Lakshana Subramanian and Amogh Bisht are National under-7 Champions 2018!

The 32nd edition of the National under-7 Chess Championship was organised by the Mandya Chess Academy at the Bandimane Kalyana Mantapa, Tumkur in Karnataka state. Tumkur, a small corporation is popularly known as city of education and also land of Cocunut trees. 70 km from Bangalore and at around 3000 feet elevation, Tumkur had a salubrious and pleasant weather in July, much to the delight of the participants. 117 years old living legend, Dr. Sri Shivakumara Swamiji, head of the Siddaganga Mutt is the centre of attraction in Tumkur. The mutt offers free education, boarding and lodging to thousands of poor children who gather daily evening to chant slokas. The forest adjoining Tumkur is also a host to variety of wild animals.

This year a whopping number of 362 players took part in the National under-7 from different states of the country and out of the total players 148 were girls. In the Open section Jaivardhan Raj of Maharashtra was the top seed with a rating of 1239 and in the Girls section Karnataka's very own Sara K R with a rating of 1155 was the top seed.

It is always a treat to watch kids playing chess as most of their games last till the very last word "Checkmate" and this mega event was no different. In the open section there were two kids leading the tournament by the end of the 6th round, top seed Jaivardhan Raj of Maharashtra and Abhraneel Buragohain of Assam. So the 7th round encounter between the two leaders was an interesting one where Jai emerged as the winner and became the sole leader. After winning 7 straight games Jai couldn't maintain his lead and lost his next two games, the 8th round against the Karnataka's hero Amogh Bisht, who subsequently became the champion of the open section with a score of 9.5/11 points. By snatching the lead in the 8th round Amogh never looked back and was assured of the title with a round to spare as his closest rival Ishaan Singh who was behind by one point had already been beaten by Amogh in an earlier round. Four players, Jaivardhan Raj, Ayushman, Vivaan and Rosh Jain all with a score of 9.0/11 points tied for the places from second to fifth and were placed in that order.

In the girls section too there were two kids leading the tournament by the end of the 6th round, 3rd seed Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi of Andhra Pradesh and Anjana A of Tamil Nadu. Kolagatla won her 7th straight game and became the sole leader! It was all going great for Kolagatla who by now had won 8 straight games but things turned around in the 9th round! The unstoppable sole leader was outplayed by current national and world u-7 schools champion Lakshana Subramanian of Tamil Nadu who went on to become the champion of the girls section of this year under-7 with 10.0/11 points and better tie-break score against Kolagatla who played a wonderful tournament but had to settled for the 2nd place. Two players, Aishani Pathak of Uttar Pradesh and Anjana A of Tamil Nadu were tied for the 3rd position with a score of 9.0/11 points but with better tie-break score Aishani and Anjana were placed 3rd and 4th respectively.

Earlier Sri Bharat Singh Chauhan, Hony. Secretary of AICF inaugurated the tournament and Sri DV Sundar, Vice President of FIDE and AICF, Sri. SP Muddahanumegowda, Member of Parliament, Tumkur, Sri BC Patil, MLA, Hirekurur constituency and many others were the chief guests for the prize distribution function where special mementos were provided to all the childrens in addition to the mentioned prizes.

The under-7 championship was a grand success because of the meticulous planning of Manjunath Jain, a renowned chess coach(Mandy Chess Academy) in Karnataka and his wife Madhuri Jain, also a chess player and coach. They spent hours trying to find the perfect venue, accommodation and all other facilities for the players and parents so that they would have an excellent time in Tumkur. It's because of such organizers that chess in India is booming.

Final standings of under-7 open:

Complete standings

Final standings of under-7 girls:

Complete standings

About the Author

Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. He is the Councillor in FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Arbiters’ Commission, All India Chess federation, Member, Qualification Commission, FIDE, Member, Pairings & Programs Commission, FIDE. He has served as chief arbiter for two World Junior, one World Schools Championships, besides several Asian championships and GM tournaments. He is also a FIDE lecturer. 

This article was edited by ChessBase India editor Nongsha Angom