The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Sethuraman assured of title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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Sport

Sport - Chess

Sethuraman assured of title

Arvind Aaron

Chennai: International Master S.P. Sethuraman of Chennai was at his dashing best as he established a one-point lead to assure himself of the title at the end of the 10th and penultimate round of the Canara Bank National sub-junior chess championships being held here.

Sethraman was at his fluent best as sacrificial play flowed naturally in the Mikhail Tal style of play.

A knight offer on move 21 triggered a series of sacrifices which included his bishops and queen as he promoted a fresh queen to decimate Antonio Viani D’Cunha of Mangalore in 34 moves.

This victory gives him his third National title. Sethuraman won the National under-13 championship at Vijayawada in 2004 and the National sub-junior crown in 2005 at Mumbai.

In 2006, he was chasing his International Master norms in Spain and could not play in the Nationals.

Second seed Adhiban, also of Chennai, takes on Sethuraman in the final round and needs a draw or win for the second spot. There will be keen battles as the players fight for cash prizes at the top and the rating as well.

Niji in the lead

In the girls’ section, A. Niji of Kozhikode established a one-point lead with 8.5/10 but will need a draw against Shalmali Gagare of Shirdi in the final round to actually win the title, according to arbiter K. Gopalakrishnan of Indian Bank.

Shalmali (7.5/10), the only undefeated player in the entire competition, will need a win with the black pieces for the title. She shares the second place with Krithikha, Pallabi Roy and Devangi Patankar. All have 7.5 points.

Niji kept attacking the white rook with her knights and picked up two pawns to defeat Bharathi easily in the 10th round.

Niji is now assured of representing India next year as she can be second even if she loses.

Shalmali had the bishop and queen battery in the firing line but in the wrong order and when she lost a pawn she offered and got a draw against Mohana Priya of Chennai.

The results (10th round):

Boys: S.P. Sethuraman (TN) 9 bt Antonio Viani D’Cunha (Kar) 7; B. Adhiban (TN) 8 bt Ramnath Bhuvanesh (TN) 7; Anurag Mhamal (Goa) 6.5 lost to Aditya Udeshi (Mah) 7.5; M.R. Lalith Babu (AP) 6.5 lost to Prasanna Rao (Mah) 7.5; K. Priyadarshan (TN) 7.5 bt N. Surendran (TN) 6.5; Harihara Sudan (TN) 6.5 lost to Shyam Sundar (TN) 7.5; Tejas Chandra (AP) 6 lost to S. Nitin 7.

Girls: R. Bharathi (TN) 7 lost to A. Niji (Ker) 8.5; Shalmali Gagare (Mah) 7.5 drew with J. Mohana Priya (TN) 7; M. Jagadambal (TN) 6.5 lost to Pon N. Krithikha (TN) 7.5; M. Khushboo (TN) 6.5 lost to Pallabi Roy (Ben) 7.5; B. Pratyusha (AP) 6.5 lost to Devangi Patankar (Mah) 7.5; Sai Nirupama (AP) 6 lost to S.V. Sathya Priya (TN) 7; J. Vaishnavi (TN) 6 lost to C.P. Athirah (Ker) 7.

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