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International Master N.Sudhakar Babu of Indian
Bank is with the winner trophy in the middle. Ashwin Jayaram,
runner-up is at left and Preetham Sharma is at right. |
Indian Bank's International Master, N.Sudhakar Babu of
Chennai won his second rating event in as many months when he won the 18th
Cusat FIDE Rating tournament at Kalamssery in Ernakulam on June 30.
The event attracted 232 entrants from most of the Indian states and it was
held as a 11-round Swiss from June 24-30. The last round started on June
30 with six players in lead with eight points. The three Chennai stars,
Babu and the younger brigade of Aswin Jayaram and Preetham Sharma stood
the test of the nervous final round to win and tie for first place on
9/11.
Sudhakar Babu's tie-break score helped him win this event on his very
first attempt. He was the only international master in the fray. Playing
actively has been his preparation. He had won the S.K.Narasihman Memorial
FIDE Rating in Chennai last month. "I hope to gain 15-20 Elo points from
this April-June season," opined Babu.
Like Babu, several others also remained undefeated. Aswin Jayaram took
second place and Preethan Sharma was third on lower tie-break. About 105
rated players took part in this event which was largely dominated by
players from Tamil Nadu. A total of 17 places in the top 25 were taken by
the Tamil Nadu players.
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The picture from the closing ceremony. Veteran
Namboodiripad (left), four time Cusat Champion O.T.Anilkumar (centre),
Kerala State Association Secretary Venugopal. |
The event was well organised by Cusat Chess Club and
the Cochin University Union. M.S.Ananthakrishnan was the organiser who did
the show and he was backed by a team. "On one earlier occasion, when the
prize fund was short, he paid the balance amount from his personal
Provident Fund," said T.J.Suresh Kumar, the Chess-in-charge of ICF,
Chennai.
The top seed K.Ratnakaran, of Southern Railway, Kozhikode took the fifth
place. Swapnil Dhopade of Maharashtra caused a few upsets and took a well
deserved fourth place. Dhopade was the find of the meet.
The Chief Arbiter M.Ephrame of Nagercoil spoke in Malayalam and requested
the organisers to upgrade the event from "Rating" to "International Open"
next year. In the closing ceremony, State Bank of India, one of the
consortium sponsors confirmed their support for the 19th edition in 2007.
The arbiters did not have much work but they awarded four free points when
mobile phones rang as per the FIDE rules. Unable to accept the fact
C.Natarajan withdrew and left as he was leading with 4.5/5 when the mishap
occurred.
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IM N.Sudhakar Babu of Indian Bank received the
winner trophy and cash prize from Vice Chancellor of the Cochin
University Dr Aziz at the closing ceremony on June 30. |
Final placings (TN, unless stated): 1-3 N.Sudhakar Babu,
Aswin Jayaram, Preetham Sharma 9/11 each, 4-5 Swapnil Dhopade (Mah),
K.Ratnakaran (Ker) 8.5 each, 6-10 C.Praveen Kumar, B.T.Murali Krishnan,
Lazar M.A.Joy (Ker), Nikhil P.Shyam, Gopal Ashok Rathod (Mah) 8 each,
11-25 Ibrahim Dustageer, T.J.Suresh Kumar, P.Maheswaran, Syed Anwar
Shazuli, P.V.Gireesh (Ker), Vinoth Kumar, K.Narayanan, Venkat Sundaram,
T.Shanmuganathan, Santu Mondal (Ben), Joydeep Dutta (Ben), David Scanny
Merryston, K.Haridas, K.Haridas, M.B.Muralidharan (Ker) 7.5 each.
Best Prizes: Under-8: Athul Krishna (Ker) 5.5, Under-10: Deepthamsh Reddy
(AP) 6.5, Under-12 Teenu Thomas (Ker) 6.5, Under-14: J.B.Vigneswaran 7,
Under-16 Sachin C (Ker) 7.5, Under-18: V.Haribalu 7.5, Under-20: Ajith M.P
(Kar) 7, Women: Nimmy George (Ker) 7.5, Kerala: Sajeed T.A. 7.5, Veteran:
Gopal Shah (Guj) 7, Senior Citizen: Noordeen V.N (Ker) 6, Cusat: Pylee
Vargeese (Ker) 4.5, Cusat Alumni: Jolly V.P. (Ker) 6, Best Non-Keralite:
Stanley Samson (TN) 7.5, Best local: Unas K.A.
Published on
01.07.2006
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