Ramesh wins Piloo Mody chess tournament

LUCKNOW: Grand master norm holder RB Ramesh won the Piloo Mody memorial all-India FIDE rating chess tournament. In the 11th and final round, he defeated SK Rathore (7.5) to collect nine points and a cheaque of Rs 40,000.
In the Ruy Lopez opening, Ramesh (2440) turned the heat back on Rathore when the latter tried to gain tactical superiority. But Ramesh, taking part in the tournament for a first time, foiled Rathore''s gameplan efficiently and mated him in 42 moves.
Ramesh, who had come here with his WGM wife Aarthie Ramaswamy, was happy with his performance but was sore with the management. It will be a big surprise if he comes again to defend his title next year.
On the top board, Gurpreetpal Singh and IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra agreed for a draw in only six moves. Both finished 8.5 points each to share the second place with Kanpur''s IM Dinesh Kumar Sharma. All the three got Rs 16,666 each.
LIC''s Sharma launched the game with Kings-Indian attack against R Balasubramaniam (7.5) of ICF. Through perfect play, he sacrificed his rook on the 31st move but managed to get a pawn up.
Slowly Balasubramaniam''s king-side started to show signs of vulnerability. Sharma forced his rival to take bishop for rook. There was a considerable pressure on the UP player as not much time was left. But within the last two minutes, some brilliant sequences fetched him the superb win.
On next four boards, there were agreed draws between Anup Deshmukh (8) and Verghese Koshy (8), FIDE master Abhijit Gupta (8) and S Poobesh Anand (8), N Sudhakar Babu (7.5) and Nisha Mohota (7.5) and R Preetham Sharma (7.5) and Parikh Valay K (7.5).
PC Chaturvedi, IAS and president of the UP Chess Association, was the chief guest at the closing function and gave away the prizes. As many as 53 players won the meritorious cash awards while there were cash awards for top five players in the women''s, under-16, under-14, under-12 and under-10 finishers as well.
The important final points positions: 1.RB Ramesh (9, Rs 40,000), 2.Gurpreetpal Singh, Neeraj Kumar Mishra and Dinesh Kumar Sharma (8.5, Rs 16,666 each), 5.Verghese Koshy, Abhijit Gupta, Anup Deshmukh, Poobesh Anand S, P Konguvel (8, Rs 2,500 each), 10.R Balasubramaniam, Nisha Mohota, Parikh Valay K, R Preetham Sharma, SK Rathore, TS Ravi, N Sudhakar Babu, RR Laxman, Himanshu Sharma (7.5, Rs 1335 each).