Ramesh slips to third position

International Master R B Ramesh slipped to joint third position after drawing with Grandmaster Victor Mikhalevski of Israel in the eighth round of the Biel Masters Chess tournament in Switzerland.

The prospects of International Master D V Prasad also suffered a setback after he went down to Grandmaster Robert Kempinski of Poland on what proved a dull day for the Indian contingent, with none of the players managing a victory.

GM Boris Avrukh of Israel and Grandmaster Mihail Kobalija of Russia emerged the new leaders with 6.5 points from eight outings. They are followed by Ramesh, Mikhalevski, Kempinski, GM Vadim Milov of Switzerland and GM Guliev Sarhan of Azerbaijan on six points.

Playing white, Ramesh faced the open variation of the Ruy Lopez and did not get much against the resourceful play of Mikhalevski. The pair of knights got traded early in the opening and the peace treaty was signed in just 20 moves in a perfectly balanced position.

GM Abhijit Kunte defended an inferior endgame well to hold IM Igor Yagupov of Russia to a draw. It was a closed variation of Ruy Lopez wherein Kunte wriggled out of his middle game difficulties with a timely pawn sacrifice that transformed the game to a Rook and minor piece endgame with pawns on the same flank.

It was a difficult position but masterly technique enabled Kunte to exchange one pawn after the other and the piece sacrifice on the 66th move forced the game into a theoretically drawn position. The draw was immediately agreed to.