Chess news: Parimarjan Negi detained by Rijnaarts in Leiden chess tournament
Grandmaster and Asian champion Parimarjan Negi experience a delay drawing with Sjef Rijnaarts of Holland in the second round of the sixth version of Leiden International chess tourney.
After scoring an easy attack in the opener, Negi, the second youngest Grandmaster ever, fell prey to some finely crafted manoeuvres by Rijnaarts after absent out on an sensible position earlier. The draw left the second seeded Negi on 1.5 points and he is now in joint 14th position in the nine-round contest.
Grandmaster S Kidambi managed to win his second game on the trot to be among 13 leaders after the second round. Local positive Vincent Blom could not match the wily Indian who played with white pieces.
In the exposure of the day, top seed German Grandmaster Igor Khenkin lost to Alexander Van Beek of Holland. It was a cracker of a game in which fortunes change a few times and Van Beek had the final say. With top two seeds plunging points, Predrag Nikolic of Bosnia, Bartosz Socko of Poland and David Howell of England emerged as the front runners with seven rounds still to come.
Amongst other Indians in the fray, Grandmaster S Arun Prasad played out a draw with Nathanael Spaan of Holland while GM M R Lalith Babu opened his account at the spending of Rudolf Kat, also of Holland. Lalith Babu had lost the opening round when he failed to spot a simple tactic against Harmen Van Halderen, rated more than 400 points below him.
Negi faced an offbeat Sicilian as white but was soon on known paths as he executed a king side attack according to the insist of the location. Rijnaarts had the option of doubtful a bad position or hunt for the counter active measures and he chose the latter by sacrifice a central pawn.
It was a better position for Negi which, on an average day, his fans would have unsurprising him to convert. A slight inexactness brought Rijnaarts back into the contention and his 24th move was clear suggestion that the game was headed for a draw.
The peace was signed vide nonstop checks 11 moves later. Like Negi, Arun Prasad was also held to a draw by a player rated more than 300 points below him. Nathanael Spaan was the receiver of a half point after doing the hard work in the Sozin variation of the Sicilian protection. Playing black, Arun Prasad felt the heat and resolute to play it safe. The result was a draw in 29 moves through replication of moves.