Pranesh and Sarayu win National under-13 Open and Girls 2019

Top seeds dominate National under-13 in both Open and Girls

As many as 391 players (Open 244 and Girls 147) were in the fray in the 33rd VMRDA National Under 13 Open & Girls Championships organized by Visakha District Chess Association (VDCA) at the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh from May 4 to 12, 2019. Incidentally just three days ahead of the commencement of the event it was forecasted that a severe cyclonic storm Fani would cross the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in the first week of May. As the quote goes “Winner never quits and quitter never wins”, unmindful of the threat posed by Fani all the players converged at the port city. As the flights and trains were delayed due to cyclonic weather, the author of this article who was also the Chief Arbiter of the event took a 15 hours car drive from Chennai to Visakhapatnam taking some players along with him! The All India Chess Federation on its part postponed the commencement of first round by three hours to facilitate all players to report for the inaugural round in time. It was a blessing in disguise that the Fani effect had lowered the mercury level in Visakhapatnam with the players enjoying a moderate temperature during the tournament period.

Now coming to the true picture of the games, the cool temperature that was prevailing inside the tournament hall did not deter the players to generate heat and dust over the sixty four squares in all the eleven rounds.

In the open category which witnessed the change of guard for the leadership in the successive rounds. The top seed here FM C.Pranesh of Tamil Nadu faced a shocking defeat at the hands of an under dog Shaik Sumer Arsh of Telangana as early as in the fourth round. With the top seed out of contention, the second seed Pranav and the third seed FM Jubin Jimmy were the joint leaders at the end of the sixth round with full score. On the seventh round in a scintillating game Pranav overpowered his rival Jubin Jimmy to sit pretty on the top with 7 points as a sole leader. Although he enjoyed a full point lead at this point of time he slipped to joint lead when he lost a crucial match against C.Pranesh in the eighth round. Pranesh back to form did not leave his driver’s seat when he tamed another rival Jubin Jimmy in the ninth round to maintain half a point lead with 8 points over Pranav who dropped half a point against the fourth seed CM Nikhil Magizhnan.

In the crucial tenth and the penultimate Pranesh too settled for a draw against his teammate Nikhil Magizhnan. At the same time Pranav over came stiff resistance offered by Krishnan Rithvik (Maharashtra) and scored a full point to join Pranesh for the leadership. With the final round in the offing the line up was that Pranesh and Pranav were sharing the joint lead with 8.5 points followed by four others on 8 points. The top two tables was hassle free with the leaders drawing their final round against their respective opponents to target 9 points. FM Jubin Jimmy who was also a hot contender for the title throughout the championship capitalized this opportunity to outwit Illampariti A R (Tamil Nadu) and tied for the first place. On the tie break via direct encounter since all three have played with each other, FM C.Pranesh was declared first on account of having defeated the other two in the earlier rounds. V.Pranav who lost to Pranesh but defeated Jubin Jimmy was placed second. Jubin Jimmy by virtue of losing to other two, finished third.

Pranesh defeated the second seed and eventual runner-up of the tournament Pranav V in round 8.

In the girls section the top seed from Telangana Velpula Sarayu started her dream run from the fifth round notching up five straight victories. However hot pursuit for the title was halted by Boramanikar Tanisha (Maharashrtra) when she held the top seed to a creditable draw in the sixth round. This helped WCM Kirti Mayur Patel also from Maharashtra to catch up the overnight leader with 6.5 points from seven rounds. The battle line was drawn in the eighth round between the top seed Velpula Sarayu and the 17th seed Kirti Mayur Patil. The top seed justified her seeding by trouncing her opponent with a brilliant mating net after trapping the uncastled black’s king. At the beginning of the ninth round Velpula had stretched her sole lead by full point. However she conceded two consecutive draws on Round 9 and 10 against her team mate Kheerti Gangta and V.Renganayaki (Karnataka) respectively.

Curiously in both games her opponents were maintaining a commanding position. Despite dropping a point from two rounds Sarayu was maintaining a slender half point lead with 8.5 points over her rivals Kirti Mayur Patel and the dark horse of the championship Pande Miracle (Orsissa). Velpula continued her drawing spree in the final round too against WCM Wankhade Sanskrt (Maharashtra) to end up with 9 points from eleven rounds with an unbeaten record. Kirti Mayur Patel of Maharashtra capitalized the opportunity to tie up for the first place by inflicting a victory over Pande Miracle in the final round. In a two way tie for the title Velpula Sarayu was adjudged as the champion via direct encounter, the first para meter in the tie break system in the indian national championships. The runner up was Kirti Mayur Patel of Maharashtra. Renganayaki of Karnataka who outmaneuvered Yash Jyoti Bir of West Bengal in this round finished third with 8 points in a nine way tie on account of higher buchholtz score.

Velpula defeated the eventual runner-up WCM Kriti Mayur Patel in round 8.

The playing venue was a centrally located Children Arena in VMRDA Complex owned by the  Government of Andhra Pradesh.  It is very heartening to note that the place is ear marked only for the children activities. The two fully air conditioned separate halls for Open and Girls were spacious and elite looking. As the entire complex had a centralized air condition even the waiting persons did not feel the outside temperature. The organisers namely VDCA ensured that all the players and the accompanying persons get food inside the complex itself on the first and last day plus two days when there was double round by arranging delicious lunch for all the people free of cost.

In a glittering Valedictory function G Srijana, I.A.S., Joint Collector, Visakhaptnam District felicitated the winners in the presence of D V Sundar, Vice President FIDE, Bharat Singh Chauhan, Secretary, AICF, APCA and VDCA officials.

Curiously both the champions in Open and Girls drew their final round, targeted 9 points from eleven games and tied for the first place. Both emerged as the Champions via first tie break , the direct encounter (In a three way in open and two way tie in girls) way tie . Both champions were richer by ₹ 27000. Another important feat was in Open the top three seeds finished in that order but in Girls only the top seed could justify her seeding.

Final Ranking in open

Complete standings

Final Ranking in girls

Complete standings

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 employed with Chennai Port Trust and he was All India Major Ports Chess Champion for nearly 20 years.

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Pranesh and Sarayu lead National under-13 with two rounds to go @ 11/05/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)