ICF regain state title

Neyveli, Sep 22 (UNI) ICF Chennai regained the title with the maximum of 20 points in the 16th Tamil Nadu State Team Chess Championships here today.

ICF, who had last won the title in 2004, emerged on top with Syed Anwar Shazuli, K Gunasekaran, C Natarajan, T J Suresh Kumar and IM R Balasubramaniam, scoring 20 points out of a maximum of 28.

In a dramatic and fiercely contested sixth and last round, joint leaders NLC 'A' and Velammal 'A' went down by identical scores of 1.5 - 2.5 to Indian Bank and Southern Railway.

ICF, who were trailing the leaders by half a point, defeated Coimbatore 3-1 to finish a clear first.

One point behind ICF were Indian Bank, Velammal School 'A' and hosts NLC 'A', who finished second, third and fourth.

Defending champions Southern Railway were fifth.

The Results: ICF 20; 2-4, Indian Bank, Velammal 'A', NLC 'A' 19; 5. Southern Railway 18.5 6. Coimbatore 17.5; 7-8 St Josephs Chennai, Tuticorin 16.5; 9-10 Sivakasi, Jawahar CBSE 'A' 15.5 UNI VV pm ht1835