The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Great day for Velammal

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Friday, Sep 21, 2007
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Sport - Chess

Great day for Velammal

Manuel Aaron

CHENNAI: The Velammal School children dominated the fifth and final round of the Rajalakshmi Engineering College 17th Tamil Nadu State team chess championship.

While its ‘A’ team expectedly won the championship ahead of other adult teams of reputation scoring 15 points, its ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams blanked Thoothukudi and Dharmapuri districts 4-0.

The Velammal ‘A’ team in board order was S.P. Sethuraman, M. Shyam Sundar (both International Masters), V.A.V. Rajesh, R.A. Pradeep Kumar and J. Mohana Priya. The Velammal chess co-ordinator A. Saravanan said it was a great day for the school.

In its final round match on Thursday against Southern Railway, Velammal ‘A’ drew on the top two boards and traded victories on the third and fourth boards to draw 2-2.

The team championship was followed by the 11th Tamil Nadu State blitz chess championship where each player is given only five minutes for a whole game. This was won by IM S.P. Sethuraman of Velammal.

Best performers: Board 1: G.B. Prakash (Indian Bank) 4/5; Board 2: S. Balaraman (Thiruvallur) 4/4; Board 3: A. Sankar (S. Rly) 4/5; Board 4: R.A. Pradeep Kumar (Velammal ‘A’) 5/5; Board 5: T.J. Suresh Kumar (ICF) 2.5/3. Final team standings: 1. Velammal ‘A’ 15; 2-3. Southern Railway, Indian Bank 14; 4-5. ICF, Velammal ‘B’ 12; 6. Velammal ‘C’ 11.5; 7-8. Thoothukudi, Thiruvallur 10; 9-10. Chennai, Kancheepuram 9.5; 11. Bajrang EC 8.5; 12-13. Dharmapuri, Rajalakshmi EC 5.5; 14. Alpha Arts & Science College 3.