Parimarjan held again as Kateryna maintains lead

New Delhi, Dec 20 (UNI) Parimarjan Negi tried every trick of the book but could not get the better of Kateryna Lahno's defence as the Ukarainian teen forced another draw to maintain her one-point lead after four rounds of the Amity Grandmasters Challenge here today.

This was third draw so far and Kateryna, thanks to her second round victory, leads the 18-round event 2.5-1.5.

Parimarjan, currently the youngest Grandmaster, and Kateryna, the 2005 European Women's champion, have 14 more games still to play in the Rs. five lakh prize money tournament.

Pitted against the local favourtie, the gorgeous Ukrainian proved she was beauty with brain as she forced a draw despite living dangerously.

The opening was a repeat of the second game, the Arkhengelsk variation, where both the players were lightning fast with their initial moves.

Kateryna was clearly better prepared of the two as she uncorked an unusual idea on the 14th move after sacrificing a pawn, forcing Parimarjan to go into a long think that resulted in time pressure.

However, with some sound positional moves, Parimarjan gradually found himself in a better position but his opponent bounced back in the endgame, trading almost all pieces to secure a half point after 57 moves.

Upset at missing a full point, Parimarjan later said, ''I was better for quite some time but again used up a lot of time on the clock. I had an extra pawn coming in to the endgame with reasonable winning chances but then I played some inaccurate moves leading to a forced draw.'' Kateryna, on the other hand, said, ''It was a very tough game for me. I was worse all along but possibly it is not easy for Parimarjan to convert his advantage also.'' Asked if she was satisfied with the way things had gone so far, the young lady candidly admitted, ''So far so good.'' The fifth game of the match will be played tomorrow. There are two more games under FIDE time control left before the players shift to faster versions of the game -- rapid and blitz chess.

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