Laxman wins 2nd Open Rapid Rating at Trichy
Top seed Laxman scored an unbeaten 6.5/7 and beat P R Hirthickkesh in an Armageddon match to win 2nd Open FIDE Rated Rapid tournament at Trichy, Tamil Nadu on 5th January 2020. Both Laxman and Hirthickkesh finished with 6.5/7 and had all their five tie-break score same, thus Armageddon was played to determine the champion. Hirthickkesh had to settle for the runner-up position. Eleven players finished at 6.0/7. IM B T Muralikrishnan was placed third due to his better tie-break score. Total 269 players participated in this one-day rapid rating tournament organized by Star Chess Foundation held at Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Photo: R Anantharam
Laxman beats Hirthickkesh in Armageddon
Both Laxman and Hirthickkesh finished at 6.5/7 after Laxman drew his final round game and Hirthickkesh won.
GM Laxman R R of ICF receives the winner's trophy, ₹20000 cash prize from Dr. Ravivarman, Principal, MAM Engineering College in presence of P Ismail (left), Organising Secretary and R Venkatraman (right), Vice President TDCA.
Out of the 269 players, thirteen players shared the lead with four points each at the end of the fourth round and the leaders included all the top tiled players. There were only four victories in the fifth round among the leaders, the important one coming from Laxman against IM Harikrishnan A Ra.
Muralikrishnan was forced to a draw by S Prasanna of Kanchi, leaving Laxman, Ram S Krishnan of BSNL, P R Hirthickkesh of Neyveli and M V Laxmi Narayanan of Kodaikanal in the front. Laxman scored his sixth consecutive win to stay on top at the end of the sixth round, followed by Muralikrishnan, Hirthickkesh, Ram and Prasannaa with 5.5/6 points each.
While Laxman agreed for a friendly draw with his friend Murali to reach 6.5 points, Hirthickkesh also collected the same number of points, beating Lakshmi. This resulted in a two-way tie between them and surprisingly both Laxman and Hirthickk were on par in all five tiebreaks. They played an Armageddon playoff to decide the champion. Laxman won the game convincingly to clinch the title.
Dr S Ravivarman, Principal, MAM College of Engineering distributed the prizes to the winners.
Star Chess Foundation under the leadership of P Ismail is promoting chess in Trichy, one of the biggest cities in Tamil Nadu by conducting many rating tournaments. The venue MAM Engineering college is just about 10 km away from Srirangam, the largest functioning temple in the world.
Situated in between the two rivers Cauvery and Kollidam, the 236 feet high gopuram is an amazing view.
Total 269 players in this one-day rapid rating tournament organized by Star Chess Foundation at MAM College of Engineering, Siruganur, Trichy. The tournament was well conducted at a very short notice.
