Sasikiran loses to Kamsky, Still leads by half point

Sofia,May 18 (UNI) Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran suddenly became the most sought after player, surprising everyone by leading the Mtel Super Grandmasters tournament after Winning the sixth and seventh round games of the tournament.

In the eight and, Sasikiran tried hard to equalize the game but Kamsky was bent upon avenging his third round game defeat.

Playing with white pieces Sasikiran opened with d4 and his opponent replied with d5. After the initial moves the game was played on the Queen's Gambit Declined Slav variation.

Kamsky once again preferred his favourite Slav Defence with a6 while Sasikiran played the solid e3 . Very early in the game, Kamsky played a novelty and went on to achieve a nice exchange of white squared Bishops and in the process, took control of the "e4".

Sasikiran structured his pieces solidly and refused to take any risk, preferring to have solid continuation. With his systematic play, Sasikiran could get a small positional advantage.

Out due to the time trouble, he not only lost his advantage but had to sacrifice an exchange. In the end game, Kamsky prevailed over his opponent and avenged his defeat by winning the game.

"In my opinion it was a very fine game. Both of us made mistakes during the game. After the exchange sacrifice, I think I had enough compensation and it should have been good enough for a draw." Sasikiran told UNI after his loss.

Despite this loss, Sasikiran with 4.5 points is still ahead of his four nearest rivals.

The Game between the defending Champion Veselin Topalov and World Junior champion Shakriyar Mamedyarov played on the opening lines of Sicilian Taimanov variation. Both the players played a very complicated game. Mamedyarov missed many advantages in the time trouble. In the end game, both the players realized no outcome and signaled a Draw.

Speaking to UNI after the draw, Mamedyarov said " In the last five moves I got a chance to win the game but somehow I could not materalise it." The third game of the championship was played between Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu and Michael Adams. It was a closed Ruy Lopez variation.

In this long game, both the players played very cautiously taking no risk with their pieces. This ensured that only three pawns each could be exchanged till the 45 th move. Later in the game, Nisipeanu played an aggressive game and forced the Englishman to surrender.

Standing after Round 8 1 Krishnan Sasikiran 4.5 points 2- 5 S. Mamedyarov, Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky 4 points each 6. Michael Adams 3.5 points 9th Round pairing 1. Krishnan Sasikiran Vs Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu 2. Gata Kamsky vs Veselin Topalov 3. S.Mamedyarov vs Michael Adams UNI