Chess: Akash emerges winner

Akash Thakur of Maharashtra performed impressively in the final round too in the 2nd KL Garg Memorial Eldeco International Rating Chess Tournament organised at Lucknow.

Akash Thakur of Maharashtra performed impressively in the final round too in the 2nd KL Garg Memorial Eldeco International Rating Chess Tournament organised at Lucknow. Maintaining his consistent show and form Akash playing white,played well against a higher rated player IM Dinesh Sharma of Kanpur who was a pre-tournament favourite. Akash started with an attacking game with e4 and Ruy Lopez to try and force a win but Dinesh defended well to manage a draw in one hour thirty minutes and 25 moves. Akash,Sauravh and Dinesh secured 6.5 points each but the Akash occupied the top spot on the basis of a better progressive score followed by Sauravh and Dinesh at the second and third spots,respectively.

Sauravh Khherdekar of Maharashtra came a very close second. Sauravh was playing black played against Deepak Katiyar of UP. Deepak started the game with Ruy Lopez with e4 which was countered with e5 by Sauravh. The game lasted an intense 45 minutes and after 15 moves the players decided to split point and settled for a draw.

Another game which was of prime importance was between Syed Nasir Ali of Lucknow playing white and Prince Bajaj of Delhi. The game was well fought for two and a half hours and after 39 moves the players decided to call for a draw.

A prize money of Rs 2 lakh was distributed among the top positioners as well as those who did well in various categories. Akash became richer by Rs 50,000 while Saurav and Dinesh Sharma were awarded Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 for their efforts.

The Results: (Final round):- Akash (Mah) drew IM Dinesh Sharma (UP),Deepak Katiyar (UP) drew Sauravh Khherdekar (Mah),Syed Nasir Ali (UP) drew Prince Bajaj (Del),Gajendra Singh (UP) beat Dilip Shukla (UP),Sharad Sharma (UP) lost to Sunil Kumar (UP), DK Chopra (Del) beat Rajesh Srivastava (UP),Tarun Sharma (Raj) drew Tushar Anand (Raj), Karan Manish Jain (UP) lost to Deep Kapoor (Del), Deepak Kumar Pandey (UP) beat Rajendra Kumar (UP),Ayush Pandey lost to Nishant Srivastava;

The positions after the final round: 1st. Akash Thakur (6.5 points),2. Sauravh Khherdekar (6.5),3. IM Dinesh Sharma (6.5),4. Prince Bajaj (6),5. Deepak Katiyar (6),6. DK Chopra (6),7. Gajendra Singh (6),8. Syed Nasir Ali (6),9.) Deep Kapoor (6),10.) Sunil Kumar (6).

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram