Snooker is an invigorating and topsy-turvy game. Down in the dumps at one stage and top of the heap in the next. Delhi's Varun Taneja snatched a frame from his celebrated opponent Geet Sethi and the vision of a great upset victory in the S Chand-Jaypee All-India Invitational Tournament being played at Hotel Residency Manor.Taneja won the first frame in a canter, added by a run of 47 and put Sethi in dire straits in the next, but he managed to wriggle out of the tight situation. Thereafter, Sethi took a vice-like grip of the match to carve out a 19-60, 62-40, 123-12, 49-26 win.Gaurav Anand started with a flourish, registering an incredible run of 86 in the first frame against Sidharth Rao. The break could have gone for a possible 93 but an attempted slice cut resulted in-of while the black ball sailed into the pocket.Anand threw caution to the lovely breeze outside and started going for ambitious shots. He even tried for double red pot the centre which is really played by professionals. He perished in the second frame trying for seemingly impossible shots. Sidharth Rao won the next two frames making 45 and 59, respectively.However, in the decider Anand was a trifle unlucky when after potting a black in the centre he momentarily did not realise that the black spot was covered by a cluster of red pots. The black was put on the pink ball spot and his cue ball was snookered behind black.Gaurav Anand is young and talented and plays with break-neck speed. He has to learn to play percentage snooker. You cannot pot everything in sight. The great Jimmy White never used to play safety shots initially but over the years he has started playing percentage snooker.Varun Taneja played like a novice in his second match against former national champion Alok Kumar. After his 63-31, 64-1, 69-44 drubbing, he blamed the cool climate of the hill station to his bad play. From time immemorial, this green baize game has two things: snooker alibies Sonic Multani annihilated junior champion Manan Chandra 3-0. Former Asian snooker champion Yasin Merchant gave glimpses of his wonted form to beat an off-colour Mukesh Rehani 3-1.
