Sethuraman Moves Into Sole Lead

Sethuraman Moves Into Sole Lead
By Arvind Aaron

S.P. Sethuraman moved from joint lead to sole lead in the eighth round of the South Indian Bank – CMS College National Premier Chess Championship that is taking place at Kottayam in Kerala on December 13, 2014.  Posting his fourth victory, Sethuraman leads with 5.5 points from eight games. Since he had already got a bye, his lead could be more than the present one point. In the joint second place on 4.5 points are Deep Sengupta, Sahaj Grover, P Karthikeyan, Deepan Chakkravarthy and Lalith Babu.

In an unusual variation of the Sicilian defence, Girinath, the oldest competitor went down to Sethuraman in 69 moves in a queen and rook ending.  Swayams Mishra upset Lalith Babu in 52 moves in a queen and knight v queen and bishop ending. This edition is continuing to witness plenty of decisive games.

Five rounds remain to be played in this 13-player all-play-all. The chief arbiter is R Anantharam of Sivakasi.

The results (round eight): P.D.S.Girinath (Rly) 2 lost to S.P. Sethuraman (PSPB) 5.5; M.R. Lalith Babu (PSPB) 4.5 lost to Swayams Mishra (Odi) 3; Abhijit Kunte (PSPB) 4 bt R.R. Laxman (Rly) 2; Vidit Gujrathi (PSPB) 4 drew with Sahaj Grover (Rly) 4.5; V.A.V. Rajesh (TN) 1.5 lost to P Karthikeyan (Rly) 4.5; J Deepan Chakkravarthy (Rly) 4.5 drew with P Shyam Nikil (TN) 3.5; Deep Sengupta (PSPB) 4.5 – bye.