The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Lanka Ravi wins National `B' title

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Monday, Sep 11, 2006
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Lanka Ravi wins National `B' title

Rakesh Rao

AHMEDABAD: Finally, some exciting battles for the qualifying berths for the next National championship ensured that the National `B' chess championship witnessed a thrilling finale at the Karnavati Club here.

Sunday served as an off day for those on the top-11 boards and left ONGC's Lanka Ravi as the deserving winner of the title with 10.5 points. For the 43-year-old International Master, it was his first success since making his debut in the event in 1979. Member of two Olympiad squads and holder of a Grandmaster norm, Ravi became is the oldest winner of the championship in a couple of decades as he walked away with the top prize of Rs. 30,000.

Himanshu Sharma took the second spot after a circumspect G. Rohit agreed for a 12-move draw much after the 10 other leading boards had ended in agreed draws. With 22 qualifying spots gone and Suchit Sinha looking good for a much-needed draw against Arghyadip Das to qualify, the fight began for the remaining seven places.

After the cloud of uncertainty cleared, the vastly experienced International Masters G. B. Prakash, V. Saravanan, Dinesh Sharma, T. S. Ravi and Sudhakar Babu along with Railway champion Syed Shazuli and Woman Grandmaster Easha Karavade completed the list of qualifiers. From this lot, Dinesh Sharma made it dramatically after posting his fourth straight victory.

There will be 13 new faces in the National `A' to be played at Rajkot from December 18. The debutants are, Ashiwin Jayaram, K. Ratnakaran, Valay Parikh, Poobesh Anand, Somak Palit, R. R. Laxman, Swapnil Dhopade, Sudhir Sinha, Abhishek Das, Deep Sengupta, Syed Shazuli, G. Rohit and Eesha Karavade. In fact Eesha was the only player to qualify with 8.5 points since her progressive score was the best among 19 players in the score-group.

The 30 qualifiers along with the National junior champion Abhijeet Gupta and runner-up G. N. Gopal, will join 12 Grandmasters, top six non-GMs from the last National championship and one AICF entry at Rajkot. As things stand, former National champion P. Konguvel, who finished 31st, is the strongest contender for the lone AICF entry. The 48-year-old Koshy, a National `B' debutant in 1978, has qualified for National `A' for a record 18th time in 26 appearances. The two-time winner is back among the qualifiers after missing the mark since 2002.

Two pre-teen players who missed qualification by a whisker are 12 year-olds Prasanna Rao and M. R. Lalith Babu. Prasanna drew with the former Commonwealth champion Atanu Lahiri and defeated Shreyansh Dakia.

The results (13th round): Lanka Ravi (10) drew with Vikramaditya Kamble (9), G. Rohit (9) drew with Himahsu Sharma (9.5), Somak Palit (9) drew with K. Ratnakaran (9), Prathamesh Mokal (9) drew with Deep Sengupta (9). S. Poobesh Anand (9) drew with Varugeese Koshy (9), Suvrajit Saha (9) drew with Valay Parikh (9), Swapnil Dhopade (9) drew with R.R. Laxman (9), Swati Ghate (9) drew with P.D.S. Girinath (9). B.T. Murali Krishnan (9) drew with Abhishek Das (9), Roktim Bandyopadhay (9) drew with M.S. Thej Kumar (9). D. Harika (9) drew with Ahswin Jayaram (9), Arghyadip Das (8.5) drew with Sudhir Sinha (8.5). Gurpreet Pal Singh (8.5) drew with S. Satyapragyan (8.5), T. Purushothaman (8.5) drew with P. Konguvel (8.5), G. B. Prakash (9) bt K. Gunasekaran (8), V. Saravan (8) lost to T. S. Ravi (9), Sudhakar Babu (9) bt Praveen Prasad (8). C.S. Unni (8.5) drew with N. Sanjay (8.5), Atanu Lahiri (8.5) drew with Prasanna Rao (8.5), Shashikant Kutwal (8) lost to Syed Shazuli (9), Rohan Shandilya (8) lost to Preetham Sharma (7.5), Saptarshi Roy (8) drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (8). V. Hariharan (7.5) lost to C. Praveen Kumar (8.5), Ram Prakash (7.5) lost to Eesha Karavade (8.5).Standings (National `A' qualifiers): 1. Lanka Ravi (Pet) 10 points, 2. Himanshu Sharma (Har) 9.5 points, 3-29. Suvrajit Saha (Rlys), Vikramaditya Kamble (Rlys), Ashwin Jayaram (TN), M. S. Thej Kumar (Kar), K. Ratnakaran (Ker), Valay Praikh (Guj), Prathamesh Mokal (Mah), Poobesh Anand (TN), Somaka Palit (Ben), D. Harika (AP), Roktim Bandyopadhyay (Ben), R. R. Laxman (TN), P. D. S. Girinath (Rlys), Swapnil Dhopade (Mah), Varugeese Koshy (Pet), Sudhir K. Mishra (OFB), Abhishek Das (BSB), Deep Sengupta (Jhar), B. T. Murali Krishnan (Rlys), Sudhakar Babu (TN), Syed Shazuli (Rlys), Swati Ghate (Mah), Dinesh Sharma (LIC), T. S. Ravi (Pet), V. Saravanan (Pet), G. Rohit (AP), and G. B. Prakash (BSB) 9 each; 30. Eesha Karavde (Mah) 8.5.

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