Why are Harikrishna, Vidit, Adhiban, Humpy, Harika and 12 more GMs in Mangalore?

by Sagar Shah - 20/03/2019

The average rating of team ONGC led by Vidit Gujrathi is 2644! The average rating of team BPCL led by Harikrishna is 2628 and that of IOCL led by Adhiban is 2621. Each of these teams can take part in a chess Olympiad and have great chances to fight for a medal! But 17 GMs, 5 IMs and 2 WGMs have gathered at the MRPL Employee's recreation centre in Mangalore. Why? Each of the top Indian GM apart from Vishy Anand is employed by Petroleum Sports Promotion Board. This is the annual event which has to be compulsorily attended by each of the players. That's the reason why we see top players like Harikrishna, Vidit, Adhiban, Sasikiran, Ganguly, Sethuraman, Abhijeet Gupta and others fighting out here for their team's glory! Which is the team on the top? Read on to find out. Photos and videos from Mangalore by Deputy arbiter Ganesh Babu.

When a youngster begins to play chess and starts to excel at it, the first thought that comes in the minds of the parents is - will this sport be able to help my child lead a good life? Will it be financially viable? If the answer is yes, then the parents invest further in their child's career. If the answer is no, it would be better to be back in the class room studying Mathematics, Physics and Commerce! A huge role has been played by the Petroleum companies of India to make chess into a financially viable sport. The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) includes companies like Indian Oil (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), and others. Each of these companies have recruited grandmasters and International Masters and offered them good jobs with decent salaries (starting from Rs.50,000 per month) so that they can focus on their game. Once they are recruited in the sports quota, they do not have to go to work and the salary is credited at the end of the month in their account. This is how the PSPB supports chess in our country. For the players it is important that they maintain their rating and performances above a specific threshold to enjoy these benefits. Right from Harikrishna (BPCL), Vidit Gujrathi (ONGC), B.Adhiban (IOCL), Sasikiran (ONGC), Surya Ganguly (IOCL), Sethuraman (ONGC), Humpy (ONGC), (Harika (IOCL), and many more, each of these top players is employed with a Petroleum Company. People always get confused as to which company employs which top player of Indian chess. So here are three collages!

Team Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) includes Vidit Gujrathi, Sasikiran Krishnan, Koneru Humpy, Deep Sengupta, Sethuraman (Rating avergage of 2644!)

Team Bharat Petroleum is made up of Harikrishna, Abhijeet Gupta, Vaibhav Suri, Gopal G.N, and M.R. Venkatesh (Rating average 2628)

Team Indian Oil (IOCL) consists of Harika, Lalith Babu, Adhiban, Ganguly and Karthikeyan Murali (Rating average 2621)

ONGC, BPCL and IOCL are three of the strongest Petroleum companies. In fact each of these teams would be seeded between the 14th to 18th mark at the Batumi Chess Olympiad! To put things into perspective, team ONGC is stronger than even the national team of Germany, Spain or Iran!

Starting player's list

No.		Name	FideID	Rtg	FED	Team	Bo.
1	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	5007003	2730	IND	BPCL	3
2	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	5029465	2711	IND	ONGC A	1
3	GM	Adhiban B.	5018471	2683	IND	IOCL A	1
4	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	5004985	2678	IND	ONGC A	2
5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	5021596	2637	IND	ONGC A	4
6	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	5002150	2633	IND	IOCL A	4
7	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	5010608	2602	IND	BPCL	1
8	GM	Gopal G.N.	5015693	2589	IND	BPCL	4
9	GM	Vaibhav Suri	5045185	2589	IND	BPCL	2
10	GM	Lalith Babu M R	5024595	2586	IND	IOCL A	3
11	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	5074452	2583	IND	IOCL A	2
12	GM	Sengupta Deep	5008352	2551	IND	ONGC A	3
13	GM	Koneru Humpy	5008123	2549	IND	ONGC A	5
14	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	5005779	2517	IND	BPCL	5
15	GM	Kunte Abhijit	5002265	2485	IND	IOCL B	1
16	GM	Harika Dronavalli	5015197	2483	IND	IOCL A	5
17	GM	Neelotpal Das	5003512	2410	IND	ONGC B	4
18	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	5016193	2401	IND	IOCL B	2
19	IM	Karavade Eesha	5012600	2357	IND	IOCL B	3
20	IM	Padmini Rout	5029295	2332	IND	IOCL B	4
21	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	5013623	2312	IND	IOCL B	5
22	IM	Ravi Lanka	5000084	2301	IND	ONGC B	1
23	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	5000548	2293	IND	ONGC B	3
24	IM	Mohota Nisha	5004330	2236	IND	OIL A	2

