Indian triumph at Hastings
FM Steve Giddins reports on round 8 of the Hastings Masters
In a dramatic last round at the Sussex seaside, it was the Indian players
Deep Sengupta and Arghyadip Das who emerged as joint winners of the 2010/11
Hastings Masters. The first-named faced the overnight leader, Romain Edouard, on
top board and played a splendid attacking game against the French GM's Sicilian.
The black king ended up on f8, and as lines opened, Sengupta penetrated
decisively with his heavy pieces:
Sengupta,Deep (2527) - Edouard,Romain (2620) [B66]
Hastings Masters (9.1), 05.01.2011
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 e6 7
Qd2 a6 8 0–0–0 Nxd4 9 Qxd4 Be7 10 f4 b5 11 Bxf6 gxf6 12 e5 d5 13 Be2 Bb7
14 f5 fxe5 15 Qxe5 Bf6 16 Qg3 Qb8 17 Qh3 d4 18 fxe6 Qf4+
19 Kb1 dxc3 20 exf7+ Kf8 21 a3 h5 22 Rhf1 Qe5 23 Bd3 Qg5
24 Qd7 Bxg2 25 Rde1 Be7 26 Rf5 Qh4 27 Rfe5 Rd8 28 Qc7 Rxd3
29 cxd3 1–0
The other co-winner, Das, achieved his success at the expense
of his compatriot, Shyam, who needed to win to make a GM norm. However, his
Scotch Game soon went wrong, and he was left defending a hopeless ending, which
he was unable to save. Istratescu and Howell drew a balanced game, as did
Gormally and Prasanna. The latter result gave the 16-year old Indian talent a GM
norm, on which we congratulate him heartily. Gerhana Chkartina of Indonesia won
to secure a WIM norm, but sadly, other norm-seekers were less successful. Adam
Ashton could only draw with Furman, and Griffiths lost against Bates, when only
a win would do.
The Horntye Park Best Game Prize, judged by Chris Ward's
commentary room audience, also went to Deep Sengupta, for his last round
win over Edouard...
Overall results:
1-2 Sengupta, Das 7/9
3-8 Gormally, Howell, Istratescu,
Prasanna, Edouard and Neverov
|
