The Hindu : Sport : ONGC ‘A’ retains title

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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008
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ONGC ‘A’ retains title

Sports Reporter

Udhagamandalam: ONGC ‘A’, led by GM Sasikaran Krishnan, blanked ONGC ‘B’ 4-0 to retain the title in the 19th PSPB inter-unit chess tournament at the Hotel Monarch here on Monday.

Earlier in the fourth round, BPCL, comprising IMs Sundararajan Kidambi and S. Arun Prasad and GMs Abhijit Gupta and G.N. Gopal, threatened to take the top three boards with some well calculated moves.

However, it took one great effort from GM Koneru Humpy to turn the tide in ONGC’s favour. Humpy saved the day for her team by defending a losing situation against Kidambi with black pieces.

Exciting battle

The fifth round, second table clash, between IOCL and BPCL turned out to be the day’s best. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (IOCL) and IM Arun Prasad played an attacking first board game.

The former made a flurry of sacrifices while the latter replied with a smart counter. Just when the going looked good, Arun messed up a winning chance by allowing Deepan to draw with a perpetual check in 37 moves.

Abhijit failed to capitalise on his passed ‘d’ pawn, and, despite the advantage of the major pieces on the board, agreed to split points in a complicated middle game arising out of the Nimzo Indian Defence.

GM Gopal (BPCL) chose the closed variation of the Guioco Piono. Playing black, Gopal enjoyed a slightly better position before drawing in a rook and pawn ending.

Current National ‘A’ champion, GM Ganguly (IOCL) played out an excellent minor piece ending against IM Venkatesh after wriggling out of a tough position. Venkatesh’s d7 pawn was a potential threat, but Ganguly transferred his king and knight to active position to draw the game.

The results: Round 5: ONGC ‘A’ 4 bt ONGC ‘B’ 0; IOCL 2 drew with BPCL 2; BRPL 0.5 lost to Oil India Ltd. 3.5; IOCL (Assam division) 4 bt HPCL ‘B’ 0; HPCL ‘A’ 2.5 bt Engineers India Ltd. 1.5; GAIL (India) Ltd. 1.5 lost to MRPL 2.5.

Round 4: BPCL 1.5 lost to ONGC ‘A’ 2.5; IOCL 4 bt IOCL (Assam division) 0; BRPL 1.5 lost to ONGC ‘B’ 2.5; HPCL ‘A’ 2 drew with HPCL ‘B’; Oil India 4 bt GAIL (India) Ltd. 0; Engineers India Ltd. 3.5 bt MRPL 1.5.

Easy for SNR Sons

SNR Sons College and PSG College of Arts and Science scored comfortable wins over their opponents in the Bharathiar University inter-zone cricket league at the varsity outdoor grounds in Coimbatore on Monday.

The scores: SRKV CAS 111 for seven in 25 overs (Karthikeyan 47) lost to SNR Sons 114 for six in 22.1 overs (Soundaramani 41); PSG CAS 197 in 25 overs (Sathyaraj 47, Vanaraj four for 28) bt GAC 50 in 14.2 overs (Giri Prasath five for 18).

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