For a person who won the final
five rounds of the National-B Chess Championship to qualify for the National-A, some years back,
it was a bad patch in the next few years. However, the recently held T. Nagar Chess
Academy's second FIDE rated tournament was a major turn around for R Balasubramanian of
ICF, Chennai. He not only won the first place, but also regained his lost ground and glory
in one stroke.The tournament was held at the
Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, Egmore, from 15.11.99 to 19.11.99 and attracted 92 entries of
which 24 were FIDE rated players. National Arbiters, Mrs. B. Krishnawami, J. Austin Samson
and T.V. Ramesh smoothly conducted the tournament sans any dispute.
 Round
one saw all the seeds sailing smoothly with the exception of Fide rated D. Ganesh losing
to upcoming youngster R. Vasanth (K.M.H.S.S.). A Coimbatore student, P. Phoobalan, held
seasoned T.K. Chandrashekar, to a draw. In the second round all other seeds won. In round
III, veteran Kameswaran, bringing all his experience, held T.K. Chandrashekar to a draw.
Round IV saw G. Dinesh Kumar upset C. Natagrajan (ICF) in a French defence game in which
white had an advantage right from the word go. Out of form T.K.Chandrashekar's ambitious
moves were parried and later subdued when he lost on time to K.K. Lochan (Pachaiyya's
College). Round V saw R. Bala winning a highly rated K.V. Shantharam (I.B.) in a game of
pure luck, when the latter failed to complete the 30th move in a
winning position.
By the sixth round players at the top included R.
Balasubramanian, K. Gunasekaran, T.J. Suresh Kumar and Syed Anwer Shazuli (all ICF) K.
Visweswaran (CDCA) and A.L. Kasi (P&T). However, Round VII was insipid with a spate of
draws. And in the penultimate round, R. Balasubramanian and A L Kasi emerged joint leaders
with 6.5 points followed by Syed Anwar, T.J. Suresh Kumar, A. Shankar and B.T. Murali
Krishna all with 6 points.
 In the final and 9th round Bala had to play with
all his might to draw a stubborn A. Shankar of Southern Railways K. Visweswaran exhibited
technical expertise over A L Kasi in a knight ending, while B.T. Muralikrishna had a
cakewalk against S. Mistra of Orissa. Syed Anwar proved too tough for young Uttam Sharma.
Vijay Anadraj could do nothing with his black side Benoni against a solid Gunasekaran. The
youngsters who exhibited their talent were L Mahendran of Thiruvallur District, P.
Phoobalan of Coimbatore, S. Arunprasad of Salem and S. Bharath. Players who met a minimum
of 4 rated players to be in the line for International rating were V. Kameswaran, P.R. Dinesh Kumar, H. Santhanam, P. Phanid
Reddy, J. Karthik, S. Arun Prasad, P. Phoobalan, K. Mahendran, S. Bharath, B. Suresh, and
Nirajani.
The prize distribution was a memorable one, presided over
by nine-time National Champion Manuel, Aaron. Also present were the other office bearers
of TNCA. Fluid Power Hydraulics, Medimix & Bank of Madura jointly sponsored the
tournament. The category prizes were sponsored by TI Cycles, Chennai.
Final Placings
| |
Player |
Total Pts |
|
| 1 |
R. Balasubramaniam |
7 |
ICF |
| 2 |
Syed Anwar Shazih |
7 |
ICF |
| 3 |
B.T. Muralikrishna |
7 |
S.Rly |
| 4 |
K. Visweswaran |
7 |
CDCA |
| 5 |
A. Shankar |
7 |
S. Rly |
| 6 |
AL Kasi |
6.5 |
P&T |
| 7 |
T.J. Suresh Kumar |
6.5 |
ICF |
| 8 |
Gunasekaran |
6.5 |
ICF |
| 9 |
T.K. Chandrasekar |
6.5 |
D.G. Vaishnava |
| 10 |
S.C. Subramaniam |
6 |
S. Rly |
|
