A shot in the arm for Ganguly

By Raghunandan Gokhale

MUMBAI, JUNE 2. Seventeen-year-old National B champion S.S. Ganguly (8.5) of Goodricke National Chess Academy improved his chances of booking a berth in the Indian team when he outplayed T.S. Ravi (7.5) of Petroleum Sports Control Board in the 15th round of the Reliance Industries-sponsored 37th National A chess championship here today.

Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte (12) of Petroleum Sports Control Board continued his awesome form outwitting IM G.B. Prakash of Banks Sports Board in a game that lasted for 76 moves. The 23-year-old Abhijit is two points ahead of GM K. Sasikiran (10), who was held to a draw by tailender IM Lanka Ravi (4.5) today.

The way Abhijit is shaping in this tournament, his ambition of becoming the second Indian (after Anand) to reach the 2600 rating is not too far away. Sasikiran has to win nearly all his remaining games to catch up with Abhijit in this championship.

Sasikiran could not get any advantage from the white side of Modern Defence against his ONGC colleague Lanka Ravi. Both players handled the hypermodern opening with utmost caution and the game looked heading for a draw till Sasikiran decided to take a risk. He gambited a pawn to try and force the issue.

It proved to be a costly decision as Ravi went through the complications without much trouble and had an extra pawn in the ending. However, dour defence saved the day for the 19-year- old Sasikiran.

G.B. Prakash (5.5) had come armed with an improvement over his game against D.V. Prasad. Predictably, Abhijit entered the advance variation of the Caro-Kann and faced a pawn sacrifice from Prakash. Abhijit withstood the pressure admirably and turned the tables on Prakash with accurate play.

The endgame was a cat-and-mouse affair with Abhijit trying his best to convert the slight advantage into a victory and Prakash defending well with his back to the wall. The young GM finally managed a breakthrough and forced Prakash's resignation in the longest game of the round.

Desperate measures

How desperation can force players to change their natural style and instinct was witnessed in the Ganguly-T.S. Ravi and Harikrishna-Murugan clashes. Ravi is well known for his solid, no-risk attitude. Normally he would not think of venturing with his queen before the development was complete.

On a day in which he badly needed a win, Ravi went for an unwise pawn grab against young Ganguly in Caro-Kann Defence. ``The move 7)--Qh4 was a mistake,'' Ganguly remarked. The Calcutta teenager punished Ravi's early queen sortie with a pawn sacrifice on the 10th move.

After his bishop captured the `c2' pawn, Ravi's pieces got entangled. With the black king stranded in the centre, Ganguly switched gears and attacked relentlessly. Ravi had to give up a rook to save a checkmate but ultimately surrendered on the 28th move.

A similar situation arose in the Harikrishna-Murugan encounter. Murugan gambited a pawn from the black side of English Opening and obtained lasting pressure on the dark squares. However, the 36-year-old Murugan failed to pursue his case vigorously and allowed Harikrishna to consolidate the extra pawn. And the 14- year-old Harikrishna defeated Murugan with an immaculate endgame artistry a la Murugan.

V. Saravanan preferred to shelve his pet Closed System against GM Pravin Thipsay for his important encounter. Thipsay, who had lost to Saravanan twice in the Closed set-up, spent a longer time in the English Attack launched by the latter. Both had their armies well trained on the opposing kings and Thipsay struck first, winning two pawns. He, however, had just one minute for 12 moves and blundered a rook while trying to reach the safety of time control. Thipsay resigned after 44 moves, making his qualification all the more difficult.

Quick draw

Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua was going great guns from the white side of Kings Indian Attack till he overlooked a stunning knight move from his Calcutta citymate, Atanu Lahiri. The move forced Barua to give up his own dark squared bishop for a knight and hand over the initiative to Atanu. Barua promptly offered a draw on the 14th move and was relieved to see Atanu accept it.

Sriram Jha produced a brilliant combination from the white side of Queen's Indian Defence against Neelotpal Das to post victory.

The results (15th round): Dibyendu Barua TISCO 9.5 drew with Atanu Lahiri LIC 5; Abhijit Kunte IOC 12 beat G.B. Prakash IB 5.5; Sandipan Chanda GNCA 7 drew with Vishal Sareen LIC 6; S.S. Ganguly GNCA 8.5 beat T.S. Ravi IOC 7.5; P. Harikrishna WIPRO 7.5 beat K. Murugan NLC 6; K. Sasikiran ONGC 10 drew with Lanka Ravi ONGC 4.5; S. Kidambi TN 5 drew with Ravi Hegde UBI 6.5; Shriram Jha LIC 5.5 beat Neelotpal Das GNCA 6; V. Saravanan BPCL 7.5 beat Pravin Thipsay UBI 7.5; D.V. Prasad IOC 8 bye.

The moves: S.S. Ganguly (white) vs T.S. Ravi (black): 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Bc4 e6 7. N1e2 Qh4 8. Bf4 Nd7 9. Qd2 h6 10. Ng1 Bxc2 11. Nf3 Qf6 12. Be5 Qg6 13. O-O Ne7 14. Rac1 Bf5 15. Rfe1 Nb6 16. Nh4 Qh7 17. Nhxf5 Nxc4 18. Qb4 b5 19. Nd6+ Nxd6 20. Bxd6 Nd5 21. Qc5 Rc8 22. Bxf8 Rxf8 23. Ne4 Rc7 24. Nd6+ Kd7 25. Nxb5 Rcc8 26. Nxa7 Ra8 27. Qxc6+ Ke7 28. Qxd5. Ravi resigned.

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