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Chess
Thipsay gets a shot in the arm
By Rakesh Rao
K. Sasikiran (in the background) watches Pravin Thipsay make a move during their seventh round game in the National `A' chess championship at Nagpur on Wednesday. Thipsay beat Sasikiran. - Photo: R.V. Moorthy
NAGPUR, JAN. 23. K. Sasikiran beat himself in a hurry and gave Pravin Thipsay's self- belief a much-needed boost in the seventh round of the National `A' chess championship here on Wednesday.
Later, Surya Sekhar Ganguly became the other overnight leader to suffer his first loss in the championship after running into a determined Abhijit Kunte.
But P. Harikrishna and holder Dibyendu Barua were not threatened and posted easy victories to remain ahead with six points each. Sriram Jha overpowered Swati Ghate to move within half-point of the leaders.
It was an unbelievable error of judgment on Sasikiran's part. On the 21st turn, he overlooked an unintended `trap' from Thipsay and faced the danger of losing any one of the two knights. Sasikiran chose not to continue. Until this point, Thipsay seemed better placed after opting for the Kings Indian Defence and had many ways of reaching a winning endgame. But Sasikiran's dubious knight-move expedited the end.
This was also the first decisive match between the players since Sasikiran won in the previous edition of the championship in New Delhi.
Kunte, after losing from a winning position to Swati Ghate on Tuesday, was determined to win against Ganguly and went on to accomplish the task in 51 moves. Kunte sacrificed a rook for a knight and two pawns and soon established a passed pawn. Ganguly, whose two draw offers were declined, tried to simplify matters but Kunte was not to be denied.
The defeat was a blow to Ganguly's chances of getting a GM-norm here. He now needs 2.5 from the next three rounds to get his second norm.
Harikrishna easily overwhelmed his former coach Varugeese Koshy in 31 moves before Barua joined him with a 35- move victory over R. B. Ramesh. S. Vijayalakshmi secured her second draw, against Vishal Sareen, while V. Saravanan recorded his second victory at the expense of B. T. Muralikrishnan.
The results (seventh round): P. Harikrishna (6) bt Varugeese Koshy (1.5); B. T. Muralikrishnan (1) lost to V. Saravanan (3.5); Swati Ghate (3) lost to Sriram Jha (5.5); Surya Sekhar Ganguly (5) lost to Abhijit Kunte (4.5); N. Sudhakar Babu (3.5) drew with Neeraj Kumar Mishra (2.5); P. Magesh Chandran (3.5) drew with P. Konguvel (2.5); K. Sasikiran (5) lost to Pravin Thipsay (3.5); S. Vijayalakshmi (1) drew with Vishal Sareen (3); Dibyendu Barua (6) bt R. B. Ramesh (3); Chandrashekhar Gokhale (4) drew with D. V. Prasad (2.5).
Eighth round pairings: Koshy-Prasad; Ramesh-Gokhale; Sareen-Barua; Thipsay-Vijayalakshmi; Konguvel-Sasikiran; Mishra- Magesh; Kunte-Babu; Jha-Ganguly; Saravanan-Swati and Hari- Muralikrishnan.
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