Sasikiran

Sofia: Krishnan Sasikiran scored a well-crafted victory over American Gata Kamsky to jump to the joint second spot after Round III of the Third Mtel Masters International chess tournament here.

After two draws in contrasting fashion in the category-20 super tournament, Sasikiran’s day of reckoning came with some fine endgame technique that left Kamsky defenceless.

Sasikiran now stands joint second along with Englishman Michael Adams on two points while former European champion Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania is in sole fourth spot on 1.5 points.

Meanwhile, former world champion Veselin Topalov once again struggled as he was outdone by Azerbaijan’s second son in chess Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In the other game of the day Nisipeanu found his nemesis in Adams.

With seven rounds still to come in this six-player double round-robin tournament, Mamedyarov took sole lead on 2.5 points. The tail enders at this juncture are Topalov and Kamsky are currently tottering on just a half point. (PTI)