The performance of the Indians in Dubai International Open chess tournament hit a low as almost all of them bowed out of contention following another mediocre day by the higher placed and higher ranked players here today.
International Master Sayantan Das, who came up with a fine result in the previous round when he defeated Mihalo Stojanovic of Serbia, went down to former winner Aleksandr Rakhmanov of Russia to end his hopes of a Grandmaster norm. The Indian remained on five points after the debacle.
It was a similar story for K Rathnakaran, who ended on the losing side against Turkish Grandmaster Alexander Ipatov while highest rated Indian here, Abhijeet Gupta also suffered a shock defeat at the hands of compatriot R R Laxman.
With just one round remaining in the traditional tournament now running for 16 years, Laxman and Murali Karthikeyan are the last two remaining Indians who have a chance to finish among the top but that too will depend on a victory in the last round by both of them.
International Master Eesha Karavade and S Vijayalakshmi, however, remained on course for a decent finish amongst women players, moving up to five points apiece.
Meanwhile, it turned out to be a five-way lead at the top of the table. Alexander Shabalov of United States, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia, David Howell of England, Eltaj Safarli from Azerbaijan and Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine share the honours on 6.5 points each and it will be a close race for the title in the final round now.
Laxman stole the limelight on an otherwise dull day from Indian perspective. And he too benefitted as Gupta overstretched from a level endgame in his bid to score a full point. It was a drawn endgame on board after Gupta could not increase his middle game advantage and Laxman capitalised on a blunder to win a piece and the game that lasted over 100 moves.
Karthikeyan had a relatively easier opponent in Alireza Firouzja of Iran and he played with determination to score the full point with white pieces.
