8-22nd December at K R Mangalam World School, New Delhi
New Delhi (09 Dec 2010): 48th National Premier Chess Championship got to a rousing start here at K R Mangalam World School, GK-II on today. In a colourful opening ceremony, Hon’ble Union Minister for Heavy Industries Shri. Vilasrao Deshmukh inaugurated the event by making the customary first move against top seed Grandmaster G N Gopal in presence of Shri. J M Phatak, Chairman Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd, Smt. Rashmi Singh, Director Govt of Delhi, Shri. Bharat Singh Chauhan, President Commonwealth Chess Association and Smt Jyoti Gupta, Principal K R Mangalam World School GK-II. During the ceremony, Shri. Deshmukh formally launched the Commonwealth Chess Association website also.
The event sponsored by Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd and hosted by K R Mangalam World School GK-II had 44 players in action which include 12 Grandmasters and 20 International Masters fighting out for the coveted National Champion title and the lone spot for the world championship from Asian Zone 3.7.
In the opening ceremony the organizers announced an increase of 1.35 lakh in the prize money as Asian Chess Federation sanctioned $3000 as prize money due to India’s separate zone status. In the recently concluded FIDE Congress, World Chess Federation awarded the separate zone Asian Zone 3.7 status to India. Now the winner will carry a cash prize of Rs. 1.25 lakh instead of earlier one lakh.
Inaugural move by Shri. Vilasrao Deshmukh
First round of the championship in now underway at the time of going to press and top seed Gopal taking on India’s new International Master Vishnu Prasanna while Parimarjan Negi pitted against International Master Rahul Sangma of Delhi. Grandmaster Arun Prasad of PSPB is not paired for the first round as he arriving late for the event due to his brother’s marriage and starts his second round match tomorrow with zero point in his kitty.
Participants list
1 GM Gopal G N 2609
2 GM Negi Parimarjan 2603
3 GM Sengupta Deep 2558
4 IM Sethuraman S P 2547
5 GM Bakre Tejas 2525
6 GM Arun Prasad S 2519
7 GM Kunte Abhijit 2517
8 GM Adhiban B 2515
9 IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2489
10 GM Neelotpal Das 2486
11 IM Lalith Babu M R 2481
12 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2480
13 GM Laxman R R 2479
14 GM Thipsay Praveen M 2465
15 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2449
16 IM Thejkumar M S 2448
17 IM Shyam Sundar M 2439
18 IM Venkatesh M R 2434
19 IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy 2421
20 IM Vaibhav Suri 2418
21 IM Debashis Das 2411
22 IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal 2408
23 IM Vishnu Prasanna V 2406
24 IM Sangma Rahul 2400
25 IM Suvrajit Saha 2392
26 IM Karthikeyan P 2382
27 IM Saptarshi Roy 2382
28 IM Kamble Vikramaditya 2374
29 IM Shyam Nikil P 2373
30 IM Sharma Dinesh K 2371
31 Navin Kanna T U 2369
32 Thakur Akash 2358
33 WGM Padmini Rout 2352
34 Tiwari Arjun 2341
35 WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2332
36 Stany G A 2329
37 IM Singh D P 2326
38 IM Babu N Sudhakar 2318
39 Shashikant Kutwal 2303
40 FM Rajesh V A V 2295
41 Joshi G B 2292
42 Anilkumar O T 2289
43 Matta Vinay Kumar 2274
44 FM Ramakrishna J 2253
B. Adhiban is the winner, report by Chief Arbiter R. Anantharam
B. Adhiban, world under 16 champion in 2008, added one more feather to his illustrious cap by winning the Indian Premier Chess Championship 2009, organised by Venus Chess Academy and Mumbai Chess Association. The tournament format was changed from thirteen player round robin recently, in order to expose the young Indian talent with experienced seniors and also to boost the chances of several norm aspirants. Participation of 10 GMs and 20 IMs among the forty two players speaks volumes of the strength of the national championship. Of course, the tournament was without Viswanathan Anand, the world champion, Sasikiran, Harikrishna and Ganguly (second to Anand), who are all directly inducted into the Indian team with rating above 2650 and Koneru Humpy, women world no. 2, but still boasted a strong line up.
A galaxy of world champions – World junior champion 2008 Abhijeet Gupta, world under 16 champion S.P. Sethuraman of Tamil Nadu state, former world under 16 champion B. Adhiban also of Tamil Nadu, former world under 14 champion Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of the host state Maharashtra, former world under 14 girls champion Padmini Rout of Orissa state and former under 12 world champion Deep Sengupta of PSPB, was the special feature of the tournament.
G.N. Gopal, the grandmaster from Kerala representing Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, was the top seed, followed by Abhijeet Gupta. But, seventeen year old Adhiban (tenth seed) and sixteen year old S.P. Sethuraman (sixteenth seed) made mockery of the seeding by grabbing the winner and runner up spots. Fifteen year old Vidit, who finished fourth made it memorable for the young brigade, forecasting the strength of future Indian chess.
Adhiban had an exemplary performance from fifth to ninth round defeating all the opponents who came in his way, which included three GMs. Five consecutive wins in National Premier championship might have never been heard of. In the process, he also secured his maiden 13 game GM norm. Besides him, Sriram Jha, who played in the recent World Chess Cup, secured his third and final GM norm. Swapnil Dhopade did proud to the host Maharashtra by achieving an IM norm and also Rahul Sangma got an IM norm.
Final Ranking:
1. IM Adhiban B 2486 - 10
2. IM Sethuraman S P 2447 - 8½
3. GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2516 - 8½
4. IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2459 - 8½
5. GM Kunte Abhijit 2522 - 8½
6. IM Sriram Jha 2497 - 8
7. GM Arun Prasad S 2570 - 8
8. GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2593 - 8
9. Swapnil S Dhopade 2406 - 7½
10. GM Gupta Abhijeet 2578 - 7½
11. IM Priyadharshan K 2343 - 7½
12. IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal 2382 - 7½
13. GM Thipsay Praveen M 2466 - 7½
14. GM Neelotpal Das 2440 - 7
15. GM Laxman R R 2511 - 7
16. IM Narayanan Srinath 2370 - 7
17. Sangma Rahul 2368 - 6½
18. IM Himanshu Sharma 2469 - 6½
19. IM Murali Krishnan B T 2407 - 6½
20. IM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi 2427 – 6½ etc
About the author
- International arbiter and a retired professor of Chemistry
- Member, Swiss Pairing Programs Committee, FIDE
- Chief arbiter: World Schools, Singapore 2008, Asian Individual Championship 2005, Asian Junior Championship 2007, 08 and 09, Asian Youth Championship 2009, Kolkata GM Open 2009, Parsvnath GM Open 2009, Bhubaneswar GM Open 2009, Gurgaon GM Open 2009 and Ravana GM Open Sri Lanka 2009, Several national championships.
