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Adhiban lets Negi off the hook

P.K. Ajith Kumar

Neelotpal Das and Sriram Jha record wins

MANGALORE: Three rounds remain, but fortune seems to favour the talented Parimarjan Negi at the 46th National ‘A’ men’s chess championship.

On Saturday at the Karnataka Bank Auditorium here, Negi was fortunate not to gift a piece to B. Adhiban in the 10th round. He won that game and extended his sole lead to one point.

The second-seeded Negi has seven points now but has played a game more than reigning champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who is on six points after drawing with Praveen Thipsay.

Battle hots up

Akshayraj Kore, who drew after a marathon game with M. Shyam Sundar, is third with 5.5 points. J. Deepan Chakravarthy, who signed peace with S. Satyapragyan, and K. Ratnakaran, who had a bye, have five points each as the battle for a spot in the Indian team for various international tournaments — the top six will make it — is hotting up.

The day saw third seed Neelotpal Das and Sriram Jha recording wins against P. Konguvel and M.S. Thejkumar, respectively. But the focus was clearly on the Adhiban-Negi game, especially after Thipsay and Ganguly played out a quick draw.

In the battle between the two teenagers, Negi, who employed Sicilian Defence, strangely offered his knight on the 33rd move; even more strangely, Addhiban didn’t take it and plotted his own downfall, as he resigned eight moves later, having lost his queen for a rook, with more to follow.

It was a case of Negi overestimating his position and Adhiban underestimating his.

“I hadn’t realised that my position was so vulnerable while the game was on,” admitted Negi.

Ganguly puzzled

Meanwhile top-seeded Ganguly was left wondering how he has lost his winning touch; he’s the only unbeaten player in the 13-player competition, but he has drawn five games.

Ganguly, who employed Caro-Kann Defence, agreed to split the point after 23 moves against Thipsay.

“The game wasn’t heading anywhere as my opponent seemed happy to settle for a draw with white pieces,” said the man who has won this championship for the last five years in a row.

“I am not terribly disappointed with today’s draw; it was my draws with white pieces, against Neelotpal and Konguvel that I am not happy with.”

Neelotpal beat Konguvel, who messed up things from a clearly superior position, in 42 moves of Sicilian Defence. Jha was also a beneficiary of some rash moves from his rival, Thejkumar, who managed to lose a piece in their 43-move encounter. There were mistakes galore in the Satyapragyan-Deepan match that was drawn after 68 moves of Sicilian Defence.

Shyam Sundar and Kore played on for 116 moves, also from Sicilian Defence, before agreeing to share the point.

The results (10th round): P. Konguvel 4 lost to Neelotpal Das 4.5; Praveen Thipsay 3.5 drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly 6; M.S. Thejkumar 3.5 lost to Sriram Jha 4.5; S. Satyapragyan 4.5 drew with Deepan Chakravarthy 5; M. Shyam Sundar 4 drew with Akshayraj Kore 5.5; B. Adhiban 3 lost to Parimarjan Negi 7; K. Ratnakaran 5 bye.

11th round pairings: Kore v Adhiban; Deepan v Shyam; Jha v Satyapragyan; Ganguly v Thejkumar; Neelotpal v Thipsay; Ratnakaran v Konguvel; Negi bye.

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