Ramesh wins British Chess Championship

International Master R B Ramesh created history by becoming the first Indian to win the Smith and Williamson British Open Chess Championship, which concluded in Torquay, England, on Friday.

In the 11th and final round late Friday night, Ramesh, who achieved his second Grandmaster norm in the tournament, beat GM Luke Mcshane of England to garner 8.5 points and finish on top.

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 pounds sterling (appx Rs 740,000).

Top seeded Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran also finished the tournament on a high note, beating Grandmaster Peter Wells of England to tie for second place along with last year's champion Grandmaster Joseph Gallagher of Switzerland, on 8 points.

Gallagher beat Stewart Haslinger of England in the final round.

Other Indian GMs in the fray, Abhijit Kunte and Dibyendu Barua found themselves in a five-way tie for the fourth place with 7.5 points apiece, scoring resounding victories over GM Jonathan Rowson of Scotland and IM Aleksander Wohl of Australia respectively.

They shared the fourth place with Mcshane, Haslinger and GM Flenn Flear of France. Flear beat GM Jonathan Speelman of England in the last round.

Playing with black pieces, Ramesh faced the Rossolimo attack against his Sicilian. The game was out of the existing opening theory very early and Ramesh capitalised on some reckless play by Mcshane to net a pawn. However, in a complex middlegame, Mcshane found a brilliant attacking resource and caught Ramesh off guard.

The Indian wriggled out of his problems with an exchange sacrifice and garnered two pawns in return. Soon the Englishman went awry welf defending a clearly inferior heavy pieces endgame.

Ramesh first exchanged the rooks and then calculated precisely to romp home after 59 moves.

For Sasikiran, it was an up-and-down tournament. After a rather disastrous slump mid-way, the never-say-die Sasi played an imaginative game to outclass Wells.

The opening was a shift from Sasikiran's routine Queen pawn with white pieces and instead featured the Reti set-up that figures in top-level chess intermittently.

Wells erred in the middlegame when faced with an arduous task of finding the best plan and ended up losing a pawn on the queenside. In machine-like fashion, Sasikiran guided his forces to guard and promote his extra pawn to glory. Capitalising on an oversight by Wells, he checkmated on the 43rd move.

Humpy emerges ladies champion

Bank of Baroda-sponsored Koneru Humpy emerged the ladies champion, winning her last round game against Evans Quek in 54 moves, with black pieces.

The World junior champion faced kings Indian attack in the opening. She obtained exchange in the middle game complications on the 28th move and got the upper hand. After that she started attacking her opponent's king with her knight and queen, and won the game in 54 moves.

Seeded 20th in the championship, Humpy faced tough opposition. Overall, she played 11 games, won four, drew six and lost one.

The 15-year-old played against top seeded GM Sasikikran, third seeded GM Pendyala Harikrishna, sixth seeded GM Jonathan Rowson, eighth seeded GM Bogdan lalic and drew with them all. She scored wins against 10th seeded GM Mark Hebden, Wu Li, Simpson James, Enans Quek.

The game she lost was against second seeded GM Jonathan Speelman, in the ninth round.

Overall, Humpy scored seven points in the 11 rounds to win the British ladies title for the second time. She will be awarded Smith and Willamson rolling trophy and a cash prize of 500 pounds.

Earlier, she had won the title in 2000.

Earlier reports:
Round 10: R B Ramesh leaps into joint lead
Round 9: R B Ramesh bags second Grandmaster norm
Round 8: Meenakshi bags maiden WGM norm
Round 7: Harikrishna wins to remain in joint lead
Round 4: Indians slip to second position
Round 3: Humpy wins; emerges joint leader
Round 2: Sasikiran emerges joint leader
Round 1: Sasikiran begins on winning note

Result Round 11:

Bd  WHITE                      Result  BLACK                          PIN
  1 MCSHANE,Luke J        (7½)  0 - 1  RAMESH,R.B            (7½)    6  23
  2 HASLINGER,Stewart G   (7½)  0 - 1  GALLAGHER,Joseph G    (7)    41  14
  3 SASIKIRAN,Krishnan    (7)   1 - 0  WELLS,Peter           (7)     1  18
  4 SPEELMAN,Jon          (7)   0 - 1  FLEAR,Glenn C.        (6½)    2   9
  5 HARIKRISHNA,Pentala   (6½)  ½ - ½  GANGULY,Sura Sekhar   (6½)    3  12
  6 ROWSON,Jonathan       (6½)  0 - 1  KUNTE,Abhijit         (6½)    4  19
  7 WOHL,Aleksander H     (6½)  0 - 1  BARUA,Dibyendu        (6½)   25   7
  8 LALIC,Bogdan          (6½)  ½ - ½  GORMALLY,Daniel       (6½)    8  11
  9 TURNER,Matthew J      (6)   1 - 0  LITTLEWOOD,Paul E.    (6)    13  26
 10 KNOTT,Simon JB        (6)   ½ - ½  SUMMERSCALE,Aaron     (6)    30  15