The article was edited by Shahid Ahmed
Final Standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Laxman R.R. | LM | IND | 2357 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 33,0 | 30,0 | 30,00 | 6 | 7 | 6,5 | 5,86 | 0,64 | 20 | 12,8 | ||
| 15 | Hirthickkesh Pr | 7073 | IND | 1913 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 33,0 | 30,0 | 30,00 | 6 | 7 | 6,5 | 4,25 | 2,25 | 20 | 45,0 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | IM | Murali Krishnan B T | 1004 | IND | 2297 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 36,0 | 32,0 | 30,25 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5,78 | 0,22 | 20 | 4,4 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Ram S. Krishnan | 5631 | IND | 2172 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 35,5 | 32,5 | 29,25 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5,79 | 0,21 | 20 | 4,2 | |||
| 5 | 6 | IM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | U14 | 5214 | IND | 2171 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 34,5 | 30,5 | 28,50 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6,31 | -0,31 | 20 | -6,2 | |
| 6 | 9 | Prasannaa.S | 5609 | IND | 2096 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 33,0 | 30,5 | 27,50 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5,12 | 0,88 | 20 | 17,6 | |||
| 7 | 19 | Peter Anand A | NA | IND | 1845 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 33,0 | 30,0 | 24,00 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3,86 | 1,14 | 20 | 22,8 | |||
| 8 | 16 | AGM | Sa Kannan | 5633 | IND | 1887 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 31,5 | 29,0 | 26,50 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4,93 | 1,07 | 20 | 21,4 | ||
| 9 | 12 | Manigandan S S | 5029 | IND | 2033 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 31,5 | 28,5 | 26,00 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6,43 | -0,43 | 20 | -8,6 | |||
| 10 | 13 | FM | Vinoth Kumar M. | Proo | IND | 2003 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 31,0 | 28,0 | 25,00 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5,80 | 0,20 | 20 | 4,0 | ||
| 11 | 10 | IM | Harikrishnan.A.Ra | 5027 | IND | 2081 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 30,5 | 27,5 | 23,00 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5,67 | 0,33 | 20 | 6,6 | ||
| 12 | 24 | Ranjith R.K. | 1013 | IND | 1781 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 30,0 | 27,0 | 25,00 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4,83 | 1,17 | 20 | 23,4 | |||
| 13 | 5 | Syed Anwar Shazuli | 5139 | IND | 2172 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 29,0 | 26,0 | 24,50 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5,41 | -0,41 | 20 | -8,2 | |||
| 14 | 31 | Farhaan M | NA | IND | 1646 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 34,0 | 30,0 | 25,50 | 5 | 7 | 5,5 | 3,93 | 1,57 | 20 | 31,4 | |||
| 15 | 26 | Thirunaga Sundaram S | S55 | 1045 | IND | 1704 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 33,0 | 29,5 | 24,75 | 5 | 6 | 4,5 | 3,85 | 0,65 | 20 | 13,0 | ||
| 16 | 18 | Shyam Sundar T. | IND | 1859 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 32,0 | 28,0 | 24,00 | 5 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,64 | -0,14 | 20 | -2,8 | ||||
| 17 | 14 | Sridharan Ramanathan | S55 | 5645 | IND | 1938 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 31,0 | 28,0 | 23,25 | 5 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,66 | -0,16 | 20 | -3,2 | ||
| 18 | 11 | Sridhar J | 5785 | IND | 2079 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 30,0 | 27,0 | 22,75 | 5 | 7 | 5,5 | 6,43 | -0,93 | 20 | -18,6 | |||
| 19 | 47 | Kanish Vikraman Adithan B | U14 | 1046 | IND | 1494 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 26,0 | 24,0 | 19,75 | 5 | 6 | 4,5 | 3,96 | 0,54 | 20 | 10,8 | ||
| 20 | 7 | AGM | Lakshmi Narayanan M V | IND | 2147 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 38,5 | 34,5 | 25,50 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5,45 | -0,45 | 20 | -9,0 | |||
| 21 | 8 | IM | Ramnathan Balasubramaniam | 1005 | IND | 2107 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 35,0 | 32,0 | 23,25 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 6,24 | -1,24 | 20 | -24,8 | ||
| 22 | 20 | Selvamurugan B | 5272 | IND | 1825 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 34,5 | 31,5 | 22,00 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4,76 | 0,24 | 20 | 4,8 | |||
| 23 | 147 | Vignesh S | IND | 1079 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 32,0 | 30,0 | 19,50 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0,61 | 2,39 | 20 | 47,8 | ||||
| 24 | 59 | Gopinath P | 5224 | IND | 1414 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 32,0 | 29,5 | 20,50 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2,88 | 1,12 | 20 | 22,4 | |||
| 25 | 23 | Prakash V R | 1007 | IND | 1787 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 32,0 | 29,0 | 18,00 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4,69 | -0,69 | 20 | -13,8 |
About the Author
Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Arbiters’ Commission in All India Chess Federation and also International Braille Chess Association, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships.
