Surya had an easy victory

Calcutta: IM Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh joined GM Abhijit Kunte of India at the top after the completion of the seventh round of International Open Chess Tournament at Alekhine Chess Club, Gorky Sadan on Saturday. Both Kunte and Hossain now have 5.5 points and jointly lead the field.

Hossain, who played against GM Oleg Romanishin, patiently converted his material advantage of rook versus bishop into a win in a marathon game which lasted 102 moves.

Romanishin was the fourth Grandmaster to be humbled by Enamul. Enamul, who meets top seed Aleksej Alexandrov of Belarus in the eighth round, now requires only one point from his next two games for his second GM norm.

Meanwhile, Abhijit Kunte of India, put up a stubborn defence against second seed Ni Hua of China to draw his game. In a Najdorf Sicilian defence Ni Hua had initiative and space advantage for most part of the game, but Kunte?s careful handing of the position ensured him a draw.

Top seed, Aleksej Alexandrov of Belarus, showed his class as he disposed off GM Sandipan Chanda of India. In a queen?s pawn opening Alexandrov opened up the kingside quite early giving up his rook for bishop. Sandipan was hard put to find an adequate defence and resigned on the 28th move.

Asia?s youngest Grandmaster Timur Gareev of Uzbekistan, playing against GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, surprisingly sacrificed a piece early in the game. Maghami?s precise defence fizzled out Gareev?s attack and the resulting endgame left Gareev a minor piece less, which sealed his fate.

City-based GM?s Surya Sekhar Ganguly won rather easily over IM Dinesh Sharma, while Dibyendu Barua had to sweat in out against R. Balasubramanium in a rook and pawn endgame before finally winning on the 75th move.

Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh moved near the top by outplaying Alexander Fominyh of Russia in fianchetto variation of the King?s Indian defence.

GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam, was content to draw his game with compatriot Nguyen Anh Dung in just 11 moves.

Rahul Sangma of Goodricke National Chess Academy upset IM Neeraj Kr Mishra of Jharkhand. Rahul, who had a queen against Mishra?s rook and two pawns, thwarted all attempts by the latter to draw and went on win the game in 111 moves.?

RESULTS

Ni Hua(5) drew Abhijit Kunte (5.5); Enamul Hossain (5.5) bt Oleg Romanishin (4.5); Aleksej Alexandrov(5) bt Sandipan Chanda (4); Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (5) bt Timur Gareev (4); Niaz Murshed (5) bt Alexander Fominyh (4); Dao Thien Hai (4.5) drew Nguyen Anh Dung(4); Surya Sekhar Ganguly (4.5) bt Dinesh Kr Sharma (3.5); Ziaur Rahaman (4.5) bt Rahul Shetty (3.5); R Balasubramanium (3.5) lost to Dibyendu Barua (4.5); Tejas Bakre(4) drew D. V. Prasad (4); Neelotpal Das (4.5) bt Kh Aminul Islam (3.5); Devraz Chatterjee (3.5) lost to Saptarshi Roy (4.5); R R Laxman (4) bt K Visweswaran (3); Mohammad Javed (2.5) lost to Abdulla Al Rakib (3.5); K Ramu (2.5) lost to Reefat Bin Sattar (3.5); Rahul Sangma(3.5) bt Neeraj Kr Mishra (2.5); Vinoth Kumar (2.5) lost to Somak Palit (3.5); Arindam Mukerjee (4) bt Sandipan Chatterjee(2.5); Mahtauddin Ahmed (2.5) lost to Nisha Mohota (3.5); Abhishek Das (3) bt Abu Sufian Sakil (2); Soumya Thakurta (2) lost to Arman Monir (2.5); Saheli Nath (2.5) bt Souvik Chakraborty (1.5); Satyajit Kundu (1.5) lost to Abhratanu Dutta (2.5); Ghader Pour Shayesteh (1.5) bt Bitan Banerjee(1).