PSPB, Air India consolidate position
Hyderabad, Feb 25 : Overnight leader PSPB consolidated its position at the top with emphatic wins to give the team 14 points from seven rounds in the HCA 33rd National Team Chess Championship and SBH 11th National Women Team Chess Championship at the Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium here today.
The second spot is shared by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Indian Railway 'B' with points each.
GM Abhijeet Gupta gave PSPB its first point when he outclassed Sagar Shah of Maharashtra Chess Association from the white side of Queen's Indian defense in 42 moves.
MCA's Atul Dahale tried to make some amends while playing GM Adhiban before they agreed for a draw on the 38thmove. GM Sethuraman's game-plan helped scored an easy win against Snehal Bhosale giving PSPB a 3-1 score.
The games between the two Railway outfits ended in quick draws with each eyeing a podium finish while LIC registered a narrow 2.5-1.2 win.
IMs Anup Deshmukh and Atanu Lahiri won against Vinoth Kumar and Ram S Krishnan respectively. Shashaank of Tamil Nadu caused a mild flutter when he beat IM Dinesh Sharma in 34 moves with a quick attack from the black side of the Nimzo Indian defense.
Meanwhile AAI struggled a bit against Kerala team but ended up with a 3-1 margin. Air India humbled Andhra Bank 3.5-0.5 after Satyapragyan was held by M Vinay Kumar.
There were no dramatic changes in the women script with Air India maintaining its lead following a decisive 3-1 win over AP Race. IM Tania Sachdev forced a resignation on the 40th move while veteran IM S Vijayalakshmi won her game in 36 moves.
Air India has maintained a clean slate in the tournament and occupies the top spot with ten points while Airport Authority of India is placed second.