As expected, Petroleum men and Airports Authority of India (AAI) women took the honours due to superior tie-break score after posting resounding victories in the final round of the National team chess championship, here on Sunday.
The Petroleum team, comprising GMs K. Sasikiran, Arun Prasad, Abhijit Kunte, B. Adhiban and Deep Sengupta, retained the title following a 3.5-0.5 triumph over Maharashtra ‘B' in the ninth round. With 16 match-points, Petroleum tied with Railways ‘A' for the top spot, but was adjudged the champion due to its tally of 28.5 game-points as against 26.5 of Railways.
Railways ‘A,' the only unbeaten team in the competition and the only conqueror of Petroleum, had blown away its title-chances after its 2-2 draw with Tamil Nadu ‘B' on Saturday.
In the women's section, AAI, served by D. Harika, Mary Ann Gomes, Kiran Manisha Mohanty and Nimmy George, and defending champion Air-India finished with 12 match-points each. AAI took the title owing to its aggregate of 24 game-points as compared to Air India's 21.5.
Overall, only a few results on Sunday carried an element of surprise.
After the two Railway teams made the top-three bracket to justify their seeding, fourth seed Air-India fell to a determined Tamil Nadu ‘B' 1.5-2.5.
Blunder
Air-India's K. Priyadharshan, looking good to win against Syed Shazuli blundered away a rook for a minor piece and later resigned after overlooking the loss of two pieces for a rook.
This result decided the tie.
Among women, though the match-results were in keeping with the expectations, LIC's Swati Ghate surprised Air-India's S. Vijayalakshmi in their top-board battle.
The results:
Open: Ninth round: Petroleum (16) bt Maharashtra ‘B' (12) 3.5-0.5; Railways ‘A' (16) bt Tamil Nadu ‘A' (11) 3.5-0.5; Air-India (12) lost to Tamil Nadu ‘B' (13) 1.5-2.5; Team AICF (11) lost to Railways ‘B' (13) 0.5-3.5; Indian Bank (12) bt Chess is Life (Maharashtra) (10) 2.5-1.5; AAI (12) bt Karnataka Hoysalas (10) 2.5-1.5.
Maharashtra ‘A' (12) bt LIC (10) 3.5-0.5; West Bengal (11) bt Bloom Chess Academy (TN) (10) 2.5-1.5; Anand Chess (Gujarat) (9) lost to Haryana (11) 0.5-3.5; Kerala (11) bt Goa ‘A' (9) 3-1.
Women: Seventh round: LIC (7) lost to Air-India (12) 1-3; Gujarat (2) lost to AAI (12) 0-4; J&K (0) lost to Petroleum (10) 1-3.
Tamil Nadu (8) drew with Chess Gurukul (TN) (8) 2-2; Goa ‘B' (8) bt Bihar (6) 2.5-1.5; Goa ‘A' (7) bt Bambolim Chess Club (Goa) (4) 3.5-0.5.
Standings: Open: 1. Petroleum; 2. Railways ‘A'; 3. Railways ‘B'; 4. Tamil Nadu ‘A'; 5. Maharashtra ‘A'.
Women: 1. AAI; 2. Air-India; 3. Petroleum; 4. Tamil Nadu; 5. Chess Gurukul (TN).