 11 SANDIPAN,Chanda       (6)   1 - 0  PERT,Nicholas         (6)    16  22
 12 WARD,Chris G          (6)   ½ - ½  PERT,Richard          (6)    17  33
 13 EVANS-QUEK,Suan Shiau (6)   0 - 1  KONERU,Humpy          (6)    48  20
 14 MUIR,Andrew J.        (6)   ½ - ½  LANE,Gary             (6)    43  21
 15 D'COSTA,Lorin         (5½)  ½ - ½  EMMS,John M           (5½)   54   5
 16 HEBDEN,Mark           (5½)  1 - 0  JONES,Gawain C        (5½)   10  62
 17 SHERWIN,James         (5½)  ½ - ½  MCDONALD,Neil         (5½)   34  28
 18 GRANT,Jonathan        (5½)  1 - 0  WALL,Gavin            (5½)   74  31
 19 LEE,Graham            (5½)  ½ - ½  COLLINS,Sam           (5½)   32  38
 20 SARAVANAN,Venkatachal (5)   ½ - ½  MEENAKSHI,Subbaraman  (5)    29  49

 21 BUCKLEY,Simon         (5)   1 - 0  HANLEY,Craig          (5)    61  35
 22 SOWRAY,Peter          (5)   1 - 0  MASON,Don             (5)    36  50
 23 ASHTON,,Adam          (5)   ½ - ½  DEVEREAUX,Maxim L     (5)    85  37
 24 EAMES,Robert          (5)   1 - 0  SIMPSON,James         (5)    40  60
 25 TAN,Desmond           (5)   ½ - ½  ADDISON,Bret C        (5)    44  68
 26 BERRY,Neil M          (5)   ½ - ½  RAMSAWAMY,Aarthie     (5)    53  45
 27 LEDGER,Dave J         (5)   ½ - ½  WILLMOTH,Robert       (5)    47  77
 28 WEBB,Laurence         (5)   1 - 0  MORDUE,A. Tyson       (0)    52  99
 29 VIJAYALAKSHMI,Subbara (4½)  1 - 0  DHAR-BARUA,Saheli     (4½)   27  67
 30 THOMAS,Nicholas       (4½)  ½ - ½  COX,John              (4½)   58  39

 31 RICHARDS,Heather      (4½)  0 - 1  HOWELL,David W        (4½)   46  70
 32 THIPSAY,Bhagyashree   (4½)  1 - 0  WOODWARD,Timothy      (4½)   51  72
 33 LYELL,Mark            (4½)  ½ - ½  SHAW,David A          (4½)   56  79
 34 BIGG,Andrew J         (4½)  ½ - ½  WU,Li                 (4½)   57  86
 35 MUTTON,Jonathan B     (4)   0 - 1  HUTCHINSON,Paul A.    (4)    71  55
 36 WHEELER,John F.       (4)   ½ - ½  GOLDBERG,Jeff         (4)    63  90
 37 GHATE,Swati           (4)   0 - 1  NIXON,Thomas CM       (4)    64  80
 38 SNAPE,Ian L           (4)   ½ - ½  TAYLOR,Peter P.       (4)    73  66
 39 RUDD,Jack             (4)   1 - 0  DORRINGTON,Christophe (4)    87  69
 40 HUTCHINSON,Norman     (3½)  1 - 0  TRENT,Lawrence        (3½)   88  59

 41 MARTYN,Rafe           (3½)  1 - 0  BUCKLEY,Melanie       (3½)   75  81
 42 GREGORY,Stephen J     (3½)  1 - 0  TAYLOR,Robert Mark    (3½)   83  78
 43 MCMASTER,Richard      (3)   ½ - ½  BURNETT,Jim           (3)    95  76
 44 TRUMAN,Richard G.     (3)   0 - 1  DOUGLAS,Timothy       (3)    94  82
 45 HARBORNE,Matthew J    (3)   0 - 1  COOTE,Trevor D.       (3)    96  91
 46 WHITE,Ian R.          (2)   ½ - ½  TATLOW,Stephen        (2½)   93  92
 47 CHIRUKANDATH MANOJ,Ar (1½)  ½ - ½  EVANS-QUEK,Debbie     (2½)   98  89