Chennai: Spain moved on the top of the table with 8 match points after the fifth round of the TATA 14th IBCA Chess Olympiad for the Blind 2012 at Hotel Le Royal Meridien, Chennai here today. In the crucial top table game, Spain narrowly overcame United Kingdom 2.1- 1.5 scoring in the lower boards. Spain leads the way with 10 match points, followed by Russia, United Kingdom and Germany at 8 match points. Further point behind were India "A" at 7 match points.
Spain took the lead at the end of the first time control with Enjuto Velasco and Clemente Llamero scoring over Hilton Stephen and John Gallagher respectively. Chris Ross brought one back to UK scoring over Palacios Perez Manuel in the second board. With a point down position, Colin Crouch pushed hard in a rook and minor piece ending, but settled for a draw in the end. The favorable result takes Spain on top of the leader-board, with four rounds to go.
In the second table, Germany scored a comfortable 2.5 -1.5 victory over Serbia moving to the shared second spot with 8 match points. Joining Germany were Russia who beat Iran with wins on the first, third and fourth board in double quick time.
India "A" scored a hard fought 3-1 win over Romania. After four hours of play, India managed to take a 2-1 lead, thanks to wins from Kishan Gangolli and Darpan Inani. With the game evenly poised, it was left to National Blind Champion Makwana Ashvin who scored the crucial win over Bursuc Mihai in the last board. Makwana's win gave India "A" two valuable match points.
In the lower board India "B" went down to Slovenia 1.5 - 2.5, reducing their further prospects in the event. LIVE webcast of the games can be viewed at http://aicfb.in/ Tomorrow is a day of rest.
Perez Manuel Palacios (Spain) - Chris Ross N (UK)
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 O-O 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nge2 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nd7 11.f4 Qh4 12.g3 Qh3 13.Bf1 Qh6 14.Bg2 Qa6 15.a3 Ndc5 16.Bf1 Bxc3 17.Qxc3 Qb6 18.Qb4 Qd8 19.Nb3 a5 0-1
Mihail-dacian Pribeanu (Romania) - Swapanil Shah (India "A")
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Nbd7 5.d3 e6 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.e4 dxe4 8.dxe4 O-O 9.e5 Nd5 10.a3 Qc7 11.c4 N5b6 12.Qe2 Rd8 13.h4 Nc5 14.b4 Nd3 15.c5 Nxc1 16.Raxc1 Nd5 17.Nc4 b5 18.Nd6 Bxd6 19.exd6 Qd7 20.Nd4 a5 21.Bxd5 exd5 22.Rfe1 axb4 23.axb4 Kf8 24.Qe7 Kg8 25.Nxc6 Rf8 26.Qxd7 Bxd7 27.Ne7 Kh8 28.Nxd5 Bc6 29.Ne7 Bd7 30.c6 Be6 31.d7 g6 32.Rxe6 fxe6 33.c7 1-0
Results (Round 5)
United Kingdom (8) lost to Spain (10), Germany (8) beat Serbia (6), Russia (8) beat Iran (5), Venezuela (5) lost to Ukraine (7), Romania (4) lost to India "A" (7), Kazakhastan (4) playing Poland (4),
Columbia (6) beat Croatia (4), Sweden (5) beat Bulgaria (4), India "B" (3) lost to Slovenia (5), Slovakia (4) beat France (3), Italy (4) beat South Africa (2), The Netherlands (1) lost to
Turkey (3).
