The Hindu : Satyapragyan pulls ahead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

Sport

Sport - Chess

Satyapragyan pulls ahead

By Raghunandan Gokhale

Kolhapur July 24. IM S. Satyapragyan (6.5) of Indian Airlines outdistanced the field by a full point margin with an emphatic victory over former National `B' champion, R. Balasubramanium (5.5) of Integral Coach Factory in the seventh round of Rajarshi Shahu Trophy international rating chess tournament here on Thursday.

The top seed justified his top billing by maintaining a sustained attack against Balasubramanium's provocative Double Fianchetto Opening.

Had Satyapragyan made any hasty move against wily Balasubramanium, the Chennai player was ready to pull rug from under the former's feet.

However Satyapragyan maintained his cool and nursed his passed queen's pawn to the crowning glory

in 44 moves when Balasubramanium decided to lay down the arms.

IM T.S. Ravi (5.5) of Indian Oil had squandered an advantage of bishop pair against Balasubramanium in the sixth round.

On Thursday, he was at the receiving end and had to toil hard to save his game against Syed Anwar Shazuli's aggressive bishops. However, Shazuli fell into a neat trap set by Ravi and let his advantage slip to a draw.

Former National champion, P. Konguvel (ONGC) may be going through a lean patch. But today he displayed his class on a way to an attacking victory over seasoned Kantilal Dave (Rajsthan) in Nomzowitch variation of Sicilian Defence.

The IM took just 24 moves for the win against Kantilal, who is one of the best defenders from northern India.

The game between IM Rahul Shetty (IA) and O.T. Anilkumar (Kerala) was a marathon battle arising out of French Defence.

Once Rahul's Kingside attack got evaporated, he was left with a bad bishop. However he defended the ending precisely to draw in 74 moves.

Experienced Swati Mohota (5)of West Bengal and 11 year old Bhakti Kulkarni (5) from Goa are doing extremely well in a tough field.

Swati defeated Maharshtra's Vinod Ghadge from the black side of Scandinavian Defence, while Bhakti accounted for Kapil Lohana in 43 moves of Owen's Defence.

His Excellency Shahu Maharaj visited the tournament today and witnessed the players vying for the rolling trophy created in his grandfather's memory.

Important results (seventh round): S. Satyapragyan (IA) 6.5 bt R. Balasubramanium (ICF) 5.5, Y. Sayed Anwar Shazuli (ICF) 5.5 drew with T.S. Ravi (IOC) 5.5, D.K. Sharma (LIC) 5 drew with K. Gunasekharan (TN) 5, B.S. Sivanandan (Kar) 5.5 bt Arjun Tiwari (Mah) 4.5, Vedant Goswami (Raj) 4.5 lost to Anup Deshmukh (LIC) 5.5, P. Konguvel (ONGC) 5.5 bt Kantilal Dave (Raj) 4.5, K. Nikhilesh Kumar (AP) 5 drew with Jayant Gokhale (BPCL) 5, D. Ravishankar (Mah) 5 bt Omkar Patwardhan (Mah) 4, Vinod Ghadge (Mah) 4 lost to Sati Mohota (WB) 5, Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 5 bt Kapil Lohana (Mah) 4.

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