Continuing with his fine form, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran outsmarted World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan to win the eighth Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament in Vlissingen, The Netherlands.
The second-highest rated Indian after Viswanathan Anand, Sasikiran scored 7.5 points out of a possible 9 and romped home with the winner's crown thanks to a much better tie-break score against the Dutch duo of Sergei Tiviakov and Daniel Stellwagen, who were all tied for the top spot.
Surprisingly, Kasimdzhanov, also the defending champion in the tournament, could muster just six points and stands to lose around 15 important rating points.
The last round was quite exciting after overnight leaders Tiviakov and Stellwagen arrived at a deadlock after 71 moves.
When the second and third board matches were also drawn it was left to Sasikiran to deliver the goods.
The interesting thing about Sasikiran's victory was that it came with black pieces. Playing the Sicilian Classical, the Indian obtained the dynamic balance he had hoped for in the pre-game preparation and following an erroneous plan by white in the middle game, the Indian went for a direct attack against the king that reaped high dividends.
The world champion's king came under mortal danger once it was forced to come out in the open and the Uzbek allowed a simple trading of pieces leading to a lost endgame before calling it a day on the 41st move.
Sasikiran thus extended his excellent showing from the 37th Biel chess festival a fortnight back where he finished a creditable second behind GM Alexander Morozevich of Russia in the main event played under category-18.
Important results final round:
Sergey Tiviakov (7.5, Ned) drew with Daniel Stellwagen (7.5, Ned); Vyachesla Ikonnikov (7, Rus) drew with Viorel Iordachescu (7, Mda); Mikheil Mchedlishvili (7, Geo) drew with Lars Schandorff (7, Den); Rustam Kasimdzhanov (6, Uzb) lost to Krishnan Sasikiran (7.5, Ind) ; Reiner Odendahl (6, Ger) lost to Merab Gagunashvili (7, Geo); Nicolai Pedersen (7, Ned) beat Sminia Jelmer (6, Ned); Siebrecht Sebastian (6, Ger) lost to Jan Werle (6, Ned); Mark De Waal (6.5, Ned) drew with Souleidis Georgios (6.5, Gre); Harmen Jonkman (6, Ned) drew with Tea Lanchava (6.5, Ned); Anton Rosmuller (6, Ned) drew with Maurice Peek (6, Ned).
