Sasikiran settles for a draw with Adams

Playing with black pieces, Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran had to settle for a draw against his higly-rated English compatriot Michael Adams in the opening match of the M-Tel Masters 2007 in Sofia.

Sasikiran, who earlier in the year lost to Adams in 54 moves at the Chess Olympiad at Bled, Slovenia, started his game cautiously and seemed in no mood to give any opportunity to the Englishman.

Adams opened his game with his usual e4 move but the Indian surprised the English Grandmaster with c6. However after initial moves Sasikiran came under pressure and had to revamp his pawn structure to retain equality.

The game saw a series of witty moves from the both the players.
After 24 moves, the Chief Arbiter finally declared the game as a drawn affair as neither Sasikiran nor Adams was ready to lose their grip over the game.

Speaking to UNI after the game, Sasikiran, who is regarded as the India's second best chess player after Viswanathan Anand, said, ''I think I had better position but it was not very difficult. Okay h5 was probably a mistake. After Round 5 I think Qc2 is the only move.''

Meanwhile, in the other game of the day Romanian Grandmaster Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu scored an upset win over defending champion and crowd favourite Veselin Topalov, while US Grandmaster Gata Kamsky lost to Sakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

Results Round One: Michael Adams (Eng) drew with Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind) Veselin Topalov ( lost to Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom) Sakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) beat Gata Kamsky (USA) Round Two Pairing: Veselin Topalov vs Michael Adams Krishnan Sasikiran vs Sakhriyar Mamedyarov Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu vs Gata Kamsky.