BHUBANESWAR 14-Feb-2016
Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) `A’ and Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) won the open and women titles respectively in the National Team Chess Championship, which was organised by All Odisha Association in collaboration with KiiT University here at KIIT Law School from February 8 to 14.
The RSPB-A team, comprising IM P Karthikeyan, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, IM K Rathnakaran, IM Arghyadip Das and GM Swapnil S Dhopade, collected 16 match points and a total of 27 points in the nine-round open category, the 36th edition of which featured as many as 36 teams, including seven from Odisha.
Odisha teams were: Odisha, KIIT University, Master Chess Foundation-A, SR Chess, Master Chess Foundation-B, Triple C Chess, Master Chess Foundation-C. Air India team, involving Odisha IMs Swayangsu Satyapragyan and Swayams Mishra, finished third with 14 match points, while Airport Authority of India emerged runners-up with 15 match points.
In the seven-round women competition, the 14th edition of which featured 11 teams, including two from Odisha (Odisha and KIIT University), PSPB team, consisting of Odisha IM Padmini Rout, IM Eesha Karavade, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, WFM R Vaishali and WFM Srija Seshadri, topped the table with 14 match points and a total of 26.5 points. Padmini also won the individual top-board prize, garnering 4.5 points from five games.
The week-long championship, which featured 11 Grand Masters, 17 International Masters and five Women Grand Masters, carried a total prize fund of Rs 2 lakh. World Chess Federation Vice-president DV Sundar, Asian Chess Federation deputy-president Bharat Singh Chowan and, KiiT University registrar Prof Sasmita Samanta handed over the prizes in the presence of All Odisha Chess Association president Sekhar Chandra Sahoo and vice-president Ranjan Mohanty.
FINAL STANDINGS:
OPEN (Top 10): 1. Railway Sports Promotion Board-A (16/27), 2. Airport Authority of India (15/28), 3. Air India (14/23), 4. Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (13/23), 5. Delhi (11/24), 6. West Bengal (11/22.5), 7. Tamil Nadu-A (11/22), 8. Railway Sports Promotion Board-B (11/21), 9. Gujarat (11/18.5), 10. Life Insurance Corporation (10/20.5).
BOARD PRIZES: 1. Ankit R Rajpara (Gujarat), 2. Hemant Sharma (Delhi), 3. Deepak Katiyar (Delhi), 4. K Arjun (Kerala), 5. Swapnil S Dhopade (RSPB-A).
WOMEN (Top 5): 1. Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (14/26.5), 2. Air India (12/24), 3. Tamil Nadu (10/19), 4. KIIT University (8/16), 5. Odisha (7/14).
BOARD PRIZES: 1. Padmini Rout (PSPB), 2. Eesha Karavade (PSPB), 3. Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India), 4. R Vaishali (PSPB), 5. Srija Seshadri (PSPB).
