Air India beat AAI

Bhopal (04 Feb 17) :- Defending champions Railways ‘A’ and third seed Air India share the lead with eight match points at the end of fourth round matches of the National Team Chess Championship which is in progress at Bansal Institute of Science and Technology.

Air India registered a crucial victory over top seeds Airports Authority of India with a score line of 2½ – 1½ . International Master N Srinath produced the decisive result for Air India on third board as he outwitted Grandmaster Shyam Sundar with dark colour pieces while other three boards ended with peace treaties.

Railway ‘A’ team occupied the leaders table with an easy outing against Viyugam Chess Academy as all the four boards produced favourable results for the railway men. Railway ‘B’ team moved to sole third spot with seven match points after defeating Tamilanadu ‘A’ 3 -1 in the fourth round encounter.

In the women section, Airport Authority of India emerged as sole leaders after the third round matches. AAI beat Gujart comfortably with 4 – 0 score line.

But in a crucial encounter in third round, Life Insurance Corporation held top seed Air India. For LIC, Women Grandmasters Swati Ghate beat International Master S Vijayalakshmi on top board while Kiran Manisha Mohanty got better off Michelle Catherina on third board while Air India registered favourable results on second and fourth board through Bhakti Kulkarni and Aarthie Ramaswamy. Bhakti beat Bindu K Saritha and Aarthie cracked the defences of Manjul Shrivastava.

Round-4 (Open) :- Airports Authority of India (6) lost to Air India (8) 1½ – 2½ ; Viyugam Chess Academy (6) lost to Railways ‘A’ (8) 0 -4; Tamilnadu ‘A’ (4) lost to Railway ‘B’ (7) 1 – 3; BSNL (5) lost to LIC (6) 1½ – 2½ ; Rajasthan ‘A’ (4) lost to Karnataka (6) 1½ – 2½ ; Gujarat (4) lost to Madhya Pradesh ‘B’ (6) 1½ – 2½; Defence Accounts Sports Control Board (6) beat Services Sports Control Board (4) 3½ – ½ ; Kerala (6) beat Madhya Pradesh ‘A’ (4) 2½-1½; Anand Chess Club (4) lost to Tamilnadu ‘B’ (6) 1½ – 2½; Resha Chess Hub (5) drew with Bihar ‘A’ (4) 2 – 2.

Round-3 (Women) :- LIC (5) drew with Air India (5) 2 – 2; Airports Authority of India (6) beat Gujarat (4) 4 – 0; Tamilnadu (4) beat Himachal Pradesh (2) 4 – 0; Madhya Pradesh ‘B’ (2) lost to Bengal (4) 0 – 4; Madhya Pradesh ‘A’ (4) beat Punjab (2) 4 – 0; Telangana (2) beat Ewing Christian (0) 3½ – ½ ; Academy of Chess Education (2) beat Gwalior (0) 3 -1.