National Team Chess Championships : Double delight for Airport Authority of India

Airport Authority of India retained the title in both open and women section of the National Team Chess Championship, organized by Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering & Technology and Coimbatore District Chess Association at the college campus, Pollachi today. In both categories of open and women, they and Petroleum Sports Promotion Board were on par with respect to match points. In the men section, PSPB lost the title chance by the virtue of losing their direct encounter. In the women category, AAI were ahead of PSPB in the game points.

Finally, the Tamil Nadu all GMs team had the last laugh, when they defeated the overnight leaders Airport Authority of India. GM Shyam Sundar of Tamil Nadu was clinical in his victory over the teen ager IM Harshvardhan GB, paving a away for 3 – 1 victory. In the clash between the two former national champions, G Akash of Tamil Nadu forced a draw with GM Aravindh Chithambaram and Puranik Abhimanyu drew with P Iniyan. Pranesh of Tamil Nadu had a forfeit win over Snakalp Gupta. Irrespective of the final round loss, the AAI team managed to win the title.

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board team won narrowly by a skin of tooth over the Odisha team. Utkal Ranjan Sahoo of Odisha upset former 2700 player B Adhiban of PSPB and SS Ganguly drew with IM Sidhant Mohapatra of Odisha. Karthikeyan Murali and Vaibhav Suri made amendments to the PSPB by winning their games.

Both AAI and Petroleum Sports Promotion Board made a clean sweep by winning all the four games against their respective opponents Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively in the women group. Having scored equal number of match points, the AAI team pipped the PSPB team at the post, as they had collected more game points, compared to the latter.

Dr.M. Manickam, Chairman Sakthi Group of Industries and President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association presided over the prize distribution function. Sri. Bharat Singh Chauhan, Deputy President, Asian Chess Federation and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the World Chess Federation was the chief guest. Sri. Stephen Balasamy General Secreatary of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Sri. Senthil Valavan, Director Coimbatore Airport, Sri N. Jayabal President of Coimbatore District Chess Association and Dr.C. Ramasamy, Secretary Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering & Technology were the guests of honour.

Final Ranking – Open

Photo by Aditya Sur Roy