With hat-trick, Siva seals sixth district online chess crown

NAGPUR: R Siva Subramanian won the 14th blitz tournament with a round remaining to score a hat-trick of district online chess crowns on Sunday. The city's only Arena Grand Master (AGM) now has six online district titles in his kitty since the Nagpur District Chess Association (NDCA) adopted the new normal after the city went into lockdown mode.
Stamping his authority on the fastest event in chess, the 18-year-old finished on top of the table in the nine-round blitz event collecting eight points for his third triumph on the trot.After posting victories in the eight rounds he played, Siva suffered his first defeat in three tournaments when he lost the final round to silver medalist Priyanshu Patil under time pressure.
As per the standings available on the server, Siva took an unassailable two-point lead at the end of eight rounds. In the final essay too he was well on course for another clean slate but fell short on the clock to lose the marathon 68-move battle to Priyanshu. With a final-round win over eventual champion, Priyanshu improved his progressive score as he edged out Aditya Bodkhe for the second position after both finished the meet at seven points.
Siva was relatively satisfied with his performance. "As usual it was a good event and I played all games well except for the last round. In the last game too, my position was equal with the white pieces but due to time pressure I lost the round," Siva told TOI.
On his way to the triumph Siva defeated SK Laha, Akshay Patil, Arush Chitre, Jay Sawalakhe, Aditya Bodkhe, Suhan Deshpande, Prerak Darvekar and experienced Shubham Lakudkar.
The NDCA will declare results a day after collecting the anti-cheating report from arbiters. IA Deepak Chavan and FA Umesh Panbude conducted the 17th district meet where 37 participants were vying for honours.
FINAL STANDINGS:
1 R Siva Subramanian (8, 46), 2 Priyanshu Patil (7, 38.5), 3 Aditya Bodkhe (7, 35.5), 4 Shraddha Bajaj (6, 30), 5 Shubham Lakudkar (6, 28.5)