Signal free journey for Railways ‘A’

Bhopal (05 Feb 17) :- Railway ‘A’ team on course to defend their title as they registered their fifth win on the trot to take sole lead in the ongoing National Team Chess Championship at Bansal Institute of Science and Technology on Sunday.

Railway men were class act on Sunday morning to beat overnight joint leaders Air India in the fifth round encounter to take their point tally to ten match points. For Railways, Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy, International Masters Thejkumar MS and Himanshu Sharma produced emphatic victories over International Masters S Satyaprgyan, Swayams Mishra and Grandmaster Thejas Bakre respectively. The game between Swapnil Dhopade and N Srinath on third board ended without decisive result to make the score line 3½ – ½ in favour of Railways ‘A’.

Meanwhile top seeds Airports Authority of India came back strongly after their fourth round debacle against Air India and derailed the Railway ‘B’ team 3 – 1. In the crucial sixth round, Railway ‘A’ takes on Airports Authority of India.

In the women section, Air India took sole lead with seven points after beating Airports Authority of India in fourth round. For Air India, International Master Vijayalakshmi S and Women Grandmaster Meenakshi scored full point against Srija Seshadri and Pranali Dharia on top two boards while Bhakti Kulkarni and Michelle Catherina drew their game against Rucha Pujari and Varshini V on third and fourth boards.

In other fourth round encounters, Bengal held third seed LIC while Tamilnadu blanked Gujarat. Madhya Pradesh ‘A’ moved to joint second spot along with AAI, LIC and Tamilnadu with six points after defeating Himachal Pradesh. In the fifth round on Monday morning, Madhya Pradesh ‘A’ takes on Air India while LIC paired against AAI.

Round-5 (Open) :- Air India (8) lost to Railway ‘A’ (10) ½ – 3½; Railway ‘B’ (7) lost to Airports Authority of India (8) 1 – 3; Tamilnadu ‘B” (6) lost to Viyugam Chess Academy (8) 0 – 4; LIC (8) beat Defence Accounts Sports Control Board (6) 3½ – ½ ; Karnataka (7) drew with Kerala (7) 2 – 2; Madhya Pradesh ‘B’ (6) lost to BSNL (7) 1½ – 2½ ; Andhra Bank (7) beat Resha Chess Hub (5) 3 – 1; Bihar ‘B’ (6) drew with Sivakasi Chess Club (6) 2 – 2; Services Sports Control Board (4) lost to Tamilnadu ‘A’ (6); Madhya Pradesh ‘A’ (4) lost to Rajasthan ‘A’ (6) 1½ – 2½.

Round-4 (Women) :- Air India (7) beat Airports Authority of India (6) 3 -1; Bengal (5) drew with LIC (6) 2 -2; Gujarat (4) lost to Tamilnadu (6) 0 – 4; Himachal Pradesh (2) lost to Madya Pradesh ‘A’ (6) 1 – 3; Punjab (3) drew with Telangana (3) 2 – 2; Academy of Chess Education (3) drew with Madhya Pradesh ‘B’ (3) 2 – 2; Gwalior (1) drew with Ewing Christian (1) 2 – 2.