Ajay makes an epic comeback after more than a decade
Ajay Srikanth won his first tournament in July 2009 - 35th Tamil Nadu State Sub-Junior (Under-15) Open. The last open tournament he played was in 2012 where India's stalwarts like - GM Sasikiran Krishnan, GM Vishnu Prasanna, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, GM Venkatesh M R, GM Ramesh R B, GM Sethuraman S P, GM Aravindh Chithambaram, IM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi and many more strong titled players took part in it. More than a decade later, he played a rating tournament and won it convincingly. One of the latest IMs of India, Karnataka's Sathvik Adiga was the sole leader by winning eight games in-a-row. Ajay was the only player trailing him by a half point at 7.5/8. He managed to beat the talented teenager Sathvik in the final round to become a clear champion.
Dear reader, if you have not played a tournament for a long time, even if it is more than a decade, you do not have to look further than Ajay Srikanth's performance. A lot of things might have changed since you were in action but with a proper preparation, you can still do it, Ajay showed it.
A total of 511 players including an IM took part from various parts of India, one from Singapore and two from the USA. The tournament was organized by Sports Bees at CMK Convention Hall in Bangalore, Karnataka on 28th and 29th December 2024. The nine-round Swiss league Rapid Rating tournament had a time control of 20 minutes + 5 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Srikanth, Ajay | IND | 2142 | 8,5 | 52 | 54 | 51,25 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 1 | FM | Gajwa, Ankit | IND | 2147 | 8 | 56 | 61 | 53,00 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 6 | IM | Sathvik, Adiga | IND | 1914 | 8 | 56 | 61 | 52,50 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4 | 14 | AFM | Vivaan, Sachdev | IND | 1801 | 8 | 55 | 59 | 51,00 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5 | 3 | FM | Apoorv, Kamble | IND | 2103 | 8 | 52 | 56,5 | 48,50 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 6 | 40 | Aarya, Satish Chikodi | IND | 1616 | 8 | 51 | 55 | 48,00 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 7 | 10 | AIM | Farhaan, M | IND | 1847 | 7,5 | 53 | 56 | 44,50 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 8 | 7 | Bhuvan, Krishna Prasanth | IND | 1898 | 7,5 | 52 | 56 | 44,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 9 | 9 | Ajit, Singh | IND | 1855 | 7,5 | 49 | 53,5 | 43,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 10 | 15 | Rohan, Gupta | IND | 1790 | 7,5 | 48 | 52,5 | 42,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 11 | 21 | Gopika, M | w | IND | 1717 | 7 | 53,5 | 59 | 43,75 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 12 | 13 | Vigneshwaran, S | IND | 1825 | 7 | 53,5 | 58 | 42,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 13 | 5 | WCM | Charvi, A | w | IND | 2007 | 7 | 53 | 55,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 14 | 56 | Karthik, G Iyer | IND | 1569 | 7 | 52,5 | 55 | 40,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 15 | 39 | AFM | Shobhit, Agilarasan | IND | 1616 | 7 | 52 | 55,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 16 | 27 | AFM | Sinthia, Sarkar | w | IND | 1672 | 7 | 51 | 55,5 | 40,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 17 | 37 | Samaksh, Ashok | IND | 1621 | 7 | 51 | 55 | 39,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 18 | 19 | Nishanth, Dsouza | IND | 1727 | 7 | 51 | 53,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 19 | 24 | Karthik, S | IND | 1679 | 7 | 50,5 | 54,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 20 | 30 | Ekantharaju, | IND | 1658 | 7 | 50 | 54,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 21 | 31 | Kavari, Aarav | U09 | USA | 1649 | 7 | 50 | 52 | 37,00 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 22 | 63 | Raghav, Budur | IND | 1559 | 7 | 49,5 | 54,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 23 | 20 | Ragavan, Samarth Rajesh | USA | 1721 | 7 | 49,5 | 52,5 | 38,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 24 | 43 | Prahalad, Sen | IND | 1608 | 7 | 49,5 | 52,5 | 37,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 25 | 4 | FM | Apaar, Saxena | IND | 2012 | 7 | 49,5 | 52 | 37,50 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 26 | 33 | Tarun, Thiyagarajan | IND | 1637 | 7 | 48,5 | 52,5 | 37,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 27 | 151 | Rishikesh, K M | IND | 1441 | 7 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 36,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 28 | 25 | Amogh, Manohar | IND | 1676 | 7 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 29 | 28 | Vamsi, Krishna A | IND | 1669 | 7 | 46 | 49,5 | 36,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 30 | 17 | Gowtham, K K | IND | 1764 | 7 | 46 | 48,5 | 36,50 | 0 | 7 |
