Shankar Roy sole leader in FIDE masters

Kolkata, Jan 6 (UNI) International Master (IM) Shankar Roy shot into the sole lead at the Alekhine Chess Club in the FIDE rating chess tournament here today.

Playing with white pieces, he faced the Queens Indian defence of his fellow IM R Balasubramanium. Shankar made a temporary knight sacrifice in the centre to gain the double bishop advantage.

Thereafter with all his pieces attacking on the kingside, he won a minor piece and forced his opponent to throw in the towel on the 35th move. Shankar is in good form having won another rating tournament in Bengal recently.

The top board game was a tame affair. International master Abdullah AI Rakib of Bangladesh sacrificed a pawn in the opening to drum up some complications against Shyam Nikhil, but the young boy defended well and Rakib was forced to take the peace offering after only 16 moves.

On the third board woman Grandmaster Nisha Mohota tried her best to win against Vinoth Kumar in an old Indian defence. Even though she held the advantage throughout the game she was unable to crack through the defences of her higher rated opponent.

Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh bounced back into the reckoning with a thumping 34 move victory over local player Laltu Chatterjee.

IM elect Saptarshi Roy and IM Suvrajit Saha also registered crushing victories against Tanmoy Pattanayak and Joydev Saha respectively. There are a pack of 13 players half a point adrift of the leader.

UNI