Friday, May 30, 2003
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Chess
By Our Sports Reporter
S. Arun Prasad (left) and Mary Ann Gomes, the winners in the boys' and girls' sections of the National sub-junior chess championship at Kozhikode on Thursday.
Of course, Mary Ann Gomes, 13, can still be considered a child. She cried not because she lost but had won in fact. But tears of joy they weren't. She wept because she beat her friend and roommate Soumya Swaminathan (who actually had to console Mary). Such goodness and innocence hadn't gone unnoticed. On a dramatic Thursday, Mary, the top seed from Goodricke National Chess Academy, Kolkata, won the National sub-junior girls' chess championship at the V.K. Krishna Menon indoor stadium. It seemed, for the better part of the afternoon, Mary had to win her game on the top board today, as her rival for the crown, the second seed Kruttika Nadig of Maharashtra looked like drawing her game with Saheli Nath of Bengal on the second board. And Mary could watch that game from the closest of quarters. The top board also was heading towards a draw until Soumya messed things up and found herself in a losing position. Meanwhile, Kruttika had lost (she thus finished runner-up with seven points), and now Mary needed just a draw. But she played on and won, finishing with eight points. And Saheli (seven points) came third.
Arun triumphs
This was much after S. Arun Prasad of Tamil Nadu had won the boys' title. This one, also in a dramatic fashion, but in much different way. Arun, the fourth seed, needed only a draw to win his maiden National championship. For his opponent, tenth-seeded G.N. Gopal of the host, it was a must-win situation. But the Kerala lad, surprisingly, showed no inclination for a fight. He opened with Larsen Attack (and later admitted he was playing it for the first time in his life). And eight unsure moves later, he offered a draw, which was gleefully accepted by Arun. ``I badly wanted to win this tournament,'' a delighted Arun said later. "This was my last chance in the sub-junior category. I'm happy that I won this event featuring so many strong players.'' One of the strongest, Deep Sengupta of Jharkand, won the runner-up spot. The second seed, who faced Sicilian Pelikan from T. Abhay of Tamil Nadu, won a pawn on the 35th move and the game eight moves later, on account of a couple of passers. Arun, Deep and Gopal, who finished third, scored 7.5 points each and the places were decided on progressive scores. Mary employed Dutch Defence and won an exchange before Soumya resigned on the 67th move. "This victory means a lot to me,'' she said. "I wanted to win this tournament when it's a strong one, and not next year when some of the few strong players will have crossed the age-bar.'' She said she still had mixed feelings. "Soumya could've won the third place if I had drawn,'' she said, "but then Saheli, who is from my own State, would've had to settle for a lower placing.'' This is her second National title. The first one, the under-9, was in 1998. Important results (ninth and final round): Boys: G.N. Gopal (Ker) 7.5 drew with S. Arun Prasad (TN) 7.5; Deep Sengupta (Jha) 7.5 bt