New Delhi: Indian national champion Parimarjan Negi on Thursday registered a convincing win over women's world champion Hou Yifan of China in the second round of the inaugural AAI Grandmasters at the AAI Officer's Institute.
Negi's win over Yifan came in 32 moves that earned him valuable points.
Meanwhile, top seed Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Czech champion Viktor Laznicka scored their second successive victories, even as India's Krishnan Sasikiran suffered his second loss and Filipino Wesley So his first defeat.
At the end of two rounds, Caruana and Laznicka share the lead with perfect scores of two out of two, while Negi and Wesley So have one each.
Sasikiran and Yifan are yet to score as all three games ended in a decisive manner for the second day running.
Interestingly, white won the games on each of three tables and each of the six games produced results.
Negi, who admitted he could have drawn and split the points against Caruana in the first round on Wednesday, did not make any mistakes in the second round against Hou Yifan on Thursday.
In a Sicilian Dragon with the Yugoslav Attack, Negi held a microscopic advantage virtually from the beginning. He held that edge and kept piling on the pressure and when Yifan made the mistake on the 19th move with f6 weakening her defence, Negi knew he had the game in his pocket.
Negi got full point in 32 moves when the Chinese player realised she had no chance of salvaging even half a point.
"I knew she (Yifan) had made a mistake and it was a question of time," Negi said.
"It feels good to be back in the tournament with a win.
In the first round, I could have had a draw. This win puts me back. After the first round, I did not want to put any pressure on myself and just played according to the situation," he added.
Sasikiran lost to Caruana in a complicated game lasting 45 moves, where both players got into trouble at one stage.
Caruana, who beat Sasikiran for his second win in an Advance variation of the Caro-Kann, said, "I have been somewhat lucky in both rounds. In the first round, Negi had a chance for a draw and I won and then today also my opponent (Sasi) had chances for a draw.
"In fact, I might even have been worse at one stage. It was a complicated game and I will need to check on the computer to see what really happened and where things went wrong for him (Sasikiran) when I get back to the room."
Caruana, however, was elated at a perfect start.
"It is always nice to start with two wins. I enjoy such round-robin tournaments. They are tough and good to raise our level of chess. I did not have any strategy as such, but there is still a lot of games to go," he said.
Laznicka beat Wesley So in 39 moves just before the first time control and the winner described the result as "slightly lucky".
Laznicka also called Wesley So a tough opponent and described his win as a good one.
"I felt it was fairly equal but he allowed me to get into a better position all of a sudden," he said.
The games in the second round were inaugurated by Ajay Chaudhary, Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs.
Also present on the occasion were V P Agrawal, Chairman of the AAI.
Points after two rounds
2 points - Laznicka and Caruana
1 point - Negi and Wesley
0 point - Sasikiran and Yifan
Results for second round
Fabiano Caruana (ITA) beat Krishnan Sasikiran (IND)
Viktor Laznicka (CZE) beat Wesley So (PHI)
Parimarjan Negi (IND) beat Hou Yifan (CHN)
Draw for the third round
Hou Yifan (CHN) vs Fabiano Caruana (ITA)
Wesley So (PHI) vs Parimarjan Negi (IND)
Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) vs Viktor Laznicka (CZE)
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