Caruana assured of title despite loss
Rakesh Rao
NEW DELHI, July 1, 2011
Fabiano Caruana’s unbeaten run was snapped after he lost his way in his match against second seed Viktor Laznicka but by then, K. Sasikiran’s draw with Parimarjan Negi had ensured the Italian the title even in case of a tie in the AAI International Grandmasters chess tournament here on Friday.
After the ninth and penultimate round, Caruana leads the table with 6.5 points, one ahead of Sasikiran.
Theoretically, a victory for Sasikiran in Saturday’s final round, coupled with an unexpected defeat for Caruana against So Wesley will see a tie for the title. In such a scenario, Caruana will be declared champion since he had beaten Sasikiran 1.5-0.5 in their two-game mini-match.
As per the tournament rules, prize-money will be shared by those tied for any position.
Well-fought
The battle between Laznicka and Caruana in Kings’ Indian was well-fought with the former taking far more time to play his moves. Laznicka did look better placed but with just three minutes left to play 10 moves to reach the 40-move mark before the first time-control, he needed some help from his rival. Laznicka cashed in on a blunder by Caruana on the 31st move and reeled off nine more moves in quick time to come out a deserving winner.
In fact, this result brought the smile back on the face of Laznicka who had let Caruana off the hook in the fifth round and lost the two previous rounds.
“My tournament was spoilt after I lost twice,” said Laznicka, choosing to assigning no real significance to his victory over the top seeded Italian. “I had a good first half but following the rest day (after five rounds), I was kind of tired. I played badly against Wesley. Against Sasikiran, I had a good position but blundered and lost. Today, I played well in the opening phase but then, the position became unclear. I won because Caruana committed blundered. So it was nothing special.”
When asked whether he could take some positive from the fact that he had a 1.5-0.5 score against the eventual champion, Laznicka said: “This fact means very little to me. I came here to do well in the tournament. Overall, I should have played better chess.”
Tame draw
Sasikiran missed a possible chance to put pressure on Negi but eventually settled for a tame draw.
In Anti Meran variation, Sasikiran misplayed his knight on the king’s side on the 24th move and never got back another chance to press for victory.
“At this stage, with Negi’s queenside pawns badly placed, I could have tried for some clear advantage. Thereafter, there was nothing really in the game,” said Sasikiran.
Wesley So and Hou Yifan battled for 47 moves in Catalan before agreeing for a draw in an ending involving pawns and a rook each.
Though Wesley had an extra pawn, the position did not offer the Filipino any chance of victory.
The results (ninth round): Viktor Laznicka (Cze, 5) bt Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 6.5) in 40 moves; K. Sasikiran (Ind, 5.5) drew with Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 3) in 48 moves; Wesley So (Phi, 4.5) drew with Hou Yifan (Chn, 2.5) 47 moves.
10th round pairings: Caruana v Wesley; Yifan v Sasikiran; Negi v Laznicka.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com
Nice.