GUWAHATI, Oct 11 - Seeded players are having a tough time in maintaining their superiority and top billing in the ongoing GTC Classic Chess 2016 at the Gauhati Town Club (GTC) here.
Bhabisnu Pranti Bordoloi of GTC Chess Foundation caused a major upset in the 6th round defeating Cheniram Pegu of Dibrugarh. In the previous round Bhabisnu was able to hold a much higher seeded Alok Barman of Cachar. In the 8th round Bhabisnu again drew with 22nd seed Pranab Kumar Nath of Guwahati.
Current State U-11 champion Dhrupad Kashyap of the GTC Chess Foundation defeated 5th Seed I Sanajoba of Manipur in the 8th round and took his tally to 5.5 points.
Another youngster Arunabh Gohain put the last nail on the coffin for defending champion Trailokya Nanda in the 5th round when he totally outplayed Nanda who is now languishing on 5.5 points after 8 rounds. Trailokya had earlier suffered shock draws in round 3 and 4 against much lower seeded players.
On the other hand, current National U-9 champion Shahil Dey, seeded 20th in this tournament has sent out a loud message to the senior players of the region that age is not a factor in chess by holding 3rd seed Bhogen Singh of Manipur in the 8th round. Interestingly the age gap between the two is about 38 years. Shahil currently shares the 3rd position with 5 other players on 6.5 points after completion of 9 rounds.
After the completion of 8 rounds, 2nd seed Y Dhanabir Singh of Manipur is leading the event on 7.5 points. State mate A Chakrilombi Singh is on the 2nd spot on 7 points while a group of five players � Santanu Borpatra Gohain, Mughaho Awomi of Nagaland, RK Bhogen Singh of Manipur, Harshit Sharma of Rajasthan and Shahil Dey of Guwahati share the 3rd position with 6.5 points each.
The 9th and penultimate round was in progress till the filing of this report.
The 10th and final round match will be played tomorrow from 9 am.
