Caruana reigns supreme

Fabiano Caruana reigns supreme
Rakesh Rao
NEW DELHI, July 3, 2011

Italian top seed Fabiano Caruana played it safe against Filipino Wesley So to end all prospects of a ‘tie’ for the title and emerged as the worthy winner of the AAI International Grandmasters chess tournament on Saturday.

For the first time in 10 rounds, all three games ended as draws that, in turn, maintained the overnight positions of the six competing Grandmasters.

Caruana, playing white, pushed the queen-pawn to start the game and with it gave an indication of being happy with a draw. “I did not try for a win today since I did not want to take risks and finish the tournament with two defeats,” said the champion.

The 30-move draw against Wesley raised Caruana’s tally to seven points. Caruana, who never trailed in the competition, performed at a rating of 2800, way above his starting rating of 2714.

“I should gain about 12-13 points from this event. I played well in this tournament and converted my chances. No one wants to lose.

“And the way I lost to Laznicka was very disappointing because I blundered in a position which should have led to a draw,” said the champion who received $8,000.

No ‘tie’

Sasikiran, following his 49-move draw against Hou Yifan, finished runner-up and was richer by $6,000. Interestingly, the competition did not witness a ‘tie’ for any position.

Only Sasikiran and second seed Laznicka, who collected $4,000, traded places while all other players performed as per their seeding in the event.

Sasikiran, who lost the first two rounds, bounced back brilliantly to score six points from the remaining eight rounds. But overall, Sasikiran was not too pleased. “I should have finished with a better tally. At the start, I expected to score around seven points, so finishing at six points does not feel great. But considering the bad start, I am happy with the fact that I am increasing my rating by around eight points,” said the Chennai-based ONGC officer who performed at 2731 as against his projected strength of 2676.

Third placed Laznicka, the only player to have beaten Caruana, sounded despondent even after his performance-level touched 2694 against his own rating of 2681. “I had could win two games in the second half of the tournament, instead of my victory over Caruana, I would have been happier. I performed very poorly in the second half. I just can’t explain why I played so badly. I came here to perform much better.”

Parimarjan Negi, who played to his fifth seeding after drawing with Laznicka in 42 moves of Carokann, admitted to having a “bad” tournament. “In spite of getting many good positions, I did not make the most of them. There were times when I should have taken a draw against stronger players but played on and lost. Playing at this level, I should have been wiser,” said a chastened youngster.

The results: 10th round: Fabiano Caruana (Ita) drew with Wesley So (Phi) in 30 moves; Parimarjan Negi (Ind) drew with Viktor Laznicka (Cze) in 42 moves; Hou Yifan (Chn) drew with K. Sasikiran (Ind) in 49 moves.

Final standings (with points and prize-money): 1. Caruana (7 points, $8,000), 2. Sasikiran (6, $6000), 3. Laznicka (5.5, $4,000), 4. Wesley (5, $3,000), 5. Negi (3.5, $2,000), 6. Yifan (3, $1,500).

Source: http://www.thehindu.com