Grandmasters Deep Sengupta, Tejas Bakre and Dibyendu Barua found the going tough against far lesser-rated rivals even as the top five teams shared the lead with perfect scores after three rounds of the National team chess championship here on Tuesday.
Deep, playing on the fourth board for top seed Petroleum, blundered and looked lost against Karnataka Hoysalas' Santoshkashyap Hg, rated 524 points below at 2038Deep had a lucky escape when, under time-pressure, Santoshkashyap settled for a draw following perpetual checks.
On the other boards, GMs K. Sasikiran, S. Arun Prasad and B. Adhiban did the needful to give Petroleum a comprehensive 3.5-0.5 victory. With six match-points, Petroleum shares the lead with Railways ‘A', Railways ‘B', Air India and Tamil Nadu ‘B' — all seeded in that order behind the defending champion.
Of the lot, former champion Air India managed to beat 13th seed Maharashtra ‘A' with only Rahul Shetty winning on the last board against lowly rated Viraj Tamhankar. But to the credit of Maharashtra, its trio of Shaikh Mohammad Nubairshah, Saurabh Kherdekar and Snehal Bhosale held GM Tejas Bakre and IMs S. Satyapragyan and K. Priyadarshan.
Barua, playing on the top-board for Team AICF, was held by Chinmay Kulkarni of Maharashtra ‘B'. The result ensured a creditable 2-2 draw for 10th seed AICF over the sixth seed. Punjab, which beat AICF in the morning, pulled off a 2-2 draw against 7th seed Indian Bank.
Morale-boosting wins
Some players posted morale-boosting victories though their teams lost. AAI's G. A. Stany surprised International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni of Railways' ‘A', Tamil Nadu's Ram S. Krishan punished IM Somak Palit of Railways ‘B' and Punjab's Intikhab Alam defeated WIM Sai Meera.
In the ladies section, the top three seeds — Air India, Airport Authority of India and Petroleum — shared the lead with four match-points.
The results:
Open: Third round: Petroleum (6) bt Karnataka Hoysalas (4) 3.5-0.5; AAI (4) lost to Railways ‘A' (6) 1.5-2.5; Railways ‘B' (6) bt Tamil Nadu ‘A' (4) 3-1; Maharashtra ‘A' (4) lost to Air India (6) 1.5-2.5; Tamil Nadu ‘B' (6) bt LIC (4) 3.5-0-5; Indian Bank (5) drew with Punjab (5) 2-2; Team AICF (3) drew with Maharashtra ‘B' (4) 2-2; Bloom Academy (TN) (5) bt Haryana (2) 3.5-0.5; Bengal (4) bt MP ‘A” (2) 3-1; Goa ‘A' (3) drew with Chess is Life (Mah) (3) 2-2.
Second round: Haryana (2) lost to Petroleum (4) 0.5-3.5; Railways ‘A' (4) bt West Bengal (2) 3.5-0.5; Chess is Life (Mah) (2) lost to Railways ‘B' (2) 1-3; Air India (4) bt Kerala (2) 4-0; Jharkhand (2) lost to Tamil Nadu ‘B' (4) 0-4; Maharashtra ‘B' (3) drew with Bloom Chess Academy (TN) (3); Bihar (2) lost to Indian Bank (4) 0.5-3.5; Karnataka Hoysalas (4) bt Gujarat (2) 3.5-0.5; Fischer Club (Gujarat) (2) lost to AAI (4) 1.5-2.5; Team AICF (2) lost to Punjab (4) 1.5-2.5.
Women: Second round: Air India (4) bt Tamil Nadu (2) 3-1; Chess Gurukul (TN) (2) lost to AAI (4) 0-4; Petroleum (4) bt LIC (2) 3-1; Goa ‘B' (2) bt Goa ‘A' (0) 2.5-1.5; Bihar (2) bt Gujarat (0) 4-0; J&K (0) lost to Bambolim Chess Club (Goa) (2) 0-4.
