Date:29/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/29/stories/2006062906722000.htm

Sport - Chess

Swapnil stuns Ratnakaran, grabs lead

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Maharashtra's Swapnil S. Dhopade, a member of the Indian team which won the under-16 school world championship in Turkey last August, shocked top-seeded K. Ratnakaran and emerged the sole leader at the 18th Cusat Open all-India FIDE-rating chess tournament here on Wednesday.

After jolting the top seed in the morning, the 15-year-old Swapnil drew his eighth round game with Tamil Nadu's Aswin Jayaram, but still hung on to a slender half-a-point lead. Eight players are in the second spot with 6.5 points.

The results (eighth round): Swapnil S. Dhopade (Mah, 7) drew with Aswin Jayaram (TN, 6.5); P. Maheswaran (TN, 6.5) drew with C. Praveen Kumar (TN, 6.5); T.J. Suresh Kumar (TN, 6) drew wth K. Ratnakaran (Ker, 6); Preetham R. Sharma (TN, 6.5) bt P. Shyam Nikhil (TN, 5.5); P.V. Gireesh (Ker, 6) drew with B.T. Muralikrishna (TN, 6); Merryston David (TN, 5.5) lost to N. Sudhakar Babu (TN, 6.5); Syed Anwar Shazuli (ICF, 6) drew with K.V. Shantharam (TN, 6); Vinoth Kumar (TN, 6.5) bt T.R. Shanmugham (TN, 5.5); M.B. Muraleedharan (Ker, 5) lost to Ibrahim M. Dusthageer (TN, 6.5); K. Damodar Rao (AP, 5) lost to O.T. Anilkumar (Ker, 6); Santu Mondal (5.5) drew with V. Haribalu (TN, 5.5); K. Haridas (TN, 6) bt C. Sachin (Ker, 5); M.A. Joy Lazar (Ker, 6) bt T.S. Nandakumar (TN, 5); P. Dharmaraj (TN, 5) lost to Nimmy A. George (Ker, 6); Sumith Balan (6) bt Venkat Sundaram (TN, 5).

(Seventh round): K. Ratnakaran lost to Swapnil Dhopade; Praveen Kumar drew with Syed Anwar Shazuli; K.V. Shantharam drew with Preetham Sharma; Sudhakar Babu drew with P.V. Gireesh; O.T. Anilkumar lost to P. Maheswaran; Venkat Sundaram lost to Aswin Jayaram; Ibrahim Dusthageer drew with T.J. Suresh Kumar; B.T. Muralikrishna bt Shashi Pal Sharma, G.S. Sreejith lost to Vinoth Kumar; Suman Basu lost to Shyam Nikhil.