National Chess Championship: Surya Sekhar remains in lead despite draw with Diptayan

After seven back-to-back victories, Ganguly leads with 7.5 points ahead of Diptayan, defending champion S.P. Sethuraman and seven others.

FILE PHOTO: Chess player Grand Master Ganguly Surya Sekhar of India in action against the Paraguay on Twelth day of the 44th Chess Olympiad. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B/ The Hindu

Diptayan Ghosh on Saturday did what nobody else could do at the 61st National chess championship: he took half-a-point off Surya Sekhar Ganguly.

Diptayan thus stopped the remarkable winning streak of the top seed at the RPS International School. After seven back-to-back victories, this was the first draw for Ganguly.

He, however, has maintained his one-point lead, with just three rounds remaining. He is on 7.5 points.

Following him on 6.5 points are a large group: Diptayan, defending champion S.P. Sethuraman, Himal Gusain, Karthik Venkataraman, Aronyak Ghosh, Ajay Karthikeyan, Sriram Jha, M.R. Lalith Babu and Arjun Adireddy. From among those nine players, Ajay, Arjun and Sriram stood out, overcoming their much higher-rated rivals – Abhijeet Gupta, Sayantan Das and N.R. Visakh, respectively.

After stunning the second-seeded Abhijeet, Ajay admitted he was a bit lucky in their English Opening game, which he won in 39 moves with white pieces. An unwise king move had made his position precarious, but his rival paid back the compliment soon enough with three disastrous back-to-back moves with rook and queen.

The top-board game between the two Kolkatans didn’t have as much drama. Ganguly and the fourth-seeded Diptayan quietly drew their Spanish Game in 68 moves.

Important results (eighth round):

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (PSPB) 7.5 drew with Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB) 6.5; Himal Gusain (RSPB) 6.5 drew with S.P. Sethuraman (PSPB) 6.5; Karthik Venkataraman (AP) 6.5 drew with Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) 6.5; Ajay Karthikeyan (TN) 6.5 bt Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) 5.5; Neelotpal Das (PSPB) 6 drew with Mitrabha Guha (RSPB) 6; N.R. Visakh (RSPB) 5.5 lost to Sriram Jha (LIC) 6.5; Viani D’cunha (Kar) 6 drew with Deep Sengupta (PSPB) 6; R.R. Laxman (RSPB) 5.5 lost to M.R. Lalith Babu (AP) 6.5; Arjun Adireddy (TS) 6.5 bt Sayantan Das (RSPB) 5.5; Swapnil Dhopade (Mah) 6 drew with Utkal Ranjan (Odi) 6; G. Aakash (TN) 6 drew with S. Ravi Teja (AP) 6; Siddhant Gawai (Mah) 5 lost to P. Iniyan (TN) 6; Sankalp Gupta (Mah) 6 bt Jihan Shah (Guj) 5; A. Agustin (Kar) N.R. Vignesh (Guj); Madhvendra Sharma (MP) 5 lost to Neelash Saha (RSPB) 6.