TN players dominate Cusat Open

THE HINDU

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

Vishnu Prasanna.

KOCHI: Chennai youngster Vishnu Prasanna’s triumph, with a round to spare, in the 19th Cusat Open here on Friday night seems to have inspired the rest of the Tamil Nadu players in a big way.

Seven of the top ten positions went to Tamil Nadu players in this all-India FIDE-rated chess tournament which concluded at the Cochin University’s SMS Hall on Saturday. Vishnu, the 17th seed, carried home his career-best purse of Rs. 15,000 while Tamil Nadu’s R. Sidharth and West Bengal’s top-seeded Saptarshi Roy finished second and third respectively.

Vishnu continued his good run in the final round today, jolting the seasoned fifth seed M.B. Muralidharan to finish with a lead of 1.5 points over the runner-up.

Final placings: 1. Vishnu Prasanna (TN, 10 pts from 11 rounds), 2. R. Sidharth (TN, 8.5), 3. Saptarshi Roy (WB, 8.5), 4. R.R. Laxman (TN, 8.5), 5. T.J. Suresh Kumar (ICF-TN 8), 6. M. Kunal (TN, 8), 7. V. Haribalu (TN, 8), 8. Vinoth Kum ar (TN, 8), 9. M.B. Muralidharan (Ker, 8), 10. Anurag Jaiswal (WB, 8).

The results (11th round):

M.B. Muralidharan lost to Vishnu Prasanna; Vinoth Kumar drew with R. Sidharth; Saptarshi Roy bt O.T. Anilkumar; M. Kunal drew with V. Haribalu; R.R. Laxman bt Naveen S. Hegde; Rupankar Nath drew with U.C. Mohanan; Anurag Jaiswal bt P.V. Gi reesh; M. Anandhraj drew with Santu Mondal; T.J. Suresh Kumar bt H. Venkatesh; T.R. Shanmuganathan drew with Avinash Sethi.

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Sweet revenge for Suresh

KOCHI: ICF’s T.J. Suresh Kumar made good use of lessons learnt last year in the 19th Cusat Open all-India FIDE-rated chess tournament here on Wednesday.

The 12th seed upset Tamil Nadu’s second-seeded International Master R.R. Laxman in 44 moves of an English game and moved into the lead after the sixth round at the Cochin University’s SMS Hall.

“He beat me in the same line last year, so I was prepared this time,” said Suresh Kumar.

Prasanna beats Kunal

Chennai’s Vishnu Prasanna ended the giant-killing run of Madurai teenager M. Kunal and joined Suresh in the lead.

Only one round was played on Wednesday.

The results (sixth round): Vishnu Prasanna (TN, 6) bt M. Kunal (TN, 5), T.J. Suresh Kumar (ICF, 6) bt R.R. Laxman (TN, 4.5), V. Haribalu (TN, 4.5) drew with Saptarshi Roy (WB, 4.5), H. Venkatesh (TN, 4.5) drew with Vinoth Kumar (TN, 4. 5), R. Sidharth (TN, 5) bt T.R. Shanmuganathan (TN, 4), K. Alex Thomas (Ker, 4) lost to Anurag Jaiswal (WB, 5), Merryston David Scanny (TN, 4) lost to Rupankar Nath (WB, 5). Naveen S. Hegde (Kar, 5) bt K.V. Anilkumar (TN, 4), Santu Mondal (WB, 5) bt Roop Saurav (Bih, 4), Mohammed Fawaz (Ker, 4) lost to Nimmy A. George (Ker, 5), O.T. Anilkumar (Ker, 4.5) bt S.V.C. Chakravarthi (AP, 4), Pranab Kumar Nath (Asm, 4.5) lost to M.B. Muralidharan (Ker, 4.5), P.V. Gireesh (Ker, 4) drew with M. Deepthamsh Reddy (AP, 4), P.K. Arjun (Ker, 4.5) bt Linda Rangarajan (Pon, 3.5), Avinash Sethi (Del, 4) drew with G. Anish Kushal (TN, 4). K.L. Pramod Das (Ker, 3.5) lost to K.A. Unas (Ker, 4.5), Vineeth P. Kaimal (Ker, 4.5) bt Nikhilesh Das (WB, 3.5), Syed Rehman Nazer (Ker, 4) drew with S. Subba Raju (AP, 4), V.M. Rajeev (Ker, 3) lost to K. Haridas (Ker, 4), U.C. Mohanan (HIL, 4) bt R. Ashok Kumar (TN, 3).

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