Sport - Chess

Rama Krishna in sole lead
By Our Sports Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, MARCH 4. Global Trust Bank champion J. Rama Krishna led the field with three points from as many encounters in the Maa TV all-India FIDE-rating chess tournament at the Andhra Gymkhana here on Monday.

Close on his heels and just half a point behind were M. Srinivasa Rao, J.V. Ramana, K.N. Gopal, Ch. K. Krishna and K. Ramu. Top-seed G. Rohith, with two points, was tied at third place with D. Sai Srinivas, K.N. Kumar, J. Malleswar Rao and K. Vedadri.

On the top board, Rohith, a medal winner in each of the Asian tournaments he has taken part in, was involved in Sicilian defence closed variation. By playing Qa5 and Nd4 on the ninth and 10th moves, the 12-year old Rohith mishandled the opening. Instead if he had played Nge7 on the 10th, it would have brought all his pieces into action and crucial control of the d4 square.

Shifting his bishop to c3 weakened Rohith's black squares and conceded the advantage to Rama Krishna, who wrapped up the game in 30 moves.

On the fourth board, former National under 14 champion Ch. Kesavananda Krishna of Railways set off with an English opening. D. Lakshmana Rao's flawed minor piece exchange on the 13th enabled Krishna go a pawn up without compensation. The latter gained another pawn on the 25th and subsequently the game also in 35 moves.

P. Lakshmi Sahiti lost to former international K.N. Gopal of Andhra Bank in 39 moves of Sicilian defence Najdorf variation. Gopal converted Sahiti's opening mistakes into material advantage in middle game. Unable to avert the checkmate to her king, Sahiti resigned on the 39th move.

The results:

Third round: J. Rama Krishna 3 bt G. Rohith 2, J.V. Ramana 2.5 drew with K. Ramu 2.5, M. Srinivasa Rao 2.5 bt Sk. Khasim 1.5, Ch. K. Krishna 2.5 bt D. Lakshmana Rao 1.5, P.L. Sahithi 1 lost to K.N. Gopal 2.5, J. Malleswar Rao 2 bt D.V. Ganesh 1, K. Ravi 1 lost to K.N. Kumar 2, G. Murali Krishna 1 lost to K. Vedadri 2, D. Sai Srinivas 2 bt L.K. Sahu 1, J.S.S. Phanikanth 1 lost to T. Keerthi Rana 1.5, M.Y. Raju 1 drew with Y. Sandeep 1, K. Sai Krishna 1 drew with L.V.S. Kumar 1, I. Ramya Krishna 1 drew with Manjunath 0.5, J. Subrahmanyam 0.5 lost to P.S. Narayana 1, T. Vennela 1 bt U. Srinivas.

Second round: G. Rohith 2 bt J. Malleswar Rao 1, D. Lakshmana Rao 1.5 drew with M. Srinivasa Rao 1.5, D.V. Ganesh 1 lost to J.V. Ramana 2, J. Rama Krishna 2 bt D. Sai Srinivas 1, K. Ramu 2 bt J.S.S. Phanikanth 1, L.K. Sahu 1 lost to Ch. K. Krishna 1.5, K.N. Gopal 1.5 bt M.Y. Raju 0.5, Sk. Khasim 1.5 bt I. Ramya Krishna 0.5, P.L. Sahiti 1.5 bt J. Subrahmanyam, Manjunath lost to Kandi Ravi 1, V. Srinivas lost to G. Murali Krishna 1, T. Keerti Rana 0.5 drew with K. Sai Krishna 0.5, Y. Sandeep 0.5 drew with L.V. Siva Kumar 0.5, K. Vedadri 1 bt T. Vennela, K.N. Kumar 1 bt P. Satyanarayana.

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