Konguvel inches closer to GM-norm

International Master P Konguvel of Petroleum Sports Control Board inched closer to his maiden Grandmaster norm with a lucky victory over GM Pravin Thipsay of Bank Sports Board in the seventh round of the 38th National 'A' men's chess championship in Delhi on Wednesday.

The win also helped Konguvel maintain his slender half a point lead in the tournament. Konguvel has six points and requires one-and-half points from three remaining rounds to get the coveted GM norm.

Top seed GM K Sasikiran remained in the second spot at 5.5 points with a finely crafted victory over Saptarshi Roy Chowdhry. Defending champion GM Abhijit Kunte, with 5 points, is in the third position. The other GM in fray, Dibyendu Barua, is fourth at 4.5 points.

Playing black against Thipsay, Konguvel stuck to his Sicilian Dragon and got a dynamically balanced position in the middlegame. Thipsay, an exponent of the classical system, exchanged pieces nonchalantly and caught Konguvel off guard in the resulting heavy pieces endgame.

An inaccuracy by Konguvel led to a clearly advantagoeus position for Thipsay but he could not keep up the momentum with his clock ticking away and Konguvel capitalised on a series of inaccuracies to turn the tables.