Date:22/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/22/stories/2006082207081800.htm

Sport - Chess

Lalith Babu finishes 26th

NEW DELHI: Youngster M. R. Lalith Babu signed off in style from the Abu Dhabi International chess tournament by upstaging UAE's Grandmaster Moussa Taleb in the ninth and final round at Abu Dhabi on Monday.

The Andhra lad, with five points, took the 26th spot, the highest by an untitled participant, in the 64-player field. Among the six Indians, including GM Tejas Bakre, Babu was the best performer.

The results (involving Indians):

At Abu Dhabi (ninth round): M. R. Lalith Babu (5) bt Taleb Moussa (UAE, 4); Tejas Bakre (4.5) bt Saleh Salem (UAE, 3.5); S. P. Sethuraman (4.5) received a walkover from Abdullah Hassan (UAE, 3.5); Aswin Jayaram (4) drew with A. Samhouri (Jor, 4); Holger Schacht (Ger, 3.5) drew with Kruttika Nadig (3.5); Ishaq Ahmed (UAE, 3) lost to Ramnath Bhuvanesh (3.5); Eighth round: Lela Javakhishvil (Geo, 5) bt Lalith Babu; A. Sambouri (Jor, 3.5) drew with Bakre; Sergey Kayumov (Uzb, 3.5) drew with Sethuraman; Saleh Salem (UAE, 3.5) drew with Jayaram; Kruttika bt Khouri Khaled Ahmed (UAE, 2); Ramnath (2.5) bt Almarzuoqi Abdulla (UAE, 1).

Final standings (Indians only): 26. Lalith Babu, 29. Bakre, 36. Sethuraman, 43. Jayaram, 50. Kruttika, 53. Ramnath.

At Athens (ninth round): Women: S. Meenakshi (5.5) drew with S. Vijayalakshmi (5.5);

eighth round: Vijayalakshmi bt Ekaterini Fakhiridou (Gre, 4); Anastasia Sorokina (Aus, 4) lost to Meenakshi; Open: Sriram Jha (5.5) drew with Mohammad Sayed (Qat, 5); Umut Atakisi (Tur, 4) lost to Jha.

At Banyoles (fifth round): Nogue Alfonso (Cat, 2) lost to Prasanna Rao (3); Swati Mohota (3) bt Albert Pau Plana (Cat, 2); Sai Meera (3) bt Tatiana Yastrebova (Ukr, 2).