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Calcutta: Diptayan Ghosh moved a step closer to title in the 24th The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship, organised by the Alekhine Chess Club, at Gorky Sadan.
In the penultimate round, on Wednesday, Diptayan, with nine points, maintained his sole lead with a win over Aditya Chowdhury (eight points) in 38 moves.
On the top board, Diptayan, playing with White, started with an English Opening.
Aditya was under pressure from the start and erred on several occasions in the middlegame. By sacrificing an exchange, Diptayan ripped open Black kingside as Aditya was rendered helpless against his onslaught.
Mitrabha Guha split point with Khushi Dharewa — both having 7.5 points apiece — on the second board. After an uneventful middlegame, both Mitrabha and Khushi went into an opposite colour Bishop ending in which, neither of them had any real chances of winning.
They finally agreed to a draw after a prolonged game of 60 moves.
Kaustuv Kundu, with eight points, beat Sumit Kumar (seven points) in 29 moves.
Playing with Black, Kaustuv opted for a Sicilian Defence. Having obtained an early equality, Kaustuv gradually outplayed Sumit in a complicated middlegame.
In the other matches, Sayan Majumder beat Debankan Dhara, while Suvradeepta Das got the better of Koustav Chatterjee. Arpan Das defeated Aronyak Ghosh, while Swain Ashirwad drew with Saurabh Anand.
The leading schools after the penultimate round are South Point (32 points), St James’ (25 points) and Aditya Academy (23.5 points).
The second-youngest boy of the tournament, Asmit Chaturvedi, four years and two months, and a student of of Disaharee Montessori House School, Howrah, showed good nerves having scored two points so far.
“It was great win for me. I tried to play a normal game. Tomorrow I will try to finish it off as early as possible,” Diptayan said after the win.
The South Point boy will be leaving for Moscow just after the prize distribution ceremony.
“Moscow will be a new experience for me. I am practising hard and hopefully I will perform well there,” Diptayan said.
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