BCC Open Round 6: king Khuong strikes twice as the top seed struggles

Last night, Dau Khuong Duy was crowned in the blitz finals ahead of fellow IM Arca, leaving both GMs Gareyev and Visakh behind.

He struck again during round 6 of the BCC open, convincingly defeating GM Van Wely’s Sicilian Najdorf on board 1 with a thematic Knight sacrifice on f5. A difficult day for the top seed from The Netherlands, who had already struggled earlier against Johanna Bjorg from the Icelandic chess federation, at the seaside pool of the Sheraton resort and spa during this morning’s promotional photo shoot.

Dau Khuong Duy / Van Wely (Sicilian Najdorf) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 Be7 8.Bg2 Nfd7 9.a4 Nc6 10.Be3 Nde5 11.Qe2 g5 12.h4 gxh4

[diagr.] The decisive mistake, as liquidating the Knight on d4 was the only way for Black to avoid a crushing attack.

13.f4 Ng6 14.Nf5 exf5 15.exf5 h3 16.Rxh3 Nh4 17.Be4 h5 18.O-O-O hxg4 19.Qxg4 Qa5 20.Bf2 Rb8 21.Bxh4 Bxf5 22.Bxf5 Bxh4 23.Rxh4 Rxh4 24.Qg8+ Ke7 25.Re1+ 1-0

On board 5, Titas Stremavicius defeated surprise protagonist Ray Debayan from India (2004 Elo) while GM Visakh checkmated his opponent IM Cahaya following a brutal Kingside attack, as previous BCC winner Ganguly overcame Santosh Ajay after conjuring some endgame magic in an equal 3 + Bishop vs. Knight setup. The Short – Aronyak game was drawn without too much fuss, but GM Brandon Jacobson had to survive a dangerous middlegame spell against IM Tran Gia Phuc Pham of Vietnam.

In the Challenger section, Vanssh Adalja remains alone at the top with a perfect score following yet another artistic performance against co-leader Man Danushka.