Sasane shocks Swapnil

MUMBAI, April 30: Top-seeded Swapnil Shah (3.5) of Maharashtra suffered a major reverse when he was defeated by Sunil Sasane in the fourth r...

MUMBAI, April 30: Top-seeded Swapnil Shah (3.5) of Maharashtra suffered a major reverse when he was defeated by Sunil Sasane in the fourth round and was held to draw by Joseph D’Mello in the fifth round of All-India Open Chess Championships, sponsored by the employees of i2 Technology, being played at the Andheri Sports Complex here today.

Five players, all from Maharashtra, Sanjay Karandikar, Madan Bagaitkar, Vilesh Bhat, Charudatta Jadhav and Sunil Sasane lead the field with five points each at the end of fifth round.

Seventh seeded D’Mello played very well and was enjoying winning position when he accepted Swapnil’s offer of draw. “Swapnil is a good player and I don’t mind taking a draw,” D’Mello explained after the game.

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Bagaitkar — an employee of Canara Bank, was the first to take the lead with an emphatic victory over Shirish Patil in 17 moves of French Defence.

Charudutta Jadhav from Indian Bank outwitted seasoned Rajesh Rajput (4) from Gujarat in a well contested battle in Queen’s Gambit.Second seeded Sanjay Karandikar (5) continued his winning run with a hard fought win over Suryakant Raut (4) of Maharashtra.

Schoolgirl Shefali Mahato (4) from West Bengal defeated 59-year-old Narayan Purao (3) of Maharashtra to earn the highest points among women so far.

RESULTS

Fifth round: S Raut (4 Mah) lost to S Karandikar (5 Mah), M Bagaitkar (5 Mah) bt Shirish Patil (4 Mah), Mahipal Singh (4 Mah) lost to Vilesh Bhat (5 Mah), C Jadhav (5 Mah) bt R Rajput (4 Guj), G V Manmohan (3 Ker) lost to Kamalbir Singh (4 Delhi), Y Yadaiyyah (2 AP) bt Devias Zodge (1 Goa), Saritha K (2 Mah) bt K Velu (1 TN).