Top seed wins the tournament with a round to spare
Rishabh Nishad (UP) scored 8/8 to win the tournament with one to round to go. He was 1.5 points ahead of the field at that time. A half dozen players at 6.5/8. In the final round, Rishabh's state mate Anshu Kr. Pathak defeated him. Pankaj Verma (HP), Deepak Batra (PUN) and Dev Krishan (HP) won against Gagan Bhardwaj (PUN), Syed Majahid Hussain Jafry (UP) and Arun Verma (UP) respectively to finish with the same score 6.5/8. Dev and Pankaj secured second and third place according to tie-breaks. The ninth round of the event witnessed 49 decisive games and there were zero draws, something that does not happen every day!
Chief Guest at the Opening Ceremony was Hitesh Azad posted as General Manger HPMC and Additional Director at Youth Services and Sports Department, Himachal Pradesh. He has a FIDE Rating of 1293 and he also took part in this event.
Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony was Vivek Thapar, Chairman MC Theog. Vice Chair - Reena Roy and five more members Sheela Verma, Neetu Mehta, Dinesh Sharma, Anil Grover and Sanjay Sharma were also present.
Thanks to Sanjeev Thaku, Tournament Director and General Secretary of Himachal Pradesh State Chess Association, for sharing the photos and info about the tournament.
A total of 120 players took part from various states across the country in this five-day nine round Swiss-league Rating tournament which was organized by Himachal Pradesh State Chess Association at Hotel Shimla Hills International in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh from 12th to 16th August 2023. The time control of the event was 60 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 1 | Rishabh, Nishad | IND | 1939 | Uttar Pradesh | 8 | 53 | 56,5 | 49,00 | |
| 2 | 5 | Dev, Krishan | IND | 1672 | Himachal Pradesh | 7,5 | 53 | 56 | 44,25 | |
| 3 | 3 | Pankaj, Verma | IND | 1741 | Himachal Pradesh | 7,5 | 49,5 | 50,5 | 38,75 | |
| 4 | 7 | AGM | Pathak, Anshu Kr | IND | 1570 | Uttar Pradesh | 7,5 | 49 | 52,5 | 42,00 |
| 5 | 4 | Deepak, Batra | IND | 1676 | Punjab | 7,5 | 48 | 52 | 41,00 | |
| 6 | 16 | Bhardwaj, Brij | IND | 1412 | Himachal Pradesh | 7 | 47,5 | 50,5 | 35,50 | |
| 7 | 28 | Manoj, Kumar | IND | 1243 | Himachal Pradesh | 7 | 45 | 49 | 36,50 | |
| 8 | 18 | Yitish, Kumar Gangwani | IND | 1354 | Haryana | 7 | 42,5 | 46 | 33,50 | |
| 9 | 17 | Nandan, Kumar | IND | 1370 | Bihar | 6,5 | 47 | 50,5 | 32,00 | |
| 10 | 33 | Gagan, Bhardwaj | IND | 1207 | Punjab | 6,5 | 45,5 | 48,5 | 30,75 |
