| Shradha Samani of Maharashtra
had a grand double in just about three months when she won the National Sub Junior title
for girls after a shaky start. Shradha lost the first round to Nabeela Farheen of TN but
hit back strongly to win the next seven rounds. She drew the final round to clinch the
title convincingly. The top-seed Kolhapur girl had won the National Under-14 title in
Calcutta in the month of June. The clash for the
boys title at the V. K. Krishna Menon Indoor Stadium, Calicut, was quite intense with the
lead changing hands frequently with Saptarshi Roy of GNCA, Calcutta, claiming the title
with an impressive win in the final round. Saptarshi scored 7.5/9 half a point ahead of
Yashpal Singh Sonwani of MP and P. Poobalan of TN. It was underdog Yashpal who caught the
eye, with a splendid display, upsetting the applecart of several seeds as well leading the
field with two rounds to go. His loss in the penultimate round to R. S. Prasanna, of Tamil
Nadu, proved expensive as it enabled Saptarshi and Prasanna to nose ahead of him with just
a round to go. Yashpal caught up in the final round to get the runner-up berth.
While Saptarshi was taking the GNCA to big heights, in
Calicut, it was left to S. S.Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda and Neelotpal Das to complete their
academy's fine home run in Mumbai. GNCA's Ganguly won the National "B"
Championship defeating top-seed Ramesh in the final round, with Sandipan and Neelotpal
finishing close behind clinching the National "A" berths in an impressive
manner. It is a fitting result for the steadfast efforts of GNCA, Calcutta, and it augurs
well for Indian chess where the young brigade has deservedly taken over the reins.
|
