Ramesh outplayed in tie-break games

International Master R B Ramesh went down to Grandmaster Boris Avrukh of Israel in the tiebreak games of the first semi-final in the Biel Masters chess tournament in Switzerland.

Ramesh will now battle it out for the third place with GM Vadim Milov of Switzerland while GM Mihail Kobalija, who scored a thumping victory over Milos, will take on Avrukh in the final.

GM Abhijit Kunte played subtly to draw with GM Ogenjen Cvitan of Croatia and continues to be joint fifth with seven points.

It turned out to be a bad day for IM D V Prasad, who lost to Bogdan Bojinovic of Yugoslavia after enjoying a commanding position for the major part of the game.

The All-India affair between double Woman Grandmaster-norm holder Aarthie Ramaswamy and GM-norm holder P Konguvel ended in a draw.

Playing black in the first game under classical time control, Ramesh put up a brave front in the two Knights Tango defence and expectedly got an unclear position as the game drifted into less trodden paths of the middlegame.

Ramesh made his pieces active but his pawn formation remained a cause for worry. But, with counterplay enforced from all corners of the board, Ramesh held his front with some timely exchanges that forced the game into a rook and pawns endgame.

Avrukh tried hard to break through the defences with his advanced king but Ramesh's advanced pawn on the queen Bishop file provided the right defence. After a gruelling battle that lasted 62 moves, the draw was agreed to at Avrukh's behest.

In the tiebreak games, however, Ramesh's gallant effort failed to live up to expectations and he lost the chance to fight for the top honour. Avrukh was at his technical best here and he avenged his ealier loss to the latest Indian sensation with some finely crafted manoeuvres.

For Abhijit, the Catalan opening caused a real trouble with the black pieces. Employing a variation favoured by another Indian Grandmaster, Dibyendu Barua, Abhijit ran into rough weather in the middlegame and was forced to sacrifice a pawn. The counterplay came in for of the Bishop pair that gave spatial advantage while at the same time contained white from making a decisive headway.

Cvitan lost control of the game in the final stages of the first time control and gave the pawn back. Soon a rook and minor piece endgame was on board with a level position. The peace treaty was signed after 35 moves.

Prasad had everything under control when disaster struck him. Playing white against the Sicilian Nazdorf, Prasad employed the sharp English attack and went for the kill right from the opening.

It was a semiclosed structure when Bogdan decided to castle on the queenside and excellent deployment of pieces thereon enabled Prasad to win a pawn and he looked like cruising towards an easy victory.

In a desperate bid to revive his position, Bogdan sacrificed another pawn and went for the attack against the king. All that was required was a routine cold water treatment to effectively end black's piece thrust, but Prasad fumbled and lost his queen on the 50th move. The rest was child's play for Bogdan.

In the Brayer variation of the Ruy Lopez opening, Aarthie played out a fighting draw against Konguvel. The middlegame was fiercely fought for every square and Aarthie maintained a miniscule advantage with the white pieces.

With routine exchanges appearing intermittently, Konguvel neutralised the initiative and the players settled for the draw after 49 moves.

Important results - Round 10:
First semi-final: Boris Avrukh beat R B Ramesh 0.5-0.5, 1.5-0.5.
Second semi-final: Vilov Madim lost to Mihail Kobalija 0-1.
Other results: T Markowski (7) drew R Kempinski (7); O Cvitan (7) drew Abhijit Kunte (7); S Dragon (7) beat V Tukmakov (6); V Mikhalevski (6.5) drew Alik Greshon (6.5); S Guliev (6) lost to Milos Pavlovi (7); Klovans Janis (6.5) beat Mark Tseitlin (5.5); D V Prasad (5) lost to B Bozinovic (6); A Ramaswamy (5) drew P Konguvel (5).