Sathyapragyan on top

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 28. As the National under-25 chess tourney inches towards a close, Sathyapragyan has emerged the clear leader after six rounds with 5.5 points. However, the Indian Airlines- sponsored player faces a fresh challenge from P. Rajesh of Tamil Nadu. Rajesh notched up his fifth win defeating last year's runner-up Manish Joshi, who had held the top contender Laxman to a draw in the fifth round.

Rajesh (2080) has been playing with quiet efficiency in the tournament so far. Steadily improving with each game, Rajesh deployed the Richter Rauzer attack of Sicilian defence playing white against Manish Joshi (2215). The latter slipped up on the ninth move, opting for e6 instead of a6, and Rajesh was able to powerfully set up Nb5. Joshi's d6 came under a potent attack and superiority was clearly Rajesh's. In a game that lasted just 16 moves, Rajesh annihilated Manish to storm into the reckoning in the tournament. Rajesh and Sathyapragyan will clash in the seventh round to be played on Friday.

On the top board, the Sathyapragyan-Laxman encounter was billed as the final. But it turned out to be virtually a no- contest for Sathyapragyan, who began with Sicilian Sozin attack and developed his game on theoretical lines. Laxman again preferred not to castle and this weakened the safety of his king. On the 12th move, Sathyapragyan moved to e5 and opened up the position. Laxman's difficulties were further compounded with a forced loss of exchange. After Laxman realised there was no hope of recovery, especially as his king was trapped in the centre, he accepted defeat on the 23rd move to allow Sathyapragyan take the top spot.

Another contender lurking in second spot is Preetham Sharma of Capa Academy. Just half a point behind Sathyapragyan at this stage, Preetham, who played a marathon game against Sathyapragyan, outwitted the higher-ranked Saurabh Kherdekar on the second board. Preetham switched to the rarely used Grand Prix variation of the Sicilian defence. Initially, Kherdekar had the advantage, cashing in on an error on the 10th move by Preetham. However, on the 18th move, Preetham offered a queen sacrifice in exchange for a rook and a knight. This tilted the balance in his favour and Kheredekar resigned on the 38th move facing imminent threat of mate.

The results: Sathyapragyan (5.5) bt R.R. Laxman (4); Preetham Sharma (5) bt Saurabh Kherdekar (4); P. Rajesh (5) bt Manish Joshi (4); K. Ratnakar (4.5) bt Tej Kumar (3.5); B.S. Shivananda (4.5) bt J. Ramakrishna (3.5); Ajay Kumar Pande (4) drew with Jonathan Utarid (4); N. Pramod (3.5) lost to Akash Thakur (4). V. Raghavendra (3) lost to Pankaj Joshi (4); K.G. Apoorva (3) lost to K. Lakshminarayan (4); Ramprakash (4) bt Amaresh Nayak (3); Sunil Rangarajan (4) bt R. Navneethkrishna (3); J. Megha (3) lost to Sunil George (4); Satyajit (3.5) bt Preethi Bisoi (2.5); N. Santosh Kumar (3) drew with G. Balaji (3); H. D. Jagadish (3.5) bt T. S. Pradeep (2.5).

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