The Hindu : Magesh, Prathibha keep their lead

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

Sport

Sport - Chess

Magesh, Prathibha keep their lead

Negombo (Sri Lanka) July 24. IM P. Magesh Chandran and Y. Prathiba maintained their lead with contrasting wins in the eighth round of the 26th Asian Junior Chess Championships at here today.

Magesh accounted for an over-ambitious Deepan Chakkravarthy in an absorbing contest and maintained the sole lead he took yesterday after beating G. Rohit. With 6.5 points in his kitty, Magesh will need to keep his nerves in the last three rounds.

Half a point adrift of the leader are Abhijit Gupta, Prathmesh Mokal and S. Poobesh Anand and it now looks a near certainty that Indian contingent is going to rule the roost here.

Y. Prathiba of Chennai stayed on course for the title with a hard fought endgame victory over J Rajasurya. Following Prathiba in the second spot is Saheli Nath at 6.0 points, and Mary Ann Gomes, Kruttika Nadig and J.E. Kavitha at 5.5 points.

Defending champion WIM Tania Sachdev's fortunes took a nosedive as she went down to Kavitha. In a Sicilian Paulsen game, Kavitha went for the initiative from the word go and for once the defensive technique of the Delhi girl let her down. Tania's defeat places her on the fourth spot at 5 points.

It was a Ruy Lopez Chigorin game that gave Magesh a very important victory. Going by theory until the 20th turn, Deepan varied and went for an all out games against Indians Mahima Rajmohan and N Vinuthna and remained in 4.0 points.

Important results (eighth round) Indians unless specified:

Boys: Deepan Chakkravarthy (5) lost to P. Magesh Chandran (6.5); Abhijit Gupta (6) bt Deep Sengupta (5); Khamzim Olzhas (5, Kaz) lost to Prathamesh Mokal (6); S. Poobesh Anand (6) bt Akshayraj Kore (5); S. Arun Prasad (5.5) bt Hoang Canh Huan (4.5, Vie); Akbarnia Syed Arash (4, Iri) lost to Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (5, Vie); G. Rohit (5) bt Chandrasiri Thilina (4, SL); D.D. Wijesinghe (3.5, SL) lost to D. Priyadarshana (4.5, SL); I.T. Palawatta (4, SL) drew with D.R.N.K. B. Dehigama (4, SL); Himanshu Kumar (3) lost to P. Goonewardene (4, SL)

Girls: Y. Prathiba (7) bt J. Rajasurya (5); J.E. Kavitha (5.5) bt Tania Sachdev (5); Luong Phong Hanh (4.5, Vie) lost to Saheli Nath (6); H. Nilavoli (4.5) lost to Krutika Nadig (5.5); Mary Ann Gomes (5.5) bt Kathryn Ann Cruz (4, Phi); Yasoda U.G. Methmali (4, SL) lost to Mahima Rajmohan (5); Dronavalli Harika (4) drew with N. Vinuthna (4.5); Konara Harshani (4.5, SL) bt Thilini Nisansala (3.5, SL).

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