Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran scored an easy victory over Simon Williams of England but could not improve his prospects even for a tied first place in the master's section of the Gibtele.Com chess festival in Gibraltar.
Sasikiran, on six points, remained a full point behind the leaders, top seeded Alexei Shirov of Spain, Emil Sutovsky of Israel and Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine, despite his well-crafted victory.
As many as six players follow the leaders a half point behind with just one round remaining in this over 15000 pound sterling tournament.
They are Vasilios Kotronias of Greece, Sergei Erenburg of Israel, Daniel Gormally of England, Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria and Armenian duo of Gabriel Sargissen and former World junior champion Levon Aronian.
Seeded fifth in the tournament, Sasikiran bounced back after a rather demoralising loss against Kevin Spraggett of Canada in the previous round and defeated Williams, rated 2487, quite easily.
However, the Indian is still losing three Elo points from his performance thus far in the tournament and a last round victory will not only help him to make up for the loss but also figure amongst top 10 players.
In the last round, Sasikiran will play black against Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine, who was beaten by Sutovsky in the penultimate round.
Shirov proved why he is feared the world over for his attacking skills. On the receiving end was Spraggett, who was almost like a cat on a hot tin roof after the opening.
Playing the white side of a Paulsen Sicilian, Shirov unleashed a fine attack against the king in the middle game. Spraggett was at sea once Shirov's pieces gained ground in the center. Spraggett caved in after accepting a pawn sacrifice in just 32 moves when checkmate became inevitable.
Sutovsky exhibited his tactical skills against Areshchenko. Playing one of the oft-repeated closed variation of the Sicilian, Areshchenko realised much later that his opening had gone badly. All of sudden black pieces hovered around white king and with a couple of piece sacrifices, Sutovsky ensured that white was doomed. The game lasted just 22 moves.
Important results round 9: Alexei Shirov (Esp, 7) beat Kevin Spraggett (Can, 6); Levon Aronian (Arm, 6.5) drew Daniel Gormally (Eng, 6.5); Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr, 6) lost to Emil Sutovsky (Isr, 7); Zahar Efimenko (Ukr, 7) beat Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 6); Jonathan Speelman (Eng, 6) drew Gabriel Sargissen (Arm, 6.5); Thomas Rendle (Eng, 5.5) lost to Kiril Georgiev (Bul, 6.5); Boris Avrukh (isr, 5.5) lost to Sergey Erenburg (Isr, 6.5); Iweta Radzeiwicz (Pol, 5.5) lost to Vasilios Kotronias (Gre, 6.5); Alexey Dreev (Rus, 6) beat Pia Cramling (Swe, 5); Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 6) beat Simon Williams (Eng, 5); Ian Rogers (Aus, 6) beat A R Saleh Jasim (Uae, 5); Chris Ward (Eng, 5.5) drew Evgeny Postny (Isr, 5.5); Bragi Thorfinnsson (Isr, 5.5) drew Hicham Hamdouchi (Mar, 5.5); M Tissir (Mar, 5.5) drew Peter Wells (Eng, 5.5); N Pert (Eng, 6) beat Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez (Esp, 5).
More from rediff