The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Kore does Ganguly a favour

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Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008
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Kore does Ganguly a favour

P.K. Ajith Kumar

MANGALORE: The top seed Surya Shekhar Ganguly took an eight-move draw with S. Satyapragyan in the penultimate round of the National ‘A’ chess championship at the Karnataka Bank Auditorium when he needed a win to retain the title if his closest rival, Parimarjan Negi, were to win both his last two games.

But a few hours later, the second-seeded Negi, the overnight sole leader, lost to Akshayraj Kore and cleared the way for Ganguly, who is now all set to make history by winning India’s premier domestic tournament for the sixth time in a row; he requires just a draw in the final round on Monday against M. Shyam Sundar, rated over 200 Elo points below.

Ganguly has now 7.5 points, the same as Kore, who, however, can’t improve his position any further as he has played his last game and has a bye on the final day. Behind them in the second position is Negi with seven points.

J. Deepan Chakravarthy, who drew with B. Adhiban, has 6.5 points, followed half-a-point behind by three players — K. Ratnakaran, Neelotpal Das and Sriram Jha. Satyapragyan with 5.5 points also is in the top eight going into the final round; out of these eight, the top six will make it to the Indian team for the international assignments.

Impressive win

Jha’s victory against Shyam Sundar was impressive, while Ratnakaran, after coming up with some fine chess so far, played poorly against Praveen Thipsay to lose rather tamely. Third-seeded Neelotpal also had a forgettable game against M.S. Thejkumar; he had to settle for a draw after enjoying superior position with two pawns up.

Negi, playing on the white side of a Philidor Defence, wouldn’t like to remember his game against Kore either; a miscalculation, when he exchanged a sacrifice after giving a knight for a couple of pawns already, cost him dearly. Kore himself gave a knight and went on to win in 42 moves.

The results (12th round): Praveen Thipsay 4.5 bt K. Ratnakaran 6; M.S. Thejkumar 4 drew with Neelotpal Das 6; S. Satyapragyan 5.5 drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly 7.5; M. Shyam Sundar 4 lost to Sriram Jha 6; B. Adhiban 3.5 drew with J. Deepan Chakravarthy 6.5; Parimarjan Negi 7 lost to Akshayraj Kore 7.5.

The 13th round pairings: Deepan v Negi; Jha v Adhiban; Ganguly v Shyam; Neelotpal v Satyapragyan; Ratnakaran v Thejkumar; Konguvel v Thipsay; Kore bye.

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