Debacle for Thipsay, Aarthie ambushes Pallavi

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, JUNE 6. Figuratively and quite literally, time seems to be running out for Pravin Thipsay. For someone who had struggled to meet the time-control during the seven-hour session, Thipsay is finding the present day four-hour format a bit too much to handle. Successive defeats to joint-leaders P. Konguvel and K. Sasikiran on Wednesday has left none with any doubt over the Grandmaster's struggle with himself in the National `A' chess championship here.

If against Konguvel, Thipsay tossed away a winning position to crash to a shocking loss despite having a pawn- advantage in an ending involving rook and pawns in the seventh round, he fell two short of making the stipulated 40 moves in the allotted 90 minutes when he played Sasikiran in the eighth.

Sasikiran, who had earlier scored over Saptarishi Roy, caught up with Konguvel at 6.5 after the eighth round. Konguvel, who drew quickly with PSCB teammate Abhijit Kunte in the afternoon, now needs one point from his next two matches - against V. Saravanan and Dibyendu Barua - to gain his first 10- game Grandmaster's norm.

Even as Thipsay crashed to his third defeat in the last four rounds, Saravanan replaced Nassir Wajih as the favourite `whipping boy' of the championship. Twice during the day, Saravanan was at the receiving end, taking his defeats to five from seven outings. Today, Neeraj Kumar Mishra and Atanu Lahiri smiled at Saravanan's expense.

D.V. Prasad, one of the most consistent players in the past two decades of the championship, had a mixed day. Prasad lost to Dibyendu Barua in the morning but came back strongly in the afternoon to defeat Sriram Jha. After five straight draws, Prasad has been involved in three decisive battles. It remains to be seen how Prasad plans his next move.

Sahu faring well

Shekhar Sahu, another veteran, is enjoying himself. Returning to the championship after 1988, this 45-year-old has already earned the respect of those in the fray with some gritty performances. Today, he cracked Lanka Ravi in the sixth round though despite his rival looking better placed for most part of the match.

Sahu, who held Sasikiran in the opening round, appeared set to produce the biggest upset of the championship when he had Surya Shekhar Ganguly at his mercy in the afternoon. However, Sahu made a mess of a clearly winning position. He played a faulty rook move and soon blundered his way to defeat.

Among the ladies, Vijayalakshmi continued her intimidating scoring spree. In the process, she managed to settle another score. Y. Pratibha, who scored the biggest triumph of her career at the expense of Vijayalakshmi in the previous edition of the championship, was firmly handled by the holder today.

Though Vijayalakshmi looked a bit worried in the opening phase, she found the winning path once Pratibha overlooked a simple threat to a minor piece. The loss of Pratibha's knight on the 19th move dictated the course of the match and Vijayalakshmi wrapped it up on the 48th move. Second seed R. Aarthie continued the sequence of winning her odd-numbered matches. Today, she accounted for Pallavi Shah, the recent Asian Zonal champion.

In this match, which never really rose above mediocrity, Aarthie made lesser mistakes than her rival. Pallavi, looking for her first victory in the championship, is playing some very ordinary chess. The quality of her play in the past five days is surely not in keeping with her newly-acquired label of being the first Indian lady to qualify for the next World Championship.

Anupama Gokhale and Swati Ghate were involved in a long battle where both squandered winning opportunities. Considering the tenacity of the players, the eventual draw was a fair result.

Harika Dronavalli came up with another encouraging result. This 11-year-old drew with Dolan Champa Bose to take her tally to two points. S. Meenakshi produced the expected with an easy victory over Saimeera Ravi.

Thursday is a day for rest for all except late-comer M.R. Sangeetha and her rivals of the first two rounds, Saimeera and Harika. Sangeetha plays Saimeera in the morning and Harika in the afternoon.

* The results:

Men (eighth round): D.V. Prasad (2440) 4.5 bt Sriram Jha (2390) 2.5; Neeraj Kumar Mishra (2321) 4.5 drew with Dibyendu Barua (2494) 5; Atanu Lahiri (2391) 4.5 bt V. Saravanan (2428) 1; P. Konguvel (2383) 6.5 drew with Abhijit Kunte (2568) 5.5; K. Sasikiran (2611) 6.5 bt Pravin Thipsay (2440) 3; Neelotpal Das (2423) 2 drew with Saptarishi Roy (2306) 2.5; Shekhar Sahu (2325) 4 lost to Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2456) 5; K. Murugan (2390) 2.5 drew with Lanka Ravi (2381) 3.5; P. Harikrishna (2504) 4.5 bt Nassir Wajih (2371) 1.5; G. B. Prakash (2353) 3 bye.

Men (seventh round): Wajih bt Murugan; Lanka Ravi lost to Sahu; Ganguly drew with Das; Roy lost to Sasikiran; Thipsay lost to Konguvel; Kunte bt Lahiri; Saravanan lost to Mishra; Barua bt Prasad; Jha drew with Prakash; Harikrishna bye.

Women (fifth round): Dolan Champa Bose (2187) 2 drew with Harika Dronavalli 2; S. Vijayalakshmi (2424) 4.5 bt Y. Pratibha (2069) 2; Swati Ghate (2271) 3 drew with Anupama Gokhale (2249) 3; Aarthie Ramaswamy (2291) 3 bt Pallavi Shah (2164) 1; Saimeera Ravi (2162) 1.5 lost to S. Meenakshi (2248) 3.5; Sangeetha M. R. (2009) 1.5 lost to Nisha Mohota (2257) 2; Saheli Dhar Barua (2224) 2 bt Bhagyashree Thipsay (2241) 2.

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