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Chess
Balaji shocks Vaidya
By Raghunandan Gokhale
THANE, DEC. 5. The seeds fell like ninepins causing a flutter in the fourth round of Rochess international rating chess tournament at Saraswati Vidyamandir here today. Top seeded Rahul Shetty, third seeded IM Arun Vaidya and fourth seed Vikramaditya Kamble lost their games in the fourth round.
Former National B champion Arun Vaidya's defeat was more shocking as the veteran IM lost his queen on 12th move against N. Balaji in the former's pet Sicilian defence. Vaidya, out of inertia played upto 19 moves but resigned as the position was beyond repair.
Earlier second seeded former National B champion R. Balasubramanium (ICF,Chennai) was held to a draw by teenager Yogesh Mapari (Maharashtra) in the third round.
Ramkrishna Kashelkar (4) surprised top seeded Rahul by opting for a rarely played Sokolsky Opening. Rahul could not counter effectively and had to accept a passive position. Kashelkar attacked with relish to finish the game in 33 moves with a pleasing combination.
Vikramaditya's loss was tragic as he fell victim to his own time shortage. In the Nimzo Indian defence, Pravin Prasad (AP) was in a minus position throughout the game but finally had the last laugh as fancied Vikramaditya ran out of time and had to surrender the game.
Chennai lad R.R. Laxman (4) scored his fourth successive win in an emphatic manner. Internationally rated Ashish Thatte (3) launched a ferocious looking offensive against Laxman's king in Nimzo Indian Defence only to get checkmated against Laxman's powerful counterattack. T.S. Venkatramanan (Goa) scored an easy win over Ninad Puranik in Sicilian Alapin game.
Important results: Fourth round: R. Kashekar (4) bt Rahul Shetty (3); N. Balaji (4) bt Arun Vaidya (3); Pravin Prasad (4) bt V. Kamble (3); Ashish Thatte (3) lost to R.R. Laxman (4); S.G. Joshi (3.5) drew with Devendra Kumar (3.5); V.N. Ghate (4) bt Manoj Mishra (3); S. Bannerjee (3.5) drew with P. Deshmukh (3.5); R. Balsubramanium (3.5) bt Amit Dixit (2.5); T.S. Venkatramanan (3.5) bt Ninad Puranik (2.5); Sachin Kamath (3) drew with N. Neelakantan (3).
Third round: Rahul Shetty (3) bt T. Purshottam (2); Yogesh Mapari (2.5) drew with R. Balasubramanium (2.5); Arun Vaidya (3) bt Sameer Thakkar (2); Prasad Deshmukh (3) bt A. Bartakke (2); V. Kamble (3) bt S. Mazumdar (2); R.R. Laxman (3) bt P. Terwadkar (2).
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