BHUBANESWAR 03-Jun-2012 430
Blind chess players made Odisha proud with Soundarya Kumar Pradhan and his elder brother Prachurya Kumar Pradhan emerging champion and runner-up respectively in the All-India Fide Rating Chess Tournament for the Blind, which concluded at Hyderabad on today.
In the nine-round tournament, three players tied for the top spot with 7.5 points each. But on the basis of Buchholz tie-break score, Soundarya bagged the title and a cash prize of Rs 7,000, while Prachurya took the runner-up prize of Rs 6,000. Shirish Patil (Maharashtra), who finished third, took home Rs 5,000. Soundarya remained undefeated in the five-day tournament, posting six wins and drawing the remaining three.
He defeted top seed Darshan Patel (Gujarat); Myank Sharma, Akhlish Srivastav (both Delhi), Prahlad Dhivar (Jharkhand), Ravindra Shirkar (Maharashtra), V Vishnu (AP) and drew with brother Prachurya, KM Sashidhar (Karnataka) and Madan Bagyatkar (Maharashtra).
Prachurya won seven games against Madan Bagyatkar, KM Sashidhar, EP Naushad (Kerala), Mukesh Prajapati, Rajesh Rajput (both Gujarat), Surajit Roy (WB). Rahul Kumar (Punjab); drew one with Prachurya and lost one against Darshan Patel. The Pradhan brothers, who hail from Sativata in Bargarh district, are presently staying at Boden in Nuapada district.
The tournament, featuring 109 players from 13 states was organised by Devnar Foundation for the Blind, under the aegis of All India Chess Federation for the Blind.
As many as 10 players from Odisha participated in the tournament under the leadership of Girish Chandra Behera. The other seven players include Biranchi Sahoo, Subhash Behere, Deepak Kumar Bhoi, Sudhir Naik, Manoj Barik, Jogendra Jani, Narendra Kumbhar.
Two teams, comprising four players each, would be representing Odisha in the National Team Chess Championship for the Blind to be held in Rohtak (Haryana) from June 21 to 25.
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PHOTO: Soundarya Pradhan (2nd from left) and Prachurya Pradhan with their trophies in Hyderabad on June 3, 2012.
