IM Arjun Kalyan and Pranav Venkatesh win Velammal Rapid and Blitz

IM Arjun Kalyan and untitled Pranav V surprised everyone by winning Velammal Rapid and Blitz with a score of 8.0/9 and 8.0/8 respectively. Starting out as the tenth seed Arjun remained unbeaten and scored upset victories of GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Vishnu Prasanna. IM Rathanvel VS also scored 8.0/9, however due to a better tie-break score Arjun clinched the championship. Karthikeyan finished at third place by scoring 7.5/9 in the Rapid event. 13-year-old Pranav scored eight straight victories in Blitz to become champion. He beat GM Vishnu Prasanna and GM Deepan Chakkravarthy on his path to victory. Untitled Peter Anand of Pondicherry claimed sole second position with a score of 7.5/9. IM S Nitin was the only titled player to finish in top 5 in Blitz. Photo: IA R Anantharam