2nd Bank Olympiad Chess tournament ,Patiala

Indian Tournaments 2003

2nd Bank Olympiad Chess tournament
National Institute of Sports ,Patiala

Shantharam Champion, Indian Bank retains team title

FIDE Master K V Shantharam of Indian bank claimed the 2nd Bank Olympiad title defeating S N Ravishankar of Canara Bank in the final round at NIS, Patiala, here today.

Shantharam scored 6.5 points from seven rounds, ahead of higher seeds Pravin Thipsay (UBI), G B Prakash (Indian bank) and Moti Ram (SBP) who all shared the second spot with 5.5 points.

In an interesting battle, Shantharam replied with the Sicilian defence and had Ravishankar in quick trouble with his queen sortie. Pouncing on Ravi's opening error Shantharam sacrificed his queen for a bishop and two rooks and sewed the game and the title in double quick time.

The title triumph became a sweet double for Indian Bank as they won the team title, thanks to the consistent show of Shantharam, Prakash, Sudhakar Babu, Hariharan and Gopalakrishna. Fancied Union Bank of India took the second spot, followed by hosts State Bank of Patiala.

Final Standings

1, K V Shantharam, (IB), 6.5, 2-5, G B Prakash, (IB), Pravin Thipsay, (UBI), Moti Ram, (SBP), Prathmesh Mokal, (UBI) 5.5, 6-9 S N Ravishankar, (CB), N Neelakantan, (CBI), Sharad Tilak, (UBI), S K Sinha, (PNB) 5.0

Main Results (final round)

S N Ravishankar, CB (5.0) lost to K V Shantharam, IB (6.5), Moti Ram, SBP (5.5) drew with G B Prakash, IB (5.5), Pravin Thipsay, UBI (5.5) beat K Gopalakrishnan, IB (4.5), Sanjeev Duggal, SBP (4.5) lost to Prathmesh Mokal, UBI (5.5), Ravi Hegde, UBI (4.5) drew with Sharad Tilak, UBI (5.0) N Sudhakar Babu, IB (4.5) drew with Samir Vyas, CBI (4.5), P K Chaudhari, UCO (4.5) drew with V Hariharan, IB (4.5), N Neelakantan, CBI (5.0) beat R B Singh, SBP (4.0), U V Diwakar, SBH (4.0) lost to S K Sinha, PNB (5.0), R R Vasudevan, CB (4.0) drew with G Koradia, BOB (4.0), Ummed Singh, SBBJ (4.5) beat Anjan Basu, PNB (4.0), Anil Raje, BOM (4.5) beat V P Manoharan, CBI (3.5)

(Agencies)