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Journalism of Courage
MADURAI, July 28: Former National B champion and International Master Varghese Koshy (Ool & Natural Gas Corporation) maintained his slender half a point lead over his nearest rivals when he drew his eighth and penultimate round match against IM RB Ramesh (Indian Oil Corporation) in the 35th Sri Mapillai Vinayagar Open Chess tournament here today.
Koshy now has seven points and needs only a half a point in the final round tomorrow to clinch the title. Chennai compatriots, GB Prakash and RB Ramesh and Karnataka’s Aravind Sastry are in second spot with 6.5 points each. Five players are in third spot with six points each.
The top board match between Koshy and Ramesh ended in a tame draw after both players preferred a theoritically drawish opening variation. In the Classical Catalan opening, Koshy played cautiously. Ramesh, who was in no mood to play his usual offensive game, adopted passive play. When the game reached a balanced position, the IMs agreed for a draw in the 16th move.
IM norm-holder Prakash(Indian Bank) outmanoeuvred Kerala’s MB Muralidharan in an irregular system of King’s Indian defensive. Prakash handled his white pieces so meticulously that he got a clear advantage in the early middle game. To gain some counter play, Murali sacrificed his rook for the opponent’s knight, which was accepted by Prakash. This exchange was enough for the former National junior champion to score vital full point in the end game.
Former Asian chess queen, Anupama Gokhale (BPCL) was shocked by Arvind Sastry (Mysore). In a keenly fought match against Anupama’s d4 opening, Sastry adopted the Sharp Benko gambit. Sastry followed the well analysed variation in this opening to obtain a clear advantage. At the appropriate time, he made an exchange sacrifice to swallow white’s pawns one after another. When Anupama found that she could not wriggle out of the lost ending, she resigned on her 40th move.
Chennai youngster Laxmi Narasimhan, who acqquited himself well in the earlier rounds, went down fighting to N Sanjay(Income Tax). After enjoying an initial advantage in the c3 system of Sicilian defense, the Chennai boy blundered away a pawn on the rook file when his opponent was in time trouble.
This error was neatly capitalised by experienced Sanjay to score a point.Another interesting match between National champion (deaf and dumb) K Alaguraja and Asian under-12 bronze medalist, K Deepan Chakravarthy ended in a draw.RESULTS (Round 8)
Koshy V (ONGC 7) drew with RB Ramesh (IOC 6.5); GB Prakash (Indian Bank 6.5) bt M B Muralidharan (Kerala 6); Gokhale Anupama (BPCL 5.5) lost to Arvind Sastry (Kar 6.5); Laxminarasimhan (CNI 5.5) lost to Sanjay N (Kar 6); Preetam Sharma (CNI 5) lost to Haridoss X (TNTC 6); AVK Venkat (CNI 5) lost to Kasi AL (CNI 6); K Gunasekaran (CNI 5.5) drew with K Chakrvarthy (Salem 5.5); Ponraj R (Cbe 6) bt VKV Sundhan (Madurai 5); Ravichandran S (CNI 5.5) drew with Praveen Kumar (Madurai 5.5); Muruga Cheran (Cni 5.5) drew with Srinivasa Raghavan (Cni 5); Krirubakaran R (Madurai 5) lost toChandrasekaran (CNI 6).
