Good start for Anand at Isle of Man meet
ISLE OF MAN: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand and Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika made positive starts to their campaign at the Isle of Man International Chess Tournament here.
Anand notched up an emphatic win over American Marc Esserman, while Harika beat Englishman Oyama Akito in the first round. Playing with white pieces, Anand showed much better precision than his opponent to eventually complete the proceedings in 46 moves.
Anand will next take on Germany’s Lampert Jonas in the second round. The world No 10 Harika, also playing with white pieces, started off the game on an aggressive note against her opponent and made breakthroughs from the initial phases of the game.
However, the young Oyama put up a staunch fight before bowing down to the Indian’s attack and gave away an easy win to her opponent.
“I found myself in a good position from the start of the game and didn’t let the pressure down on my opponent, which eventually gave me an easy win,” Harika said after the game.
The event features the top chess exponents in the world, including Ma gnu s Carl sen, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Nigel , Short among others.
YOUNG SHUTTLER DIES DURING PRACTICE
Kolkata: An 18-year-old shuttler collapsed and died while practicing at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) complex here, officials said on Sunday. The body of Niharendu Mallick has been sent for autopsy, his coach MM Samantray said.
While practicing with three others, Niharendu collapsed on Saturday and was rushed to a private hospital nearby. He was declared dead on arrival. The death was said to be due to cardiac arrest and brain hemorrhage. SAI has ordered an inquiry into the incident.