Final round draw hands Koshy victory

MADURAI, July 29: International Master Verghese Koshy of ONGC won the 35th Mappilai Vinayagar International Rating Chess Tournament with ...

MADURAI, July 29: International Master Verghese Koshy of ONGC won the 35th Mappilai Vinayagar International Rating Chess Tournament with a short draw against Arvind Shastry (7) of Chennai in the final round of the tournament played, here today.

Koshy tied with International Master RB Ramesh of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on 7.5 points. However, Koshy won the championship with a better progressive score of 41 points as against Ramesh’s 38 points.

Koshy playing with black pieces adopted modern defence and offered draw after just five moves to make the championship secure under his belt. His opponent, Arvind Shastry (7) accepted immediately to finish a creditable third. In the biggest upset of the day, N Sanjay (7) of Karnataka pipped top seed GB Prakash (6.5) of Indian Bank in a brilliant game from Dutch defence. Sanjay also scored seven points, but was declared fourth on a interior progressive score.

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Sanjay played a controlled game with white pieces, maintaining a slight advantage. Under severe timepressure, he won a pawn with a beautiful tactical stroke. The top seed from Chennai tried hard to avert the loss, but finally resigned when he was unable to stop Sanjay’s pawn from queening.

Second seed RB Ramesh (7.5) of IOC saved the day with a smashing victory over Kerala champion MB Muralidhran (6).

International Woman Master, Anupama Gokhale (6.5) of Bharat Petroleum scored a miniature victory over AL Kasi (6) of Chennai in Ruy Lopez game. In a hard fought game, K Haridas (6.5) of Kerala drew with Pounraj (6.5) to finish sixth.

RESULTS (Round Nine)

Arvind Shastry (7) drew with V Koshy (7.5), RB Ramesh (7.5) beat MB Muralidharan (6), N Sanjay (7) bt GB Prakash (6.5), K Haridas (6.5) drew with Paunraj (6.5), AL Kasi lost to A Gokhale (6.5)

FINAL PLACINGS

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1. V Koshy 7.5 (41 progressive), 2. RB Ramesh 7.5 (38 progressive), 3. Arvind Shastry 7 (36 progressive), 4. N Sanjay 7 (34.5 progressive), 5. GB Prakash 6.5 (39 progressive), 6. K Haridas 6.5 (36 progressive) and 7. AnupamaGokhale 6.5 (35 progressive).

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