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Ramesh, Humpy claim titles

R B Ramesh

Torquay (England) Aug. 10. International Master R.B. Ramesh won the Smith and Williamson British Open chess championship here. In the 11th and final round late on Friday night, Ramesh, who achieved his second GM norm here, beat GM Luke Mcshane of England to win the title accumulating 8.5 points.

Meanwhile, world junior champion Koneru Humpy regained the title in the Ladies section finishing with a tally of seven points. The Bank of Baroda-sponsored girl from Vijayawada, outwitted Evans Quek in 54 moves in the final round game to emerge champion. Opting for King's Indian Attack, Humpy obtained an exchange in the middle-game and then after a few complications, on the 28th move she gained control by attacking the King with her knight and queen. She won the event earlier in 2000. Humpy was seeded 20th in this 89th edition of the championship.

Ramesh who emerged as the dark horse in the final stretch finished in style beating four Grandmasters in the last four rounds to take home £ 10,000 (appx Rs. 740,000).

Top seed GM K. Sasikiran also finished the tournament on a high beating GM Peter Wells of England to tie for second place along with last year's champion GM Joseph Gallagher of Switzerland on 8 points. Gallagher beat Stewart Haslinger of England in the final round.

Triple for Gauri Shankar: C.M. Gauri Shankar won a triple. Gauri, who had earlier won the under-11 and under-9 titles, won the under-10 title with 6.5 points. In the seventh round, Gauri defeated Henry Chang of China.

Important results final round (Indians unless specified): Luke Mcshane (7.5, Eng) lost to R. B. Ramesh (8.5), Stewart Haslinger (7.5, Eng) lost to Joseph Gallagher (8, Sui), K. Sasikiran (8) beat Peter Wells (7, Eng), Jonathan Speelman (7, Eng) lost to Glenn Flear (7.5, Fra), P. Harikrishna (7) drew with Surya Sekhar Ganguly (7), Jonathan Rowson (6.5, Sco) lost to Abhijit Kunte (7.5), Aleksander Wohl (6.5, Aus) lost to Dibyendu Barua (7.5), Sandipan Chanda (7) beat Pert Nicholas (6, Eng), Evans-Quek Suan Shiau (6, Eng) lost to Koneru Humpy (7), V. Saravanan (5.5) drew with S. Meenakshi (5.5), Neil Berry (5.5, Sco) drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (5.5), S. Vijayalakshmi (5.5) beat Saheli Barua (4.5), Bhagyashree Thipsay (5.5) bt Timothy Woodward (4.5, Eng), Swati Ghate (4) lost to Thomas Nixon (5, Eng). — PTI

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