Title still within reach for Ricnesh ? "Not too likely", said Ben 'Karpov'

March 19, 2009
Wednesday

Premeirship Game

ZM Ben 'Karpov' 6 IM V.Ricnesh 1

Despite the heavy humilation, arch-rival Ricnesh seems to have a change of heart about deciding the fate of the title. Said the 18 superstar after the game yesterday : "It is still mathematically possible for me to catch up and slowly close in the gap".

Is Ricnesh for real or is he out for publicity ? Ben has been on the high-end of improvement ever since the start of the year - staying up virtually every night to study different opening, middle-game and endgame stradegy, traps and psychological attacks.

Does Ricnesh still thinks his arch-rival is still the naive 17 years old little boy he was - a year (in fact a few months ago) ? If he thinks he can do something about his title quest then he is doing nothing to show it. Apart from the fact that each time they plays the score's gap widen, Ricnesh also allowed Ben 'Karpov' to inflict the heaviest defeat on him since the unforgettable 7-1 routing last year at November - a cheeky 6-1 whipping.

Or is he having cold feet in the presence of his master opponent ? Failure to concentrate on the game, busy wiping away the sweat collected on his forehead. The title chase suddenly looks very one-sided and one 'little boy' is about to get way with the title - before his opponent can even mutter "resign".

Overall Score

Ben 'Karpov' 31 IM Ricnesh 11 (with 4 draws)