G. Akash wins the grand Hyderabad affair
The biggest prize money tournament of Telangana "Hyderabad Open Fide Rating Chess Tournament" was an event worth playing. It was lavish, grand, glittery with hundreds of prizes, gala inauguration and PD functions. Cash prize of 8 lakhs each, was divided into two tournaments, open and below 1500. There were around 250 participants in Open category and massive 750 players in below 1500 making it the highest number of participants in the history of Telangana. Our man on the scene, 11-year-old Avathanshu Bhat reports.
The Hyerabad Open started on the 20th of December and was organized by Mr. Pandala Karthik Reddy. It took place in Nagole. Cash prize of 8 lakhs each, it was divided into two tournaments, open and below 1500. Hence total cash prize was a whopping 16 lakh rupees.
It was a strong tournament (average ELO 1568) witnessing players like IM Shyaamnikhil, Akash G, WFM Varshini V and Priyanka Nutakki and young talents like CM Kushagra Mohan, Srihari L R and CM Raahil Mullick.
The venue and the atmosphere were perfect. There were just the sort of conditions a player would ask for, with individual tables to play a great game. The waiting areas were also decent with a huge LED screen, live telecasting the players hall to spectate games.
IM Shyaamnikhil was going strong but stumbled on the sixth round, giving way to Akash G, although still managing to clinch the fourth prize.
The Prize Distribution was quite grand: there were spotlights, music and a winner’s podium. There were also chief guests: actress Madhushalini and the honourable Home Minister of Telangana. G. Akash the champion of the tournament, took home the trophy and 1.5 lakhs with an impressive score of 8.5/9 and Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad following as second prize winner with with a trophy and a score of 8.0 points. The below 1500 winner was Prashant J Naik with a spectacular score of 8.5/9.
Here is IM Akash's best game from the tournament, which he annotated himself for ChessBase India readers. It's against Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad in the last round.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dhulipalla chandra prasad"]
[Black "G.Akash"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2317"]
[BlackElo "2395"]
[Annotator "G. Akash"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
So it was basically a must win sitiuation for me.} 1. d4 d6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7
4. Nf3 Nd7 5. h3 e5 6. Bh2 Qe7 7. Be2 f5 8. c4 Nh6 9. Nc3 c6 10. O-O O-O {
Until here it's theory.} 11. Qc2 $6 {white must try to play b4-b5....} ({
but immediate b4 runs into} 11. b4 $6 f4 12. exf4 (12. Qb3 fxe3 (12... Nf5 $5)
13. fxe3 Nf5 {with some pressure}) 12... exd4 13. Nxd4 Qf6 $17) ({main move
goes by..} 11. Rc1 Nf7 12. b4 g5 13. b5 $13) 11... g5 12. Rad1 (12. dxe5 dxe5
13. Rfd1 g4 14. hxg4 Nxg4 $11) 12... g4 13. hxg4 fxg4 14. Nd2 exd4 15. exd4
Bxd4 ({i was thinking of this move} 15... Nf5 16. Bxg4 Nxd4 17. Qe4 {looks
comfortable for white}) 16. Nde4 Be5 17. Qd2 (17. Nxd6 $5 {is playable} Bxh2+
18. Kxh2 Rxf2 $1 19. Rxf2 Qh4+ 20. Kg1 g3 21. Bf3 $8 Ne5 22. Nxc8 Rxc8 23. Rfd2
Re8 24. Ne4 Rf8 $1 $11) 17... Nf5 18. Bxe5 (18. Bxg4 Bxh2+ 19. Kxh2 Qh4+ 20.
Bh3 Ne5 21. b3 Nf3+ 22. gxf3 Ng7 $13) 18... Nxe5 19. Nxd6 Qg7 {i already
prefer black in this position} (19... Nxd6 20. Qxd6 Qg7) 20. Nce4 Nxd6 (20...
h5 21. Qg5) 21. Qxd6 $6 (21. Nxd6 $1 Nf3+ (21... Be6 22. Qc3) 22. Bxf3 gxf3 23.
g3 Be6 24. Rfe1 Rf6 25. Re4 $1 Raf8 $13) 21... Bf5 22. Nc3 (22. Ng3 Bg6 23.
Rfe1 h5 $17) 22... Rae8 23. g3 Nf7 $6 (23... Re6 $1 24. Qd4 Qh6 $19) 24. Qd4
Qh6 25. c5 (25. Bxg4 c5) (25. f4 $1 {only way to defend} gxf3 26. Rxf3 Ng5 27.
Rff1 $15) 25... Ne5 26. Rfe1 Re6 $1 $19 27. Qd2 {A blunder in time trouble} (
27. Qf4 Qh5 28. Ne4 Bxe4 29. Qxe4 Nf3+ 30. Bxf3 Rxe4 31. Bxe4 Qxc5 $19) 27...
Qxd2 {With Nf3+ coming up.} 0-1
Final Ranking after 10 Rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 3 | IM | Akash G | IND | 2395 | 8,5 | 0,0 | 64,5 | 58,5 |
| 2 | 5 | Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad | IND | 2317 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 64,0 | 58,5 | |
| 3 | 1 | IM | Shyaamnikhil P | IND | 2451 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 62,5 | 57,5 |
| 4 | 2 | IM | Das Arghyadip | IND | 2399 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 62,5 | 56,5 |
| 5 | 11 | Lokesh N. | IND | 2219 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 61,0 | 55,0 | |
| 6 | 16 | Hemanth Raam | IND | 2168 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 61,5 | 56,0 | |
| 7 | 17 | FM | Vinoth Kumar M. | IND | 2141 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 59,0 | 53,0 |
| 8 | 8 | Sekar B | IND | 2240 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 58,0 | 52,0 | |
| 9 | 18 | Singh S. Vikramjit | IND | 2139 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 57,0 | 52,0 | |
| 10 | 10 | Akash Pc Iyer | IND | 2225 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 56,5 | 51,5 | |
| 11 | 7 | Saravana Krishnan P. | IND | 2293 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 62,5 | 57,0 | |
| 12 | 34 | Mohite Ranveer | IND | 1955 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 60,0 | 55,0 | |
| 13 | 46 | Nikhil M | IND | 1813 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 57,5 | 52,5 | |
| 14 | 20 | CM | Rajarishi Karthi | IND | 2117 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 57,0 | 51,5 |
| 15 | 47 | Shyam Prasad Reddy K | IND | 1812 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,5 | 51,5 | |
| 16 | 12 | Senthil Maran K | IND | 2193 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,5 | 51,5 | |
| 17 | 32 | Badavath Anand | IND | 1959 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,5 | 51,5 | |
| 18 | 62 | Aditya S S V | IND | 1744 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,0 | 52,0 | |
| 19 | 4 | IM | Rajesh V A V | IND | 2351 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,0 | 50,5 |
| 20 | 14 | Pranavananda V | IND | 2184 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 55,5 | 50,5 |
I couldn't venture out much, but visited the Hussain Sagar Lake. It is Asia's biggest man-made lake with a beautiful Buddha statue in the middle. The evening can be quite picturesque and is usually bustling with visitors.
In a bird’s eye view, this tournament had excellent starting and closing ceremony, playing venue, good players and just brilliant organisation; making it a true “Grand Hyderabad Affair”! Wishing for many more such tournament to come .
About the Author
Avathanshu Bhat is a 11-year-old chess player from Mumbai. Apart from being a chess fanatic, he is a voracious reader and his favourite books include Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and the complete adventures of Feluda by Satyajit Ray. He loves Daniel King and enjoys his Power Play DVDs very much. He maintains his own blog.