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Mixed fortunes for Indians at Biel

International Masters V Saravanan and R B Ramesh scored emphatic victories in the seventh round of the Biel Open chess tournament on Monday. However, S Kidambi and T S Ravi were forced to settle for draws.

IM Konguvel, the fifth Indian in fray, lost to IM Pelletier of Switzerland.

Saravanan defeated IM Handke Florian in a Kings Indian Bayonet variation with black pieces. After earning equality in the opening, Saravanan managed to get his pawn to 'h3' square in a complicated endgame.

Florian, under pressure of time, blundered a piece on the 39th move. Sarvanan then exchanged the queens and converted his material advantage into a well-earned victory.

Ramesh had an easy game against Bazinovic of Croatia as he obtained a huge space advantage in the opening. He sacrificed two pawns in the endgame to push his 'd' pawn and forced Bazinovic to give up on the 51st move.

Both Saravanan and Ramesh have 4.5 points each.

Kidambi looked set to score an upset when he won a pawn from the white side of the Grunfeld Russian System against GM Tseitlin of Israel. He went for the exchange of queens but the experienced Grandmaster managed to block Kidambi's entry points and escaped with a draw in a double rook and bishop versus double rook and knight endgame.

Kidambi, with 4 points, now requires 1.5 points from two rounds to get his final IM norm.

T S Ravi won a pawn quite early in the Catalan opening with black pieces against Kuemin of Switzerland. However, his opponent got a lead in development as compensation.

When Kuemin threatened to win back the pawn, Ravi was forced to repeat the position thrice and draw the game in 20 moves. Ravi has 3.5 points.

Konguvel faced the Sicilian Najdorf opening from the white pieces of IM Pelletier of Switzerland and castled on the queenside.

In an unclear position, the Indian sacrificed two minor pieces for a rook and some initiative. Pelletier defended well at this stage and managed to coordinate his pieces together to win the game in 50 moves. Konguvel remains on 4 points.

On the second board, GM Shariyazdanov of Russia played an unusual form of Benko gambit and crushed overnight leader GM Burmakin to join GM Sturva in the lead with 5.5 points.

Other important results:

Tukmakov (5) drew with Sturva (5.5); Burmakin (4.5) lost to Shariyazdanov (5.5); Aurukh (5) drew with Huzman (5); Galkin. A (5) drew with Kempinski (5).