One of the important clauses for the players to maintain their employment with these oil companies is that they have compulsorily attend the Inter-unit PSPB tournament held annually. And it doesn't matter if any other event clashes with the Inter-Unit PSPB tournament, the players have to be present. That's the reason why from 18th to the 22nd of March 2019 the best players of Indian chess have gathered together in Mangalore for this annual event. It's a six round team tournament with two games being played each day. The time control is 45 mins + 30 sec increment per move. At the end of day two, this is how things stand:

Rank after four rounds

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3	IOCL A	4	3	1	0	7	0	13,5
2	2	BPCL	4	3	1	0	7	0	13,5
3	4	IOCL B	4	3	0	1	6	0	12,5
4	1	ONGC A	4	2	2	0	6	0	11,5
5	6	OIL A	4	3	0	1	6	0	11,0
6	11	HPCL B	4	2	0	2	4	0	9,0
7	5	ONGC B	4	2	0	2	4	0	8,0
8	10	EIL	4	2	0	2	4	0	7,0
9	7	MRPL A	4	2	0	2	4	0	5,5
10	13	MRPL B	4	1	0	3	2	0	5,5
11	14	NRL	4	1	0	3	2	0	4,5
12	8	HPCL A	4	1	0	3	2	0	4,0
13	9	OIL B	4	1	0	3	2	0	3,0
14	12	IOCL (AOD)	4	0	0	4	0	0	3,5

ONGC team led by Vidit has already played its two most important matches against IOCL (Adhiban) and BPCL (Harikrishna). They made draws in both the matches and hence you can see them on the fourth position with 6.0/8 match points. On the other hand IOCL against BPCL will take place in the fifth round and this match will decide the champion of the 30th Inter-Unit PSPB 2019.

ONGC vs IOCL

The clash of two 2700s was highly anticipated by the fans. It took place in the third round. Vidit was able to beat Adhiban with some nice play in the rook endgame. | Photo: Ganesh Babu

The immovable object was just too strong for the unstoppable force!

Vidit's win wasn't enough as Karthikeyan Murali managed to beat Sasikiran on board two and Lalith Babu got the better of Deep Sengupta. Sethuraman pulled things back for ONGC by beating Ganguly. In the end the score was 2-2.

BPCL vs ONGC

ONGC was pretty close to winning this duel but in the end it was the brilliance of Abhijeet Gupta and the over ambition of Vidit Gujrathi that led to the match ending in a 2-2 draw.

Abhijeet Gupta's win was equalled by Sasikiran getting the better of Vaibhav Suri

Vidit lost to Abhijeet Gupta on board one | Photo: Ganesh Babu

The final moments of the tense encounter captured on the camera!

There is no stopping Abhijeet Gupta after his marriage! | Photo: Ganesh Babu

It's very rare to see Harikrishna in India, and that too in a tournament! He is on 2.5/3. | Photo: Ganesh Babu

Sethuraman plays for Team ONGC and is on 2.5/3. His draw came against Harikrishna. | Photo: Ganesh Babu

Abhijit Kunte heads the IOCL B team. He is the only male member of the team. Other players include Soumya Swaminathan, Eesha Karavade, Padmini Rout and Mary Ann Gomes | Photo: Ganesh Babu

The playing hall is the MRPL Employee's Recreation Centre in Mangalore | Photo: Ganesh Babu

The all important clash between IOCL and BPCL takes place on the 20th of March 2019 at 10 a.m. IST. There are no live games for the event! We will wait for the updates from Deputy arbiter Ganesh Babu Sabapathy.

A big thanks to Ganesh Babu Sabapathy who is the deputy chief arbiter at the event. Thanks to his lens we are able to enjoy the pictures and the videos from the strongest Indian tournament!

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