Hari Ganesh clinches Adyar Times Rating Open for the second consecutive year

by S Paul Arokia Raj - 12/09/2024

16-year-old Hari Ganesh T scored an unbeaten 7.5/8 to win 22nd Adyar Times Rating Open 2024. The teenager won the tournament for the second year in-a-row, scoring the exact same points. This time he finished a half point ahead of the rest. Four players - Vakeesh S, Ajjesh J R, Dhanush Ragav N S and Ram Kumar G M scored 7/8 each. They secured second to fifth place according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹250000. The top three prizes were ₹35000 + trophy, ₹25000 and ₹15000 each respectively. This is Hari's first rating tournament triumph of the year. Check out two of the best games, selected and annotated by the boy himself. Photos: IA and FI S Paul Arokia Raj

Hari's first rating tournament triumph of the year

Good many of the tournaments in India have been organized with much fanfare, but after few editions vanished in the midway owing to various reasons. The Adyar Times FIDE rated open chess tournament which celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year is an exception to this. This popular event organized by Tamil Nadu State Chess Association is now heading for its silver jubilee. Inaugurated in the year 2000, the event had been organized annually except for a short break of two years (2020 and 2021 due to COVID).

Champion - T Hari Ganesh 7.5/8

Champion T Hari Ganesh receives trophy from Ms. B Vijayalakshmi, Business Development Manager, Adyar Times.

The 22nd edition was organized from 23rd to 26th August at Jeppiaar University at the outskirts of Chennai city. As many as 347 players from different parts of India including players from England, Egypt and USA thronged the massive tournament hall at the university. This eight rounds event carried a total prize fund of ₹2.5 Lacs.

Runner-up - Vakeesh S 7/8

Defending champion T Hari Ganesh, an eleventh standard student of Velammal Vidhyashram, Guduvancherry, Chennai lifted the 22nd Adyar Times trophy by targeting 7.5 points out of 8. Although, he was only seventh seed of the tournament, he had a dream run by striking seven straight victories. The penultimate was very crucial for him as he was sharing the joint lead with the second seed, Ajjesh with 6 points each. The leadership issue was resolved here, only when Hari Ganesh outmaneuvered Ajjesh in this round to sit pretty on the top with seven points. At the start of the final round, Hari Ganesh was one point away from eleven others. Needing only a draw in the final round, he split the point with FM Ayushh Ravikumar and stood clear first with 7.5 points.

Second Runner-up - Ajjesh J R 7/8

4th Dhanush Ragav N S 7/8

5th Ram Kumar G M 7/8

Sridhar C S, a former Indian Railways star with 6 out of 7 bowed down in the final round to finish 17th

Children always carry their memories from Adyar Times

The Organising Secratary - Mr. P Stephen Balasamy, felicitates the rank holders

In a four way tie for the second place, S Vakeesh was adjudged as the first runner-up. He defeated Darshan Sasthaa M convincingly to reach 7 points and garnered the second place on account of his higher Buchholz score. Ajjesh J R after carving out a neat victory over Kiruthik Murugan M, finished as the second runner-up. Dhanush Raghav N S struck a brilliant victory over veteran star - Sreedhar C S to occupy the fourth place. Ram Kumar G M also with 7 points finished creditable fifth after scoring an emphatic victory over Selvamurugan B. Curiously the only IM of the event and five times champion of Adyar Times R Balasubramaniam had a disastrous start with 1/3 and had to withdraw from the tournament.

Players, parents and accompanying persons at the closing ceremony

In a glittering prize distribution ceremony Ms.Vijayalakshmi B, Manager Business Development, Adyar Times felicitated the winners in the presence of Dr. R Baskaran, Vice Chancellor, Jeppiaar University, Mr. Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, TNSCA and Mr. R Srinivasan, Treasurer, TNSCA.

Now, two interesting games of the champion

Hari Ganesh won Adyar Times for the second consecutive year scoring the exact same points - 7.5/8

Hari Ganesh T scored an unbeaten 7.5/8, finished a half point ahead of the rest and gained 68 Elo rating points

Arbiters team and TNSCA officials

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7		Hari, Ganesh T	IND	1947	TN	7,5	42,5	46,5	43,25
2	29	AFM	Vakeesh, S	IND	1723	TN	7	41	45	39,00
3	2		Ajjesh, J R	IND	2016	TN	7	40,5	44	36,50
4	8		Dhanush, Ragav N S	IND	1935	TN	7	39,5	42	35,75
5	18		Ram, Kumar G M	IND	1789	TN	7	37,5	41	33,50
6	6	FM	Ayushh, Ravikumar	IND	1953	TN	6,5	41,5	45,5	35,50
7	15		Lukesh, A	IND	1799	TN	6,5	38,5	43	34,25
8	10		Gokula, Vishnu R	IND	1869	TN	6,5	38,5	42,5	33,50
9	41		Diya, Jain	IND	1680	TN	6,5	38	39	30,25
10	32		Tharunika, G	IND	1709	TN	6,5	37,5	40,5	32,00
11	16		Shashveen, A K	IND	1793	TN	6,5	37	40,5	30,50
12	4		Vijay, Shreeram P	IND	1967	TN	6,5	36,5	40,5	31,75
13	17		Darshan, Sasthaa M	IND	1790	TN	6	41	45	31,00
14	12	ACM	Nivedita, V C	IND	1820	TN	6	40,5	45	30,50
15	14		Tarun, N	IND	1809	DL	6	40,5	44,5	31,00
16	1		Aakash, K P	IND	2070	TN	6	40	44,5	32,00
17	25		Sridhar, C S	IND	1754	TN	6	40	43,5	29,50
18	5		Selvamurugan, B	IND	1960	TN	6	39,5	43,5	31,00
19	37		Sudarsan, L P	IND	1683	TN	6	38	42	30,25
20	20	AFM	Yuvanesh, A	IND	1776	KA	6	37,5	41	29,00
21	21		Nishant, T.R.	IND	1763	TN	6	36	40	29,75
22	23		Adhiadhavan, G	IND	1760	TN	6	36	39	27,00
23	33		Kiruthik, Murugun M	IND	1707	TN	6	36	38,5	26,50
24	19		Prajit, Ravishankar	IND	1782	TN	6	35,5	39,5	29,00
25	22		Sunil Dev, S	IND	1762	PY	6	35,5	39	29,25
26	54		Vishwajith, S	IND	1638	TN	6	34	37	27,25
27	11		Prasanna, Karthick M	IND	1869	TN	6	33,5	35,5	24,50
28	48		Brijesh, Poola	IND	1664	TN	6	32,5	36	25,50
29	87		Iniyan, K	IND	1574	TN	6	32	34	22,00
30	9		Vaidyanathan, Kannan	USA	1880	USA	6	31,5	34,5	24,50

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About the Author

Paul Arokia Raj is a Grade-A International Arbiter. He is one of the most reputed arbiters of India. He has officiated many top events. He is a former National Sub-Junior champion and his career high rating was 2205. He was also the coach of University of Madras for nearly 20 years. Best among his products is GM Sundararajan Kidambi. He is now working as Assistant Traffic Manager in Chennai Port Authority and he was All India Major Ports Chess Champion for nearly 20 years.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed