Good going by LIC players

MUMBAI, Dec 7:LIC chess players had a good outing in the Young Challengers-organised Independence Cup tournament at the Andheri Sports Co...

MUMBAI, Dec 7:LIC chess players had a good outing in the Young Challengers-organised Independence Cup tournament at the Andheri Sports Complex here today.

Anup Deshmukh was in the lead with 5.5 points. He could be joined by his teammate, Sriram Jha, if the latter wins his battle against another LIC player Atanu Lahiri.

Top seed Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua was held to his third successive draw by Swayan Baran De but the GM was lucky to escape with half a point where he should have had none.

The other GM in the tournament, Pravin Thipsay, has withdrawn as his wife and IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay, who is also playing in the tournament, took ill last night and was admitted to the hospital according to the chief arbiter RH Sagar.

Anup Deshmukh and IM Sudhakar Babu of Indian Bank agreed to a quick 16-move draw on the top board. On the second board, Sriram Jha and Atanu were battling till the time of going to press. Jha had two extra pawns in a rook and King ending.

Barua faced the Petroff defence and was in abad position besides having a bishop and pawn to Swayan8217;s extra rook. They agreed to a draw after 56 moves.V Saravanan, who suffered a shock defeat in the first round, notched up his fifth consecutive victory when he defeated Dilip Pagay in an English Opening game in 40.

Ponnuswamy Konguvel of ONGC won a long-drawn out match against Arghyadip Das after 60 moves. After the opening, both the players maintained an equal position on the board until Das made an unsound knight exchange. That opened the files for Konguvel and Das resigned.

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Babu, Konguvel, Saravanan, Sahu, Sanjay, Neelakanthan, SJ Kamath and Hari Om Sharma are in the second position with 5 points.

RESULTS

IM Sudhakar Babu 2335 5 points drew with Anup Deshmukh 2430 5.5; GM Dibyendu Barua 2540 4.5 drew with Swayan Baran De 4.5; IM Ponnuswamy Konguvel 2410 5 bt Arghyadip Das 2170 4; Dilip Pagay 2230 4 lost to V Saravanan 2390 5; IWM Nisha Mohota 2115 4 lost to IM Shekar Chandra Sahu 2290 5; N Sanjay 2285 bt SaptarshiRoy Choudhary 2190 4; Puneet Jaiswal 2010 4 lost to N Neelakanthan 2260 5; SJ Kamath 2240 5 bt Sujit Kumar Sinha 2120 4; Hari Om Sharma 2125 5 bt Dilip Golwankar 4.