Sasikiran ended first phase with a draw with Hansen

Malmo: Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran ended the first lap of Sigeman and Co. chess meet with an easy draw against Sune Berg Hansen of Denmark in a fifth round encounter here on Wednesday.

But it was GM Jan Timman, the highly-regarded and oldest participant here of Holland, who stole the honours on day five at the Hipp Theatre after his systematic triumph over tailender Emil Hermansson of Sweden.

The victory saw Timman emerge as the sole leader with four points out of a possible five. With four more rounds remaining, Sasikiran shares the second spot with top seed Hikaru Nakamura of US and Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova. Each have 3.5 points in their kitty.

Sasikiran uncorked the Tchgorin Variation against Hansen who played the white side of a Ruy Lopez. It was a long routine theory that followed and neither of the players were able to make any impression in the long drawn middle game.

Sasi first played on the queen?s wing and was able to win a pawn but Hansen had sufficient compensation all through.

Curt Hansen of Denmark is right behind the leaders with three points and it?s a big gap thereafter with the joint sixth place held by the Dane?s compatriots Davor Palo and Sune Berg Hansen with two points apiece.

Swedish hopes Tiger Hillarp Persson and Jonny Hetor fell way behind with 1.5 points and Hermansson is stuck at the bottom with just a half point. The event will now move to Copenhagen, Denmark for the last four rounds after a rest day.

Against Hansen, Sasikiran decided to play it safe and both repeated moves to sign peace in 43 moves.

But Timman simply out-manoeuvred Hermansson in an English Opening. It was a Maroczy Bind wherein Hermansson found himself at sea despite exchange of pieces at regular intervals.

Timman was quick to spot an error in Hermansson?s calculation in the late middle game and transposed to a pawn plus rook ending wherein the Swede had no chance whatsoever. The game lasted 54 moves.

For Curt Hansen it turned out to be a regulation victory with white pieces against Hector who only had himself to blame.