New Delhi, International Master (IM) K. Rathnakaran ended the dream run of IM Himanshu Sharma Saturday by beating him comprehensively in the 8th round of the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship 2007 at Siri Fort Sports Auditorium here to take the sole lead with a score of 7 points.

Rathnakaran playing white carried the momentum of beating Grand Master (GM) Parimarjan Negi, in the previous round, as he went into the offensive from the start in the Sicilian Rossolimo variation.

Such was the force of his attack that Himanshu had to give up his queen on the 29th move to avert a mate. Rathnakaran completed the formality on move 36.

With only two rounds remaining in this event, tough fight was witnessed on all the boards. Top-seeded Ganguly remained in the hunt for the championship by stopping IM Arun Prasad in the Caro-Kann opening.

Arun, playing black, was not able to equalise in the Caro-Kann opening. Ganguly created good outpost for his pieces and won a pawn on the 27th move and thereafter wrapped up the game on the 31st move.

The game between IM Kidambi and second seeded British GM Gawain Jones also witnessed a tough fight but Kidambi managed to hold Jones for a draw in 45 moves.

GM Nisha Mohota proved that she is on equal footing with male players as she defeated Bangaldesh GM Reefat Bin Sattar. The game went on equal footing but Nisha gained slight advantage by winning a pawn. In an acute time scramble, Reefat overlooked the mate threat and resigned when faced with loss of heavy material.

With this win Nisha has now occupied the second spot jointly with Ganguly, Himanshu Sharma, Ramesh, Vikramaditya Kamble and Sriram Jha to head for an exciting finish.

This was also a bad day for two of the most experienced Indian GMs, Praveen Thipsay and Dibyendu Barua, who crashed to defeats against Vikramaditya Kamble and P. Karthikeyan respectively. However, it turned out to be a good day for M.S. Thejkumar, who earned his 1st IM norm.

EMAIL THIS NEWS COMMENTS No comments yet