder Harikrishna, already smarting under defeat at the hands of L Aronian in tie-break game of the previous round, failed yet again as he lost to Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi in the first game playoff for the 7-8 place.

After losing in the semi-final to Bacrot, Sasikiran employed the Sicilian Nazdorf variation with black pieces and faced the classical structure. Volokitin, who has had a tremendous run in the first half of the tournament, ventured into wild complications in the middlegame by going for a kingside attack.

Sasikiran’s counter-attack came in the form of tremendous piece play on both flanks. A strike in the centre by Volokitin transformed the game into a rook and pawn ending wherein Sasikiran had a better placed rook and an extra pawn but Volokitin’s passed queen knight pawn compensated for the minor material deficit. Sasikiran then readied himself to give back the pawn at the cost of the passer but with a result not in sight, the draw was soon agreed to. In the return match tomorrow, Sasikiran will have the advantage of white pieces.(PTI)