ONGC wins 31st PSPB Chess Inter-Unit Championships 2022

31st PSPB Inter-Unit Chess Championships 2022

Imagine you are a talented chess player who has just become a GM. You are in your early 20s and are not sure that playing chess and winning prize money is going to help you sustain your life. After all a chess player’s financial situation is based on so many uncertainties. You make a wrong move in the last round and instead of going back with the first prize of Rs.3,00,000, you end up with the sixth place and Rs.25,000! One wrong move cost you Rs.2,75,000! This is absolutely the kind of situation that makes you lose your sleep at night. How can you depend upon this as your full-time income? What about your family who is dependent upon you to put the bread on the table at the end of the day.

In such a precarious situation, in comes an Oil Company. It tells you, we are not only going to pay you a salary for playing chess, but you also do not have to come to the office to do any work. We will support you in your endeavour of becoming a world class athlete. And not only will we pay you a salary, but we will also pay your travel and stay costs for a few of the tournaments you play. Apart from that we will also take care of the medical expenditure of yours and your family, in case any health issue ever befalls upon you or your near ones! From a worried youngster, you become this self confident personality who knows he/she is going to conquer the world with his/her talent! This transformation can only happen when you feel mentally at peace.

Almost all of the top players in Indian chess have felt this security from the Oil companies - ONGC, IOCL, BPCL, OIL and more. Now put yourself in the shoes of these players and think, if your employers, who have taken such great care of you, ask you to help them wouldn't you be very keen to do so? You would play out of your skins, right? Well, this is exactly why the last round of the Inter-unit PSPB Championships 2022 was filled with so much tension and drama! All the three major top chess players supporting oil companies, BPCL, IOCL and ONGC wanted to win the title of the 31st inter-unit PSPB Chess Championships 2022. There are points allocated for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finish and these points from the chess event are added to the points of the other disciplines as well and finally a winning company is found each year.

Because BPCL had already beaten ONGC in round 2, it seemed like they were the favourites. Abhijeet Gupta’s fine victory over Sasikiran played a major role there. However, BPCL’s chances of winning the title took a hit when in the 4th round they lost their match to IOCL (Indian Oil). Now with 8.0/8, IOCL sat pretty on the top of the table and other teams languished behind them by two points. However, these points didn’t matter in a big way as the final round clash between IOCL and ONGC would determine who the champion would be.

Rank after round 4

On one hand you had the IOCL team that looked almost bulletproof with Adhiban on board two, Surya Ganguly on board three and Karthikeyan Murali on board four. All 2600+ players. If there was an Achilles heel in the team, it was on board one where the team had decided to field Mitrabha Guha (resting Lalith Babu on board 4). On the other hand the ONGC team had their trumps as well. Clearly Sasikiran on board one was the stronger player when compared to Mitrabha. Sethuraman’s experience on board four was something that would give ONGC a slight edge, but it was the middle boards where ONGC had to remain careful. Deep Sengupta, although an extremely strong GM, has seen his rating tumble down quite a lot in the recent years. He is now down to 2528, and his role as the Chess Game Coordinator in ONGC has definitely increased the burden on his shoulders. And on board 2, Humpy is an amazing player for ONGC, but when facing Adhiban, who has crossed 2700 Elo in his career, the Chennai GM was definitely a favourite. It’s true that Adhiban’s recent form has been a cause for worry to almost every AD-fan, yet you can never discount the beast. He can come back on just about any day and help his team cross the finish line. After all, it was his victory against Abhijeet Gupta, that had opened the flood gates for his team to beat BPCL.

Mitrabha Guha (IOCL) vs K. Sasikiran (ONGC) board no.1

Mitrabha with the white pieces was super solid. Sasikiran had a nice looking knight as compared Mitrabha’s not so great bishop. But there was no easy way to breakthrough and the game ended in a draw. It was the first game to end. The score stood at 0.5-0.5.

Koneru Humpy (ONGC) vs B. Adhiban (IOC), board no.2 

One thing you can never get Adhiban to do, is play solidly/passively. No matter what is the situation, he will play his brand of openings - King’s Indian, Grunfeld etc. in response to 1.d4. QGDs or solid Slavs are not openings he likes to play. This approach can go in either direction. Sometimes it can give you victories and makes you a hero and sometimes it lands you up in a mess. Unfortunately for team IOCL, Humpy was super form as she made one powerful move after another to beat Adhiban and get her team that much coveted 1 point. The score: ONGC 1.5- IOCL 0.5.

Surya Ganguly (IOCL) vs Deep Sengupta (ONGC), board no.3

Surya Ganguly had the white pieces and he knew that his game would determine the fortune of the team. He had a close to 100 Elo point difference over his opponent and also the white pieces. That’s the reason why Surya went for a non-theoretical opening. Something where things could not be doused down easily. Deep Sengupta, true to his playing, attacked. He played risky chess and this allowed Surya to build a huge positional advantage in the opening.

Surya vs Deep

Qd3! in this position would have given White a close to decisive advantage. But Surya did not play it. He exchanged the queens and although it seemed like he was pushing, it was never enough. Deep maintained control and at a moment where it was clear that he could not lose, Deep offered a draw. Seeing no way to gain equality, and being far away from the win, Ganguly accepted the draw. The score: ONGC 2 - IOCL 1

Sethuraman (ONGC) vs Karthikeyan Murali (IOCL), board no.4

This was a perfect pairing for the team of ONGC. Sethuraman is a theoretical expert and playing with the white pieces, he was able to gain a very powerful position against Karthikeyan. This was the last game to finish, so Sethuraman stood up from the board and checked the results of the players on his team. When he was sure that his draw would seal the victory, he offered a draw in spite of being a pawn up. Karthikeyan knew that his team would lose, and coach GM Abhijit Kunte also was keen that Karthikeyan kept playing, but the moment Sethuraman offered a draw, Karthikeyan instinctively accepted it. This resulted in team ONGC winning the match 2.5-1.5 and the tournament thanks to a superior tiebreak.

Final standings

The sad news for the team of IOCL was not only the fact that they had lost this match, they also had a poorer tiebreak as compared to BPCL and had to settle for the third spot. For the players from ONGC, it was a great moment. For Deep Sengupta, it was his first victory as the Chess Game Coordinator. For Lanka Ravi who has sent 22 years in ONGC, this was a great parting result as he is in his final year of service. For Humpy, it was a great moment to remember as her win helped the team to clinch the gold.

Interviews of the winning team

A very difficult position to solve:

Lanka Ravi vs Soumya Swaminathan, ONGC B vs IOCL B, Round 5

Solution:

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