Hari does a Houdini; Thipsay misses flight

With Abhijit Kunte taking the title with a day to spare, the fight was for the remaining five places. Six players made the Indian team which will take part in the Istanbul Olympiad in October later this year. In case Super Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand — who automatically selects himself — decides to play in the Olympiad, then the sixth player will be dropped.

GM Pravin Thipsay, who has had the honour of being the National champion seven times, missed the bus. He was held in the final round by veteran IM Ravi Hegde.

IM Sarvanan’s bid was foiled by IM K Murugan who thwarted all attempts by the former to score a desperate win. Saravanan finished eighth in the final standings. His ranking, however, will ensure that he does not have to play in the National B Championship next year. Being a Grandmaster, Thipsay will get to play the National A directly, his placing notwithstanding.

GM Dibyendu Barua (TISCO) took the third place with 11.5 points, outclassing teenage IM Sandipan Chanda in 38 moves in an irregular opening.

GM Krishnan Sasikiran (Tamil Nadu), who gave a close fight to Kunte, finished second with 12.5 points agreeing to a 23-move draw with IM GB Prakash.

Making sure that he was not to be left behind, a relaxed looking Harikrishna chose the English Opening which later transposed into the Queen’s Gambit decline exchange variation to severely punish Lahiri’s poor play. He opened the `g’ file strengthening it tripling major pieces including the queen and knight.

Faced with sure demolition, Lahiri gave up on the 35th move, finishing poor 19th in the championship.

Ganguly — Harikrishna’s friend from the Goodricke Academy — cemented his place chose for a quick peace treaty with experienced IM Prasad, who jumped at the opportunity as early as the sixth move.

As luck may have it, the crucial half point ensured Prasad a ticket to Istanbul while Ganguly moved to the fourth spot.

Thipsay’s hopes were foiled by a stubborn Lanka Ravi who came up with the Rubinstein Defence in reply to the e4 Opening. But every initiative was intelligently neutralised by an alert Ravi and the players agreed for a draw on the 24th move.

Saravanan had to suffer the same fate at the hands of Murugan who forced early exchange of queens to bring about an equal ending. Knowing that there would be no breakthrough, Saravanan opted for a draw after only 16 moves.

Results (Round 19): Sandipan Chanda 99) lost to Dibyendu Barua (11.5), SS Ganguly 911) drew with DV Prasad (10), P Harikrishna (10) bt Atanu Lahiri 96), K Sasikiran (12.5) drew GB Prakash 97), S Kidambi (8.5) bt Vishal Sareen (7), Sriram Jha (8) drew TS Ravi (9), V Saravanan (10) drew K Murugan (7.5), Pravin Thipsay (10) drew Lanka (6), Neelotpal Das 97) drew with Ravi Hegde (7.5), Abhijit Kunte (13.5) bye

Final Standings: 1. GM Abhijit Kunte (13.5 points) 2. GM Krishnan Sasikiran (12.5) 3. GM Dibyendu Barua (11.5) 4. IM SS Ganguly (11) 5. IM DV Prasad (10) 6. IM P Harikrishna (10) 7. GM Pravin Thipsay (10) 8. IM V Saravanan (10) 9. FM TS Ravi (9) 11. S Kidambi (8.5) 12. Sriram Jha (8) 13. IM K Murugan (7.5) 14. IM Ravi Hegde (7.5) 15. Vishal Sareen (7) 16. IM Neelotpal Das (7) 17. IM GB Prakash (7) 18. IM Lanka Ravi (6) 19. IM Atanu Lahiri (6)

The Top Six

1. GM Abhijit Kunte (13.5 points), 2. GM Krishnan Sasikiran (12.5), 3. GM Dibyendu Barua (11.5), 4. IM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (11), 5. IM DV Prasad (10), 6. IM P Harikrishna (10)