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NT Bureau
Chennai, Sept 21:

        Velammal 'A' team won the Rajalakshmi Engineering College 17th Tamilnadu State Team Chess Championship here yesterday. They finished with 15 points after holding Southern Railway 2-2 in the final round.

        Indian Bank and Southern Railway tied for the second place with 14 points but the tie-break favoured the Raiway team. Integral Coach Factory and Indian Bank drew 2-2.

        The most impressive performance was that of the three Velammal school teams. While their 'A' team with two International Masters and an average age of 14 won the championship, their 'B' and 'C' teams whitewashed the district teams of Thoothukudi and Dharmapuri.

        The Velammal chess co-ordinator A Saravanan was elated with the showing of the three teams.

        In the final round yesterday, on the top boards, International Masters S P Sethuraman and M Shyam Sundar of Velammal drew against National 'A' star Preetham Sharma and International Master D P Singh. On the third board A Sankar won for the Railways while on the fourth R A Pradeep Kumar made amends for Velammal by defeating S Mari Arul.

        The board prize winners and the top ten teams won cash prizes The 11th Tamilnadu Blitz Chess Championship ended in a tie for first place among four players and S P Sethuraman of Velammal School emerged champion on a tie-break.

        K Sarukesi, principal, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, presided over the closing ceremony and S Mahadevan, additional general manager, Heavy Vehicles Factory, distributed the prizes.

        Board prize winners: Board 1: G B Prakash (Indian Bank) 4/5; Board 2: S Balaraman (Thiruvallur) 4/4; Board 3: A Sankar (S Rly) 4/5; Board 4: R A Pradeep Kumar (Velammal 'A') 5/5; Board 5: T J Suresh Kumar (ICF) 2.5/3.

        Final standings: 1. Velammal 'A' 15; 2-3. Southern Railway, Indian Bank 14; 4-5. ICF, Velammal 'B' 12; 6. Velammal 'C' 11.5; 7-8. Thoothukudi, Thiruvallur 10; 9-10. Chennai, Kanchi 9.5; 11. Bhajarang Engineering College 8.5; 12-13. Dharmapuri, Rajalakshmi Engineering College 5.5; 14..Alpha Arts & Science College 3.