Smooth sailing for the seeded players

Smooth sailing  for the seeded players
by S.PAUL AROKIA RAJ, Chief Arbiter

The inaugural round of the 53rd  National Challengers Chess Championship now being held at Naivedhyam Celebration Centre Nagpur went off peacefully with all the top seeds accounting for their lesser known opponents. While the top seed Grandmaster Deep Sen Gupta of PSPB scored an easy win over Aanash Gupta of Delhi,the second seed of the tournament GM Lalit Babu also from PSPB made short work of Atoush Kumar of Bihar. Out of 10 Grandmasters participating in this important National championship nine did not have any hiccup in the first round . The only Grandmaster to drop a half a point in the first round was the sixth seed Abhijeet Kunte. Kunte was held to a draw by Delhi veteran Virendra Singh Negi  representing  Air India.The only Woman Grand master of the championship Mary Ann Gomes of Air Port Authority of India defeated S.Badrinath of Pondicherry.

However the day did not pass without any upset. It was an off day  for the seventh seeded International Master Argyadip Das of Railways who he lost on time to Delhi girl Vantika Agarwal. Handling Modern Benoni Defense Argyadip Das was running out of time right from move number 30.In a Queen and knight endgame Arghyadip Das could make only 36 moves against the stipulated 40 moves in the first 90 minutes and was declared lost on time.The second and third round will be played on Tuesday.

Import Result of the First Round