Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran suffered a major setback in his quest for a maiden title in the 18th North Sea Cup international chess tournament, going down to top seed and hot favourite GM Alexey Dreev of Russia and slipping to the third place after the eighth and penultimate round at Esberg, Denmark.
Sasikiran, who had maintained the lead since the second round, now trails Luke McShane of England and Dreev, who both have six points from eight games. Sasikiran, on 5.5, can at best tie for first should he win the last round game against local star Curt Hansen and the showdown for the title between Dreev and McShane ends in a draw.
Hansen is a distant fourth, having 4.5 points with just one round remaining in this category 15 event while the fifth spot is jointly shared by Danish Peter Heine Nielsen, Cuban Lenier Dominiguez and Poland's Michal Krasenkow, all having 3.5 points apiece.
Bruzon Lazaro of Cuba and Lars Schandorff of Denmark share the next slot in standing list on three points each in their bag. The other Indian GM in the fray, Koneru Humpy, is languishing at the bottom of the table on just 1.5 points.
In the only decisive battle of the day, Dreev delivered when it mattered most giving just another indication of his class. In the previous round the Russian had declared his intentions of a grand finish when he outclassed Hansen and the victory against Sasikiran was just an extension of his brilliant play.
The Indian GM had noticed some weaknesses in Dreev's handling of the Queen's Indian defence as white and the opening was a natural choice. This time, however, Dreev had probably guessed what Sasikiran might opt for and appeared well armed to tackle the wily Chennai player.
The middle game was extremely complex with Sasikiran gaining some ground in the center and Dreev chasing his pawns on the queenside while maintaining a grip on the position.
Sasikiran parted with a pawn on the 37th move and that was enough for Dreev to get in to an endgame where his rook and knight proved much superior than Sasikiran's rook and Bishop. Getting passed pawns on both flanks, Dreev pushed them towards glory and forced resignation on the 76th move.
Koneru Humpy settled for peace with Schandorff in a long drawn game arising out of an unorthodox variation of the Queen's Gambit declined. Playing black, Humpy, who is now certain to finish last in the event, exchanged pieces at regular intervals to arrive at a balanced position with bishops of opposite colours.
Schdorff tried for a breakthrough with his active looking pieces but Humpy thwarted all attempts and maintained an impregnable position. The game lasted 58 moves.
McShane had a clinical approach in his draw with Nielsen. The young Englishman will have the advantage of white pieces against Dreev in the final round and keeping that in mind he just played it safe in his pet Grunfeld defence. Nielsen got nothing out of the opening and did not press too hard either. The draw was agreed to in a queen and pawns endgame in just 31 moves.
Hansen drew with Lazaro who was determined to keep his position intact in another Queen's Indian defence game of the day. This one too reached an opposite coloured Bishop position where neither side had any real chance. The truce was signed after 39 moves.
Krasenkow and Dominiguez fought well in a Sicilian Sveshnikov game where the former played black. After a lot of bloodshed in the middle game where both kings ran for safety this one too ended in a draw.
Results Round 8:
Alexey Dreev (6, Rus) beat K Sasikiran (5.5); Peter Heine Nielsen (3.5, Den) drew Luke McShane (6, Eng); Curt Hansen (4.5, Den) drew Bruzon Lazaro (3, Cub); Leneirminiguez (3.5, Cub) drew Michal Krasenkow (3.5, Pol); Lars Sndorff (3, Den) drew Koneru Humpy (1.5).
Moves:
Alexey Dreev v/s K Sasikiran: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Nc3 c5 7. e4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 d6 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. Be3 a6 11. O-O Be7 12. Rfd1 O 13. f3 Rc8 14. Kh1 Qc7 15. Rac1 Qb8 16. Bf1 Bd8 17. b4 Bc7 18. Bg1 Kh8 19. Nb3 d5 20. exd5 exd5 21. c5 Bf4 22. Rb1 Rfe8 23. Ne2 Bh6 24. Ned4 g6 25. Qa2 Kg8 26. cxb6 Be3 27. Bxe3 Rxe3 28. Qf2 Rec3 29. b5 axb5 30. Nxb5 Rc2 31. Qg3 Nxb6 32. N3d4 R2c5 33. Nd6 Nh5 34. Qe5 Ba8 35. g4 Ng7 36. Qf6 Rf8 37. Nxf7 Rxf7 38. Qxb6 Qf8 39. Qb8 Rc8 40. Qb4 Qd8 41. Ba6 Rcc7 42. Qb8 Rf8 43. Qxd8 Rxd8 44. Rb6 Kf7 45. Re1 Ra7 46. a4 Ne8 47. Bb5 Nc7 48. Kg2 Nxb5 49. axb5 Rc8 50. Rd6 Re7 51. Rd1 Rc4 52. Kg3 Bb7 53. h4 Ke8 54. Kf4 Kf7 55. h5 gxh5 56. gxh5 Ke8 57. Kg5 Rcc7 58. b6 Rcd7 59. Rxd7 Rxd7 60. Re1+ Kf7 61. Re6 Rd8 62. Rf6+ Kg8 63. h6 Ba8 64. Kf5 Bb7 65. Ke5 Bc8 66. f4 Bb7 67. Rd6 Re8+ 68. Re6 Rb8 69. Kd6 Rf8 70. f5 Ba6 71. Re7 Rb8 72. Rg7+ Kh8 73. Kc5 Rc8+ 74. Rc7 Rb8 75. Ra7 Bb7 76. Nc6 Rf8 77. Rxb7 d4 78. Rb8 black resigned.
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