Date:20/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/20/stories/2008122060621900.htm

Sport - Chess

Laxman on a roll

Arvind Aaron

Chennai: International Master Rajaram Laxman of ICF, Chennai was at his best as he beat two of his main rivals on a single day. At the end of the sixth round of the St Joseph’s National under-25 chess championship he has six points and has opened up a one point lead.

In the morning, Laxman overcame IM Deep Sengupta of Kolkata and in the evening he scored over another IM P. Karthikeyan of Chennai.

Three players — V.A.V. Rajesh, Ram S. Krishnan and Navin Kanna — are behind him on five points.

Title for Madras

Meanwhile, Madras University defeated Delhi to retain the all-India inter-university inter-zone tournament that concluded at Bodhgaya, Bihar, on Friday morning.

After Maheswaran lost to Rahul Sangma of Delhi other Madras players swept the other boards for a 3-1 win.

The results: National under-25: Round six: R.R. Laxman 6 bt P. Karthikeyan 4.5; Ram S Krishnan 5 drew with Arjun Tiwari 4.5; V.A.V. Rajesh 5 bt Prathamesh Mokal 4; V. Haribalu 4 lost to Navin Kanna 5; Pradeep Kumar 4 drew with Deep Sengupta 4; P. Sivasankari 4.5 bt C. Praveen Kumar 3.5; R. Siddharth 4.5 bt J.S. Daklia 3.5; S. Nitin 3 lost to Ajay Srikanth 4.5.

Round five: Deep Sengupta lost to R.R. Laxman; Ajay Srikanth lost to P. Karthikeyan; J.S. Daklia lost to Ram S Krishnan; Nimmy George lost to Prathamesh Mokal; V. Haribalu bt S. Nitin; Praveen Kumar drew with Pradeep Kumar; Arjun Tiwari bt S. Kaushik; Navin Kanna bt G. Akash; Samson Stanley lost to V.A.V. Rajesh; Eshwanth Dev Kumar lost to R. Siddharth.

Inter-university inter-zone (round seven): Madras (17) bt Delhi (12) 3-1; Calcutta (15) bt Ranchi (6.5) 4-0; Punjab (5) lost to Osmania (15) 0.5-3.5; SRM 13.5 bye. Final placings: 1. Madras 17; 2. Calcutta 15; 3. Osmania 15; 4. SRM 13.5; 5. Delhi 12; 6. Ranchi 6.5; 7. Punjab 5.

Board prizes: 1. Arun Karthik (SRM) 5.5/6; 2. C.R.G. Krishna (Osmania) 5/6; 3. Soumya Thakurta (Calcutta) 5/6; 4. Vishnu Prasanna (Madras) 5/5; 5. S. Venkat Sundaram (Madras) 4/6; 6. Tarun Rattam (Punjab) 2/6.