PETROLEUM Sports Control Board (PSCB) maintained its supremacy, claiming its fifth successive title in the men's section of the Nalanda National team chess championships at the Nalanda Vidya Niketan, Vijayawada, recently. Tamil Nadu took the women's title.
The PSCB team had in its line-up, players such as Grandmasters K. Sasikiran, Abhijit Kunte, International Masters S. S. Ganguly and P. Konguvel, besides captain D. V. Prasad, a GM-norm holder, giving it, understandably, the top seed tag.
In the end, a half-point margin separated the team from the runner-up, Indian Airlines, another star-studded squad that packed players of the calibre of Woman Grandmaster S. Vijayalakshmi, Tejas Bakre, R. G. Shetty, S. Satyapragyan and C. S. Gokhale.
In the fifth round face-off between the top-seeded side and the second-ranked IA, the latter upstaged the former by a full point but PSCB's consistency prevailed in the end.
An out of form Vijayalakshmi suffered two losses which weighed heavily on IA's fortunes. Sai Srinivas of Vijayawada had her in trouble early in round one, but the little lad's inexperience saved her the blushes.
Tejas Bakre was the star of the IA team scoring five points in six games.
The tournament turned the spotlight on lesser known teams such as the Emanuel Chess Centre, which finished fourth, pushing the third-ranked Bank Sports Board to fifth position. Sadly, it was quite a fall for the bankers, among whom were Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, N. Sudhakar Babu and Ravi Hegde.
In the women's section, Tamil Nadu towered over the opposition scoring 10 points, setting itself apart from runner-up T. Nagar Chess Academy by a clear three points.
The dates of the two team championships clashed with those of the Piloo Mody memorial tournament at Lucknow, which offered quite a considerable amount as cash prize. Nonetheless, the field in Vijayawada was pretty strong.
The Nalanda group of educational institutions was the main sponsor. The Dasara vacation came in handy for its various Vijayawada units to be used as venues. The ambience of the main centre, the Nalanda Vidya Niketan, attracted not only a healthy number of teams in various tournaments staged along with the national event, but quite a sizeable crowd of onlookers too.
Children flocked the venue for autographs and many of them had photographs taken with their idols. The arrangements for the events were reasonably good considering that it was only for the first time that the host was sponsoring a sporting event. Its support came in the form of venues, transport, food and accommodation, besides cash prizes.
The final standings:Men (after seven rounds):1. Petroleum Sports Control Board (4+4+2.5+2.5+2+3.5+4) 22.5; 2. Indian Airlines (3.5+4+4+2.5+2+2.5+3.5) 22; 3. Indian Railways (4+4+1.5+3+2.5+1.5+4) 20.5; 4. Emanuel Chess Centre (4+4+1+1.5+3+4+0.5) 18; 5. Bank Sports Board (4+4+3+1.5+1.5+0.5+3) 17.5; 6. Andhra Pradesh 16; 7. Champions Chess Academy 15.5; 8. Anita Chess Academy 15; 9. Indian Air Force (Progressive Score 60.5) 14.5; 10. L.V.R. & Sons (P.S.: 55) 14.5.
Comments
SHARE