The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Lalith, Kruttika claim norms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Chess

Lalith, Kruttika claim norms

Lalith Babu won the IM norm beating Pogorelov
Kruttika Nadig makes Woman GM norm

NEW DELHI: Andhra lad M.R. Lalith Babu claimed an International Master norm in great style when he shocked 16th seeded Ukrainian Grandmaster Ruslan Pogorelov in the ninth and penultimate round of the Balaguer International Open chess tournament at Balaguer, Spain, on Tuesday.

Lalith’s tally now stands at six points from nine rounds. Rated at 2328, Lalith has performed at a rating strength of 2522 and scored 2.5 points against five GMs.

Though Abhijeet Gupta and Mary Ann Gomes lost to higher rated GMs, Kruttika Nadig provided some cheer to the Indian camp when she made a Woman Grandmaster norm by drawing with Brazil’s International Master Herman van Riemsdijk.

Ramesh keeps winning

In the Biel Masters, at Biel (Switzerland), GM R. B. Ramesh scored his second straight victory to be among the 20 leaders.

In the Politiken Cup in Copenhagen, Aswin Jayaram drew and Tania Sachdev won the fifth round to share the 12th spot with 25 others.

Meanwhile, in the Canadian Open in Montreal, Grandmasters Abhijit Kunte, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and GM in-waiting S. Arun Prasad posted expected victories in the fourth round.

The results (involving Indians):

Balaguer International (ninth round): Fidal Jimenez Corrales (Cub, 7.5) bt Abhijeet Gupta (6); Azer Mizoev (Aze, 6.5) bt Mary Ann Gomes (5.5); M. R. Lalith Babu (6) bt Ruslan Pogorelov (Ukr, 5); Kruttika Nadig (5.5) drew with Herman van Riemsdijk (Bra, 5.5); Swapnil Dhopade (6) bt Joan Trepat Herranz (Esp, 5); Karolina Ortiz Nadya (Col, 4.5) lost to Deep Sengupta (5.5); C. P. Aatirah (4.5) lost to Jose Luis Vilela De Acuna (Cub, 5.5); T. Abhay (5.5) bt Jose Luis Ramon Perez (Esp, 4.5); Soumya Swaminathan (5.5) bt G. V. Sai Krishna (4.5); Vishnu Prasanna (4.5) bt Laia Barbosa Rubies (Esp, 3.5); S. V. Satyapriya (4.5) bt Albert Sanuy Moncasi (Esp, 3.5).

Politiken Cup (fifth round): Aswin Jayaram (4) drew with Artur Kogan (Isr, 4); Philip Vanparys (Bel, 3) lost to Tania Sachdev (4).

Canadian Open (fourth round): Abhijit Kunte (3) bt Michael Mulyar (USA, 2); Nisha Mohota (2) lost to Anton Kovalyov (Arg, 3); Eric Hansen (Can, 2) lost to S. Arun Prasad (3); Roland Chabot (Can, 2) lost to M. R. Venkatesh (3); K. Ratnakaran (2.5) drew with Swati Ghate (2.5); Eesha Karavade (1.5) lost to Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2) bt Jerome Lachaux (Fra, 1); Sai Meera (1) drew with Liam Henry (Can, 1).

Biel International (second round): R. B. Ramesh (2) bt Sebastian Le Floch (Fra, 1); N. Srinath (1) bt Vincent Heinis (Fra, 0).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport