The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Chennai teams inch closer to title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 15, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Chess

Chennai teams inch closer to title

Aravind Aaron

CHENNAI: The dramatic penultimate round saw the top two seeded Chennai teams impress and move closer to title in the 10th National Cities Team Chess Championship here on Wednesday.

Top seed Chennai `A' crushed defending champion and overnight leader, Kancheepuram `A' 3.5-0.5 in the seventh round to snatch a half-point lead with 20 points from 28 games.

Chennai `B' is in clear second place with 19.5 points after posting a huge 4-0 sweep in the sixth round over Mangalore `A'. Kozhikode is in the third place with 19 points. Tied for the fourth place on 18 points are Hyderabad and Kancheepuram `A'. The event has had plenty of interest with a new team in the lead at the end of every day.

Winning party

Participating in the winning party for Chennai `A' were IM R.R. Laxman, Vinoth Kumar and Ram S. Krishnan who accounted for Shazuli, Natarajan and T.J. Suresh Kumar. Mari Arul held the upper hand for Kancheepuram `A' in the second board, but only managed a draw against off-form R. Balasubramaniam. Kancheepuram scored only two points from the last eight games and has perhaps lost the title chance.

Chennai `B' played a fighting 2-2 draw with Hyderabad with G.B. Prakash scoring the victory for the host on the top board against Vikramjit Singh. Vinay Kumar reduced the margin for Hyderabad with a win over Hariharan in the bottom board. The Sudhakar Babu-Rishipal Singh and K.V. +Shantharam-J. Ramakrishna games ended in draws.

Well-placed

Both the Chennai teams have faced each other and are facing lower-ranked opposition in the last round. They are well placed to take the top two places and book a berth to represent India in the Asian Cities in Tehran from March 1.

The top three teams in the points-table have titles chances and experts expect Chennai `A' to score heavily in the final round on Thursday.

Earlier, in the morning session, Kozhikode destroyed the hopes of Kancheepuram `A' by inflicting a 2.5-1.5 defeat on it. Ratnakaran defeated Mari Arul and his Kozhikode teammate O.T. Anil Kumar crushed Natarajan to seal the verdict at the top two boards itself. However, significantly, Chennai `B' used the pairing advantage to crush Mangalore `A' 4-0 and join Kancheepuram `A' in the lead at the end of the sixth round with 17.5 points.

Important results: Seventh round: Kancheepuram `A' (18) lost to Chennai `A' (20) 0.5-3.5, Chennai `B' (19.5) drew with Hyderabad (18) 2-2, Ahmedabad (15.5) lost to Kozhikode (19) 1-3, Bangalore `B' (17.5) bt Chennai `L' (15) 3-1, Mangalore `A' (15) bt Mangalore `B' (15) 2.5-1.5, Trivallur (15.5) drew with Chennai `C' (14) 2-2.

Sixth round: Kozhikode bt Kancheepuram `A' 2.5-1.5, Hyderabad lost to Chennai `A' 1.5-2.5, Mangalore `A' lost to Chennai `B' 0-4, Chennai `L' bt Tiruvallur 2.5-1.5.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport