Date:18/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/18/stories/2008121852061900.htm

Sport - Chess

Five share lead

Arvind Aaron

Chennai: International Master P. Karthikeyan of Chennai defeated Nimmy George of Aluva in the third round of the St. Joseph’s National under-25 chess championship here on Wednesday.

Karthikeyan finished off with a deadly queen for rook sacrifice on move 24 to win and emerge among the leaders.

Five players — R.R. Laxman, Deep Sengupta, J.S. Daklia, C. Praveen Kumar and Karthikeyan — lead with three maximum points. Six rounds remain to be played.

Top-seeded Laxman used better technique to win a level rook ending over fellow Chennai player Navin Kanna in 48 moves.

Second seed Deep Sengupta kept it simple and struck when FIDE Master V.A.V. Rajesh blundered on move 30. Deep overloaded a knight to win a rook for a minor piece.

In a position full of chances, International Master Prathamesh Mokal of Pune agreed to a draw against Pradeep Kumar of Chennai.

Important results: Third round: Navin Kanna 2 lost to R.R. Laxman 3, Deep Sengupta 3 bt V.A.V. Rajesh 2, Nimmy George 2 lost to P. Karthikeyan 3, Prathamesh Mokal 2.5 drew with Pradeep Kumar 2.5, J.S. Daklia 3 bt S. Nitin 2, C. Praveen Kumar 3 bt Ganesh Babu 2, Ajay Srikanth 2.5 drew with Ram S Krishnan 2.5, Arjun Tiwari 2.5 bt G. Akash 2.

Second round: Laxman bt Stanley Samson, S. Kaushik lost to Deep, Karthikeyan bt C. Sivakumar, Anand Sivasankar lost to Mokal, Nitin bt Anand Naik, A. Sithalatchumi lost to Praveen Kumar, Siddharth bt P.K. Jayashree, Ram S. Krishnan bt E. Sharath, M. Kathiravan lost to Navin Kanna.