INDIA, ARMENIA DRAW SECOND MATCH 2-2

Times of India
Dec 1 2008

NEW DELHI: Former world junior champion Zaven Andriasian scored a vital
full point against reigning world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta and
Samvel Ter Sahakyan turned the tables on Deep Sengupta to help Armenia
draw the second match 2-2 in their friendship chess match on Monday.

Having won the first game of the match by a 2.5-1.5 margin, the
Indians maintained a 1-0 lead in the three match series and the
Armenians will be under tremendous pressure to score the equaliser
in the final match at the Russian center for Science and Culture.

B Adhiban’s heroics for the second day running spelled good omen for
India as the reigning under-16 world champion made short work of GM
Avetik Grigoryan and gave the Indians an early lead.

But a rare oversight by Abhijeet cost him dearly after he missed a
simple tactic from an easy position while Deep Sengupta also lost
from a position of strength to hand Armenians a 2-1 lead.

GM Arun Prasad was already in control and completed the formalities
of converting a full point from a won position against Hrant Melkumyan
on the second board.

The three-day match will see a befitting finale tomorrow and Indians
will again be playing white on the top board.

Andriasian was lucky to score from a Slav defense game even though his
position commanded respect once the game entered the middle game stage.

Abhijeet, in trying to go for wild complexities, missed out black’s
counter play in the process and his oversight did not help the cause
in any ways. The game was over when Andriasian forced checkmate.

Earlier in the day, Adhiban showed the way in his white-piece victory
over Grigoryan. It was a Ruy Lopez by the Armenian that gave Adhiban
a lasting advantage in the middle game as Grigoryan was apparently
not well versed with the system.

Adhiban cashed in on his chances and sacrificed a rook in the middle
game to rip open black’s king side and he was cruising home after
Grigoryan failed to spot the right defense. The game lasted just
31 moves.

Deep Sengupta got a fine position after a positional exchange sacrifice
against Sahakyan but could not keep his position together. Sahakyan
waited patiently and Deep’s strategy of exchanging pieces did not
work well. For the records it was a French where Deep played black.

Arun remained composed when under pressure and delivered the goods
when the opportunity arose against Melkumyan.

The Semi Slav defense by Arun as black led to some initial problems
but the Indian knitted his position well until Melkumyan went for an
illusive attack with a rook sacrifice.

Finding the right defense, Arun capitalised on his material advantage
to score the equalizer for India.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress