Second loss for Sasikiran in ACP chess tourney

CHENNAI: Krishnan Sasikiran continued his indifferent form when he crashed to defeat against Liem Le Quang of Vietnam in the third round of the ACP Golden Classic chess tournament in Amsterdam on Monday.
Sasikiran's second defeat with white pieces in three rounds came in 41 moves after Liem broke open the Indian's kingside and cornered his king.
The Slav defence from the Vietnamese did not look menacing until Sasi played some uncharacteristic moves.
The king-knight file was opened in the middle game with black controlling it with the rook in the rear and the queen right in the first rank.
Sasi had no defence when the queen-rook combine found a decisive attack. This was Liem's first win in the tournament.
Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine retained the lead after three rounds with a 17-move draw in Reti opening against mil Sutovsky of Israel.
Ivanchuk tallied 2.5 points, followed by Gata Kamsky of US, who had a bye in the third round, with 1.5 points.
Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, who started with a win against Sasikiran in the first round, was in trouble against Baadur Jobava of Georgia in the third round after her second-round bye. Jobava won three minor pieces for a rook in the Sicilian and looked in commanding position.
However, Muzychuk had some counter with her queen and rooks. The Slovenian's sealed move will decide the fate of the game on the first rest day on Tuesday.