Negi leads Dubai after 8

Round 8 top board results:

1	GM	Negi Parimarjan	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Hammer Jon Ludvig
2	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Kazhgaleyev Murtas
3	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Fedorov Alexei
4	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Volkov Sergey
5	GM	Akopian Vladimir	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Balogh Csaba
6	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Miroshnichenko Evgenij
7	GM	Minasian Artashes	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar
8	GM	Kotanjian Tigran	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil
9	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Adhiban B
10	GM	Berg Emanuel	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Guliev Sarhan
11	GM	Amin Bassem	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Lalith Babu M R
12	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Ramnath Bhuvanesh R
13	GM	Guseinov Gadir	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Grigoryan Karen H
14	GM	Iskusnyh Sergei	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Arutinian David

Leaders after 8 rounds

1	GM	Negi Parimarjan		IND	2618	7.0	0.0	17866	41.5
2	GM	Gupta Abhijeet		IND	2580	6.5	0.0	17280	38.0
3	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan		IND	2682	6.0	0.0	17783	41.5
4	GM	Miroshnichenko Evgenij		UKR	2670	6.0	0.0	17769	39.5
5	GM	Balogh Csaba		HUN	2601	6.0	0.0	17718	42.0
6	GM	Kazhgaleyev Murtas		KAZ	2618	6.0	0.0	17405	39.5
7	GM	Amin Bassem		EGY	2596	6.0	0.0	17373	42.0
8	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2596	6.0	0.0	17364	37.5
9	GM	Berg Emanuel		SWE	2612	6.0	0.0	17254	38.5
10	GM	Pantsulaia Levan		GEO	2595	6.0	0.0	17200	38.5
11	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2638	6.0	0.0	17106	37.0
12	GM	Hammer Jon Ludvig		NOR	2606	6.0	0.0	16970	37.5
13	GM	Guseinov Gadir		AZE	2584	6.0	0.0	16949	40.5

Full results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr47759.aspx

Aiming higher

After national title, Negi aims higher
Posted: Thu Dec 23 2010, 02:01 hrs
New Delhi:

As he held the National Chess Championship trophy - that resembled a chess pawn - aloft, it also meant that India’s youngest Arjuna Awardee Parimarjan Negi had ended an otherwise disappointing year on a high.

But the euphoria that should come after a title drought was missing. “This win is satisfying after going through a year when I lost titles in Dubai, Poland and at the Commonwealth Championships after being in the lead. But my aim is much higher. Although you end up proving yourself in the nationals, with this win I can’t even say I’m the best in the country because a lot of top players like Sasikaran don’t even play here,” said Parimarjan.

Parimarjan remained undefeated in the 13 rounds of play in the tournament and felt it could be because the playing field did not pose too many challenges. “I didn’t have a single bad position throughout the event, I could have easily had a few more wins... just let some of my opponents escape with easy draws,” he said after winning six and drawing seven matches.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com