The Hindu : Poobesh crowned champion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 06, 2002

Sport

Sport - Chess

Poobesh crowned champion

By Our Sports Reporter

Selvaraj Poobesh Anand (left) and Abhijeet Gupta, the winner and the runner-up respectively in GMC Memorial National junior chess championships in Vijayawada on Sunday, proudly display their trophies for the lensmen.

VIJAYAWADA May 5. Selvaraj Poobesh Anand clinched the boys' crown of the GMC Memorial National junior chess championships, leaving the rest of the field behind by a full point after the ninth and final round at the Krishnaveni Residential Talent School here on Sunday.

In the scramble for second spot, Abhijeet Gupta took the runner-up slot on account of a better progressive score as compared to M.R. Venkatesh and Sayantan Dutta.Venkatesh, playing black, matched Poobesh's queen pawn opening with Nimzo Indian defence.

White had an edge right from the outset but Venkatesh's anxiety to win thrust him into time pressure and a poor position. On the 18th, black erred in playing Rd8, instead of Bd4. Two pawns down, Venkatesh recovered ground positionally. On the 43rd, Poobesh lost a pawn, after which the queens were exchanged.

Poobesh presently had three pawns as against Venkatesh's two, the ratio coming down to 2:1 shortly. The Tamil Nadu team-mates then called a truce on the 59th. Despite Saptarshi Roy's Dutch opening, Ahijeet Gupta, playing white, was better off. In middle game, Gupta's mishandled position

saw the game drifting to a draw. Black however blundered on the 49th, playing Bg6 instead of Kf7. Abhijeet then stormed the rival camp with his king and bishop, capturing Roy's h7 pwn.

Meanwhile White's g5 pawn became passer, turning into a queen, leaving little leeway for Roy, who lost the game. On the third board, the French opening of Rahul Sangma, playing black, was matched by Sayantan Dutta's Tarasch variation. On the 16th, Black blundered with Bc6, conceding the advantage to his opponent. A blunder followed on the 26th, where Black forfeited his rook for a bishop. Sangma put up stiff resistance, but gave in in the end.

If the foot soldiers in an event contribute their mite, mention must be made of Arbiter, KVL Narasimha Murthy, who self-effacingly describes himself as a registered medical practitioner performing surgery. He would sit right through the day, without food or drink, (being orthodox perhaps in belief to have them only at home), patiently and efficiently compiling the results and practically all relevant information. His attachment to this sport is on account of his spastic son, Kartik.

The eight-day meet was organised by the Katragadda Venkatnarayana Memorial Trust.

The final standings (with progressive scores in brackets): 1. S. Poobesh Anand 8 (40.5) 2. Abhijeet Gupta 7 (38) 3. Sayantan Dutta 7 (37) 4. M.R. Venkatesh 7 (35) 5. Omkar Patwardhan 6.5

(30) 6 & 7. Saptarshi Roy and Rahul Sangma 6 (each had 34.5) 8. G. Rohith 6 (31.5) 9. T. Purushothaman 6 (31) 10. R. Siddhartha 6 (30.5).

The results (ninth round): S. Poobesh Anand (TN) 8 drew with M.R. Venkatesh (TN) 7, Abhijeet Gupta (Raj) 7 bt Saptarshi Roy (Goodricke) 6, Sayantan Dutta (Good) 7 bt Rahul Sangma (Good) 6, Omkar Patwardhan (Mah) 6.5 bt Somak Palit (Good) 5.5, Akshay Raj Kore (Alekhine) 6 drew with P. Praveen Prasad (AP) 6, Deepan Chakravarthy (ECC) 5 lost to Pratik R. Shriwas (Mah) 6, G. Rohith (AP) 6 bt Rajib Dhar (Har) 5, R. Siddhartha 6 bt Jagadish H.D. (Kar) 5, Soumya Ranjan Mishra (Ori) 6 bt R. Naveen (TN) 5, A. Srinivasan (Del) 6 bt Praveen Kumar (Chrom) 5, T. Purushothaman (AP) 6 bt K. Nikhilesh Kumar (AP) 5, Arghyadip Das 5.5 bt M. Satyajith (AP) 5, T. Keerthi Rana (AP) 5.5 bt K. Vijaya Keerthi (Kar) 4.5, K. Srikar (AP) 5.5 bt K. Sai Krishna (AP) 4.5, Soumya Thakurta (Ben) 5 drew with S. Raghu Raman (Chen) 5, Sohan Phadke (Mah) 5 drew with Swaraj Palit (Jhar) 5, G.N. Gopal (Lakshw) 5 bt Byomakesh Nayak (Ori) 4, P. Lakshmi Sahiti (AP) 4 lost to Santosh Sapkal (Mah) 5, Ch. Mahesh Babu (AP) 5 w/o from D. Sai Srinivas (AP) 4, P. Maheswaran (TN) 5 bt Sachin Soni (MP) 4.

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