G B Prakash wins Rating chess

Grandmaster-norm holder G B Prakash of Indian Bank won the Global Trust Bank International Rating chess tournament after drawing against International Master Anup Deshmukh of LIC in the final round in Hyderabad on Friday.

Playing white, Anup made an opening blunder that cost him a pawn in the Caro Kann defence. Prakash was, however, contended with a draw result that fetched him 9.5 points and netted the winners purse of Rs. 61,000.

Anup finished a clear second on 9 points and became richer by Rs. 30,000 on a day marred by draws despite nail biting battles on the top few boards.

IM Ravi Hegde of Union Bank finished 3rd with the best tie-break on 8.5 points. He drew with IM P Konguvel of ONGC in a Modern defence game with black pieces.

Konguvel got some semblance of advantage with his better development in the ensuing middlegame but Hegde neutralised with the exchange of Queens.

In the endgame Konguvel strove hard for a victory but Hegde's Rook invasion on the 7th rank sealed the fate of the game.

In a side variation of the Sicilian defence triple IM norm holder P D S Girinath of Railways drew with IM Neelotpal Das of Goodricke National Chess Academy. In the middlegame Girinath got a slight advantage and steered the game to a better endgame where he had two connected passed pawns against one on the Queenside.

A blunder under time pressure by Girinath landed him in a lost position but Neelotpal returned the favour soon after to draw the game.

IM Lanka Ravi of ONGC played a peaceful draw with triple IM norm holder Jayant Gokhale of Bharat petroleum in a Bogo Indian defense game with white pieces.

Jayant equalised after the opening got over and exchange two pawns to get a symmetrical pawn structure.

After giving a walkover to Anup Deshmukh yesterday, IM Sekhar Sahu of Union Bank went down to seasoned R K Mishra of MP in an irregular opening game.

Sahu got a near winning position after Mishra misplayed an equal position but blundered a Rook in tactical complications.

C Natrajan of ICF played a fine attacking game to beat Nassir Wajih of Railways in a Trompovsky opening with white pieces.