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Ganguly gives his mom birthday gift

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who won the National `A' chess championship at Kozhikode on Saturday.

KOZHIKODE DEC. 20. The best man won in the end. Undoubtedly, Surya Shekhar Ganguly played the best chess in the 41st National men's `A' championship, which concluded at the Chess India Complex here on a warm and dramatic Saturday afternoon. All his opponents agreed that he fully deserved to take his maiden National `A' title.

His closest rivals, top seed Pendyala Harikrishna and best friend and fellow Kolkatan Sandipan Chanda, had begun the day in the joint lead along with him. In case of a tie, Harikrishna would've become the champion, but he drew his game with S. Satyapragyan.

Meanwhile, Ganguly of Indian Oil had already reached a winning position in his encounter against Suvrajit Saha. A little later he completed the formalities and took his score to 17.5. Chanda also reached that score after he beat Sriram Jha from an almost lost position.

But Ganguly's superior score in the Koya system, that was used to break the tie in this tournament, helped him finish first. "This is the happiest day of my life," said the 20-year-old Ganguly, who also won a prize-money of Rs. 59,000. He told The Hindu, "I had to win this tournament. I believe I played the best chess here and made just one mistake in the entire event, in the game against Tejas Bakre which I lost. And I had promised my mother that I would give her a special birthday gift. I'm very happy that I have been able to keep my word to my mother."

The results (23rd and final round): S. Satyapragyan 9.5 drew with Pendyala Harikrishna 17; Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury 12 drew with T.S. Ravi 8; Neelotpal Das 13.5 drew with M. Srinivasa Rao 4.5; Tejas Bakre 14 drew with M.R. Venkatesh 11.5; Praveen Thipsay 11 lost to Vishal Sareen 9; Arghyadip Das 8.5 drew with R.B. Ramesh 13; Suvrajit Saha 8.5 lost to Surya Shekhar Ganguly 17.5; V. Hariharan 4.5 lost to Sunderrajan Kidambi 13.5; Koneru Humpy 15 bt Vikramjit Singh 9; Sriram Jha 8 lost to Sandipan Chanda 17.5; Prathamesh Mokal 10.5 lost to Dibyendu Barua 15; Roktim Bandyopadhyay 10.5 drew with Abhijit Kunte 15.

Final placings: 1-2 Ganguly and Chanda 17.5; 3. Harikrishna 17; 4-6 Kunte, Barua and Humpy 15; 7. Bakre 14; 8-9 Neelotpal and Kidambi 13.5; 10. Ramesh 13; 11. Saptarshi 12; 12. Venkatesh 11.5; 13. Thipsay 11; 14-15 Bandyopadhyay and Prathamesh 10.5; 16. Satyapragyan 9.5; 17-18 Vishal and Vikramjit 9; 19-20. Arghyadip and Saha 8.5; 21-22 Ravi & Jha 8; 23-24 Rao and Hariharan 4.5.

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