Date:01/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/01/stories/2008050155882000.htm

Sport - Chess

R.R. Laxman triumphs

THRISSUR: A last-round win gave ICF’s R.R. Laxman a stunning victory in the Thrissur all-India FIDE-rating chess tournament which concluded here on Wednesday. Laxman defeated G.A. Stany in the final round and, with 8.5 points, finished level with overnight leader P. Konguvel, who drew against M.G. Gahan on Wednesday.

Laxman, however, had a superior progressive score and won the top prize of Rs. 20,000 while ONGC’s Konguvel finished runner-up and went home with Rs. 15,000.

Final placings: 1. R.R. Laxman (ICF, 8.5 points from 10 rounds), 2. P. Konguvel (ONGC, 8.5), 3. Preetham R. Sharma (S.Rly, 8), 4. Tejas Ravichandran (TN, 8), 5. M.G. Gahan (Karn, 8), 6. B.T. Muralikrishna (S.Rly, 8), 7. G.A. Stany (Karn, 7.5), 8. Varughese Koshy (ONGC, 7.5), 9. R. Premnath (TN, 7.5), 10. R.A. Pradeep Kumar (TN, 7.5).

Final round results: M.G. Gahan drew with P. Konguvel, R.R. Laxman bt G.A. Stany, Vinoth Kumar lost to B.T. Murali Krishna, Preetham Sharma bt M.A. Joy Lazar, Varughese Koshy drew with R. Premnath, D.P. Singh lost to Tejas Ravichandran, P. Pyiya lost to S. Nitin, M.B. Muralidharan drew with T.J. Suresh Kumar, R.A. Pradeep Kumar bt P.V. Gireesh, N. Lokesh drew with Joydeep Dutta. — Principal Correspondent