| Today was a dull day as majority
of the top boards ended in a draw. Some of them were fighting draws while
some of the players did not take any risk agreeing for short draws.
Tejas Bakre (Elo 2358) and Sriram Jha agreed to a tame draw in five
moves. While on the second board lady luck continued to shower on
whizkid Saptarshi Roy as he drew with Lanka Ravi (Elo 2371) in 38 moves
of the Slav Defence . Ravi had a winning position but squandered
his advantage and had to split points . A disappointed Lanka Ravi
said "I was completely winning!"
Another fighting draw on the third table between
G.B.Prakash (Elo 2429) and Shankar Roy (Elo 2326) . Both the players fought
hard till the very end to draw in King Pawn Ending. Shankar Roy who
is on 8 points said, "Prakash had a slight plus throughout the game but
finally it was a draw."
K. Murugan (Elo 2377) took his score to 8.5
points with a nice win against K.Shantaram (Elo 2233) on the Fifth board.
While on the sixth board a long struggle between Anup Deshmukh (Elo 2311)
and Sandipan Chanda (Elo 2446) ended in a draw .
Out of the Top 15 boards , Ten games
ended in a draw . Tejas now has 9.5 points and has probably qualified
for the National A as he is having a one point lead and very
good progressive points . Other players who are hot contenders for
the Top 12 slot are Lanka Ravi , Sriram Jha , K.Murugan and Saptarshi
Roy all on 8.5 points. |
