Prakash consolidates position at the top

Grandmaster norm holder G B Prakash of Indian Bank outclassed International Master norm holder Jayant Gokhale of Bharat Petroleum to extend his lead to a full point at the end of the eighth round of the Global Trust Bank International Rating chess tournament in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Four IMs -- P Konguvel (ONGC), Ravi Hegde, Sekhar Sahu (Both Union Bank) and Anup Deshmukh (LIC) -- are one point behind the leader with 7.5 points each.

Prakash was at his positional best in his victory over Jayant on Wednesday. The opening was a Bogo Indian defence, where Jayant was playing black.

Jayant embarked on a dubious plan in the opening itself and his pieces remained passive for the major part of the game. Prakash capitalised on his superiority in the centre and launched an attack against the king that proved decisive.

Jayant tried to hold his front in the endgame after he was forced to part with a pawn, but technically masterminded piece play by Prakash forced his resignation.

Konguvel defeated Nassir Wajih of Railways in a Sicilian Pelikan defence game with white pieces. Nassir played a new idea in the opening but did not realise the potential of white's favourably placed Knight in the center that won a pawn by force in the middlegame.

The Queens were soon off the board and Nassir put up stiff resistance to take the game to a rook and pawns endgame. At one point of time Nassir even managed an almost level position but the sudden death time control spelt doom for him.

Sahu played superbly to beat P Mahesh Chand of Tamil Nadu in a Queens Indian defence game with white pieces. An opening error by Mahesh gave Sahu early initiative and he slowly manoeuvred his Bishop to the coveted central square.

Mahesh's kingside came under pressure and his counter- attacking attempts on the other side did not yield him a desireable structure. Sahu completed the formalities in machine-like fashion.

The casualty of the day was IM Atanu Lahiri of LIC, who went down to Santosh Kumar Sinha of Bihar in a Kings Indian defence game.

Playing white, Atanu obtained spatial advantage in the Fianchetto variation but resourceful play by Santosh guaranteed counterplay on the Queenside.

Under time pressure, Atanu committed a blunder that cost him a piece. The rest was easy for Santosh.

The dual between Anup and Ravi turned out to be a quick draw.