Midhun Unnikrishnan is the new Battersea five minute champion.
He held the lead from an early stage and won with a round to go. He is pictured above on the right playing Ali Hill in the final round.
There was a strong and interesting field for the final – three players who have been instrumental in the first team’s rise to the first Division in the London League – Ali, Chris Beckett and Adrian Somerfield, two have joined in the last year – Midhun and Motiejus Gudenas, and Duncan Kerr, a strong club player in the 70s and 80s returning to competitive chess after a long absence.
It is to Midhun’s credit that four of the other players in the tournament have higher ECF slowplay grades than him.
Midhun hails originally from Chennai, the same home city as Vishy Anand and studied at and played for Imperial College before taking up his current job as an Investment Banker and starting to play for Battersea.
Results:
Midhun Unikrishnan +8 -1 =1
Chris Beckett +6 -3 =1
Ali Hill +5 -3 =2
Motiejus Gudenas +4 -4 =2
Adrian Somerfield +4 -6 =0
Duncan Kerr +0 -10 +0
Points
Midhun 8.5; Chris 6.5; Ali 6: Motiejus 5; Adrian 4; Duncan 0.
Here are the individual results round by round for lovers of detail and compilers of statistics:
(first names player white)
Rd 1
Beckett v Unnikrishnan 0=1
Kerr v Somerfield 0-1
Gudenas v Hill 0.5-0.5
Rd 2
Somerfield v Gudenas 0-1
Unnikrishnan v Kerr 1-0
Hill v Beckett 0-1
Rd 3
Kerr v Beckett 0-1
Gudenas v Unnikrishnan 0-1
Somerfield v Hill 0-1
Rd 4
Beckett v Gudenas 1-0
Unnikrishnan v Somerfield 0-1
Hill v Kerr 1-0
Rd 5
Gudenas v Kerr 1-0
Sommerfield v Beckett 1-0
Unnikrishnan v Hill 0.5-0.5
Rd 6
Unnikrishnan v Beckett 1-0
Somerfield v Kerr 1-0
Hill v Gudenas 1-0
Rd 7
Gudenas v Somerfield 1-0
Kerr v Unnikrishnan 0-1
Beckett v Hill 1-0
Rd 8
Beckett v Kerr 1-0
Unnikrishnan v Gudenas 1-0
Somerfield v Hill 0-1
Rd 9
Gudenas v Beckett 0.5-0.5
Somerfield v Unnikrishnan 0-1
Kerr v Hill 0-1
Rd 10
Kerr v Gudenas 0-1
Beckett v Somerfield 1-0
Hill v Unnikrishnan 0-1
