Sport - Chess

PSCB grounds Airlines; LIC takes lead

By Rakesh Rao

NAGPUR JUNE 3. Strong contenders Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) made amends for its below par performance in the second round by inflicting a decisive 3-1 defeat on second-seeded Indian Airlines even as Life Insurance Corporation prevailed over Railways to snatch a half-point lead after aggregating 10 points from three rounds of the National team chess championship at the Raisoni College hall here on Monday.

On an eventful day when two rounds were played, Railways had taken the lead with eight points after blanking Satara in the second round. However, in the evening, LIC's Dinesh Kumar Sharma and Vishal Sareen won against Railway champion Suvrajit Saha and B.T. Muralikrishnan, while Sriram Jha drew with Saptarshi Roy Choudhury on the top board to bring about a change of guard. For Railways, R. Balasubramanium gained a point by beating Gajendra on the top board.

Railways now finds itself in the joint second spot with 9.5 points, same as Petroleum and Tamil Nadu. Emmanuel Chess Centre, Indian Bank, Maharashtra `B' and Goodricke National Chess Academy are on nine points each.

The battle between Petroleum and Airlines, the top two seeds, failed to produce any great surprise. Airlines, which has been waiting to have a crack at its arch-rival, was expected to do better but the difference in the playing strengths of the players stood truly reflected.

With black pieces, Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda adopted contrasting styles to get past Rahul Shetty and S. Vijayalakshmi. Abhijit Kunte drew with Chandrashekhar Gokhale, like R.B. Ramesh did with S. Satyapragyan.

For Petroleum, it was a day of mixed fortunes. In the morning, Mumbai's Chesstrainer.com gave Petroleum a terrible time with youngster Valay Parikh checkmating R.B. Ramesh on the second board after D. Ravi Shankar had allowed Grandmaster Kunte to escape with a draw. Sandipan Chanda and D.V. Prasad won on the lower boards to complete Petroleum's 2.5-1.5 victory.

In the second round, Airlines, too, struggled to beat Goodricke National Chess Academy boys 2.5-1.5. Shetty lost to Argyadip Das on the second board and Gokhale drew with Somak Palit. Satyapragyan and Vijayalakshmi won on the third and fourth boards.

There was some unusual drama in the afternoon when LIC's Vishal Sareen went on to protest after chief arbiter T.N. Bahadure had ruled that his match against Asian age-group medallist Sai Srinivas of T. Nagar Chess Academy was `drawn'. However, the Appeals Committee did not entertain Sareen's plea indicating that his letter did not mention that he had signed the score-sheet "under protest.''

In the women's section, favourite LIC was held 2-2 by Maharashtra, while Pune's Buddibal Krida Trust (BKT) defeated Andhra Pradesh 4-0 to lead the field with eight points. Tamil Nadu opened its campaign after a first-round bye, with an expected 4-0 whitewash of Bhandara.

If LIC's showing today is any indication, it is likely to drop more points in matches to follow. Though Woman International Masters Swati Ghate and Nisha Mohota won their matches, their good work stood undone with the defeats of Nagarathana and C.H. Rajalakshmi at the hands of Madhuri Patil and Anita Kashikar on the lower boards.

As per the earlier format, involving three boards, LIC could have the title easily. However, with the introduction of the fourth board, LIC will be struggling to gain points from the lower boards. In comparison, teams like Maharashtra and BKT seem better equiped to win since they have a more balanced look.

The results:

Men (third round): LIC (10) bt Railways (9.5) 2.5-1.5; Indian Bank (9) drew with Emmanuel Chess Centre (9) 2-2; PSCB (9.5) bt Indian Airlines (7.5) 3-1; Maharashtra `B' (9) bt Maharashtra `A' 2.5-1.5; Tamil Nadu (9.5) bt Champion Chess Academy (6.5) 3.5-0.5; Goodricke National Chess Academy (9) bt Western Railway (6) 3.5-0.5; Chesstrainer.com (8.5) bt Uttar Pradesh (6) 3-1; Trichy (8) bt Chennai Chess Academy (6) 3-1; T. Nagar Chess Academy (7) bt Paul Murphy (Seniors) (6) 2.5-1.5; Delhi (7.5) bt Yavatmal `A' (4.5) 3.5-0.5; Satara (7) bt Nagpur Chess Academy (Sub-juniors) (5) 3-1; Buddhibal Krida Trust (8) bt Sachivalaya Gymkhana (4) 4-0; Vidarbha (Sub-juniors) `A' (6.5) bt King Chess (5.5) 2.5-1.5; Nagpur Chess Academy `A' (7.5) bt Yavatmal `B' (4) 4-0; West Bengal (6.5) bt Paul Murphy (Juniors) (3) 3.5-0.5; Jammu and Kashmir (4.5) drew with Gondia Kids (4) 2-2; Vidarbha (Seniors) `A' (3.5) bt Nagpur (2.5) 2.5-1.5; Paul Murphy (Sub-juniors) (2) drew with Vijayawada (3) 2-2; Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (3.5) bt Vidarbha (Sub-juniors) `B' (0.5) 3.5-0.5; Vidarbha `B' (4) bt Bhandara (0) 4-0.

Second round: PSCB bt Chesstrainer.com 2.5-1.5; Indian Airlines bt Goodricke National Chess Academy 2.5-1.5; LIC bt T. Nagar Chess Academy 3.5-0.5; Railways bt Satara 4-0; Maharashtra `A' drew with Tamil Nadu 2-2; Indian Bank bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1; Emmanuel Chess Centre bt Delhi 3.5-0.5; Maharashtra `B' bt Paul Murphy (Seniors) 3-1; Champion Chess Academy bt Trichy 2.5-1.5; Western Railways bt Nagpur Chess Academy `A' 2.5-1.5; Chennai Chess Academy bt Gondia Kids 4-0; Nagpur Chess Academy (Sub-juniors) bt Nagpur 3.5-0.5; Paul Murphy (Juniors) drew with Jammu and Kashmir 2-2; King Chess bt Andhra Pradesh 3.5-0.5; Buddhibal Krida Trust bt Vidarbha `B' 4-0; West Bengal bt Vidarbha (Seniors) `A' 3-1; Vidharbha (Sub-juniors) `A' bt BSES 4-0; Yavatmal `A' bt Bhandara (Sub-juniors) 4-0; Sachivalaya Gymkhana bt Vidarbha (Sub-juniors) `B' 4-0; Yavatmal `B' bt Paul Murphy (Sub-juniors) 4-0.

Women (second round): Maharashtra (5.5) drew with LIC (6) 2-2; Buddibal Krida Trust (8) bt Andhra Pradesh (0.5) 4-0; Tamil Nadu (4) bt Bhandara (0) 4-0; Uttar Pradesh bye.

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