It was a
memorable experience for the players who took part in the 3rd All India Bank of Baroda
Inter-Zonal Chess Championship held in Chennai during 20-22 December 1999. For the
participants of the tournament it was an opportunity not only to represent their
respective zones, but also to learn various nuances of conducting the tournaments. The tournament had attracted 44 entries from 11 zones of the Bank of Baroda. The strong
team from Mumbai Region comprised Ganesh Kamat, Ramesh Khadiya Verosa. Dilip Deshpande and
Nandu Sawant won the team championship. They put up a good show and were leading from the
first round onwards. Though the tournament was conducted in the SWISS format for
individuals, the total points scored by the four players were taken into account for
reckoning the team score. Seven rounds were conducted with the time duration of two hours
for each player and with two time controls. The tournament was inaugurated by Shri T.P. Banerjee, Dy. General Manager, South Zone,
BOB. The players participated enthusiastically and played with utmost spirit. The
championship was conducted in a professional way by the team of National Arbiters, S.
Susil Kumar and B. Sakthi Prabhakar. Besides the prizes for team and individual winners the organiser BOBSRC announced a
special prize for the Best Sports person of the tournament. The job of selecting the Best
Sports person was entrusted upon the Chief Arbiter, Susil Kumar. Though there were a
number of contenders for this prize, he decided to award it to young Dilip Deshpande
(Mumbai) based on many factors, such as attitude, approach, behaviour, cooperation and
future prospects. This award was instituted by the Bhatia Group, Ahmedabad. Dilip
Deshpande scored 4.5 points. The hospitality of the organiser BOBSRC, Chennai, especially its Secretary Mr. S.V.
Ramabhadran was excellent. Shri Manual Aaron, Secretary, TNCA, was the chief guest and
distributed the prizes to the winners. |
