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Lanka Ravi
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Lanka Ravi Takes Maiden Title
By Arvind Aaron
Press Officer
International Master Lanka Ravi of ONGC, Hyderabad remained undefeated to
win the 44th National B Chess Championship at the Karnavati Club in
Ahmedabad on Sep 10. He scored 10 points from 13 games to pick up the top
place and Rs.30,000 in cash. The second place went to Himanshu Sharma of
Haryana on 9.5 points. Both Ravi and Himanshi played draws with
Vikramaditya Kamble and G.Rohit to take the top two places.
The dreams of many players were
fulfilled on Sep 10. The Sunday morning final round saw quick draws agreed
at the top tables and big fighting for the qualifying spots among the
eight pointers. One 8.5 pointer qualified and lady luck smiled on WGM
Eesha Karavade who scored a final round victory over Ramprakash. Sudhir
Sinha who was on 8.5 and met Arghyadip Das (8) made a draw and earned his
maiden qualifying entry into the National A. Blending a mix of experience
and fighting spirit, N.Sudhakar Babu, V.Saravanan, T.S.Ravi and
G.B.Prakash scored final round victories to enter the National A once
again. Among first time qualifiers were All India Railway Champion Syed
Anwar Shazuli, Ashwin Jayaram from Tamil Nadu. For the first time three
women qualified and it will be remembered by women players. In addition to
Koneru Humpy who is seeded, Swati Ghate, D.Harika and Eesha Karavade have
qualified. Women chess in India has never had it this high.
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There was
local celebration too as Valay Parikh became the fifth player ever Gujarat
to qualify for the National A. Earlier four are: Gaurang S.Mehta, Viraf
P.Avari, Praful Mehta and Tejas Bakre. For many tournament winners
it was also their first time entry into the National A. In that list comes
R.R.Laxman, Somak Palit, Poobesh Anand, Swapnil Dhopade etc. IM Deep
Sengupta of Chakradharpur who is a former world under-12 champion also
qualified first time. The record new qualifiers was made possible due to
the "player-first" attitude of the All India Chess Federation and being
receptive to modern ideas on conducting National events.
Bobby Fischer Chess Club and Gujarat State Chess Association organised the
event well despite having faced the floods recently. The Chief Arbiter was
V.Kameswaran and the organiser was Mayur Patel and Vinay Parikh. The final
placings (30 qualifiers): 1 Lanka Ravi 10/13, 2 Himanshu Sharma 9.5, 3-29
Suvrajit Saha, V.Kamble, Ashwin Jayram, Thej Kumar, Ratnakaran K, P. Mokal,
Valay Parikh, Somak Palit, Poobesh Anand, WGM D Harika, Roktim
Bandopadhyay, R.R. Laxman, Girinath, Swapnil Dhopade, V. Koshy, Sudhir
Sinha, Abhishek Das, Deep Sengupta, B.T.Muralikrishnan, Sudhakar Babu,
Syed Anwar Shazuli, WGM Swati Ghate, D.K.Sharma, T.S.Ravi, V.Saravanan,
Rohit G, G.B.Prakash and on 30th Place WGM Eesha Karvade with 8.5...303
players.
Final Standings
Other reports
Published on 11.09.2006
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