T. Abhay (TN) 6; Akshayraj Kore (Mah) 7 bt Praveen Prasad (AP) 6.5; Rahul Sangma (GNCA) 7 bt Joydeep Dutta (Alekhine Club, Kolkata) 6; Vipal Subhashi (Bih) 6 lost to K. Vijay Keerthi (Kar) 7; Pratik Srivas (Nagpur Academy, Maharashtra) 7 bt Vishal V. Shah (Mah) 6; Akshat Kamparia (MP) 5.5 lost to Navin Kanna (TN) 6.5; K. Nikhilesh Kumar (AP) 6.5 bt Soumya Thakurta (Ben) 5.5; Soumitra Mujumdar (Mah) 5.5 lost to P. Karthikeyan (Capa) 6.5; Sriram Sarja (Kar) 6.5 bt V. Haribalu (Cap) 5.5; T. Purushothaman (AP) 5.5 lost to Debayn Majumdar (Ben) 6.5; Y. Sandeep (AP) 6.5 bt Abhijeet Gupta (Raj) 5; Dyal K. Ravi Aditya (TN) 5 lost to D. Sai Srinivas (AP) 6; Ninad Vijay Puranik (Mah) 6 bt Rohit M. Pawar (Mah) 5; Indradeep Giri (Ben) 6 bt R.K. Ranjith (T'Nagar Academy, Chennai) 5; Saravana Krishnan (Mount Academy, Chennai) 6 bt M. Rahul Manohar (Ker) 5; Priyadarshan (Chennai Academy, TN) 6 bt R. Srinivasan (Del) 5; K. Prasanna (Masters Academy, Bangalore) 5 lost to Aniket Paini (MP) 6; B. Adhiban (TN) 5.5 drew with K.V. Venprakash (TN) 5.5; G.S. Sreejith (Ker) 6 bt Sumit Shah (Alekhine) 5; Rohit Lalith Babu (AP) 5 lost to Debaditta Sinha (Ben) 6; Aswin Jayaram (TN) 4.5 lost to Satish Kumar (Jha) 6. Girls: Soumya Swaminathan (Venus Chess Academy, Mumbai) 6.5 lost to Mary Ann Gomes (GNCA) 8; Saheli Nath (Ben) 7 bt Kruttika Nadig (Mah) 7; N. Raghavi (TN) 6.5 drew with I. Ramya Krishna (AP) 6.5; Kiran Monisha Mohanty (Ori) 6.5 drew with P. Sivasankari (TN) 6.5; Rajadarshini (Emanuel Academy, Chennai) 6 drew with Saba A. Mhate (Mah) 6; Rajasurya (TN) 6.5 bt P.K. Jayasree (TN) 5.5; Anjana N. Sowjanya (Capa) 6 drew with Sowmya (Aaron Academy, Chennai) 6; V.K. Sindhu (Chennai) 6 drew with G. Pratika (Kings Academy, AP) 6; R.K. Shruki (Aaron) 5.5 lost to S. Harini (TN) 6.5; Koneru Chandra Hawsa (AP) 6 bt S.V. Sathya Priya (Madras Academy, Chennai) 5; L. Iswarya Shobana (TN) 6 bt E.K.A. Aarthi Lakshmi (Mount) 5; Pallavi Maiya (Kar) 6 bt Lakshmi Sahithi (Champion Academy, AP) 5; Veena Maunika (AP) 5 lost to Amita Kashikar (Mah) 6; K. Manasa (Kar) 5 lost to Krithika (Chromepet Academy, Chennai) 6; P. Uthara (Capa) 5 lost to Meenu Rajendran (Ker) 6; Monika Nishad (MP) 4.5 lost to Kajri Chokshi (Guj) 5.5; Mitali M. Patil (Mah) 5.5 bt R. Saranya (Guj) 4.5; Gundala Madanasri (AP) 5.5 bt Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 4.5; Nayana Rao (AP) 5 drew with S. Bharathi (NLC) 5; Swati Rajpurohit (Raj) 5.5 bt S. Kirthika (TN) 4.5; P.A. Fajra (Ker) 5 drew with D.S. Manasa Priya (Masters) 5; Suchandra Chatterjee (Alekhine) 4.5 drew with R. Varsha (T'Nagar) 5. The placings: Boys: 1-3. Arun, Deep and Gopal 7.5, 4-7. Akshayraj, Rahul, Vijay and Pratik 7, 8-14. Praveen, Navin, Nikhilesh, Sriram, Karthikeyan, Debayn and Sandeep 6.5, 15-26. Sai, Abhay, Vishal, Vipal, Joydeep, Ninad, Sreejith, Debaditta, Indradeep, Saravana, Priyadarshan, Aniket and Satish 6. Girls: 1. Mary 8, 2-3. Kruttika and Saheli 7, 4-10. Raghavi, Soumya Swaminathan, Kiran, Ramya, Sivasankari, Harini and Rajasurya 6.5, 11-22. Rajadarshini, Meenu, Anjana, Sindhu, Krithika, Pratika, Chandra Hawsa, Pallavi, Iswarya, Sowmya, Amita and Saba 6.
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