Chennai 02+03: No Play due to Protests

by Niklesh Jain - 21/01/2017

The fourth round of Chennai Open 2017 was scheduled to be held on 20 January 2017. Things were on course when news arrived that Chennai is enforcing a 12-hour shutdown on itself in protest against the Supreme Court ruling on Jallikattu, a popular Tamil ethnic sport. The organizers were forced to abandon the idea of playing a round amidst this protest and postponed it to the next day. The games finally began an hour back. Niklesh Jain reports from Chennai.

Chennai 02+03: No Play due to Protests

The 9th Chennai Open has completed three rounds of play and yesterday, on 20th January, the entire capital came to a standstill. The state of Tamil Nadu is vehemently opposing the Supreme Court's ban on the ethnic sport of Jallikattu on grounds of animal cruelty. Walking along the lines, the organizers decided to postpone the fourth round by a day and it began a while back.

Let us have a look at the first few rounds' play.

Round 04 pairings

As of now, both the top seeds are leading with a full score, along with 19 others. A handful of higher seeds have already lost or settled for draws against lower rated players. Actually, this speaks volumes about the strength of the local talents in the tournament. Perhaps, this is why, in a city chock full of grandmasters, the highest seeded Indian is a Delhite on a college vacation in India.

Top seed GM David Alberto (2569) is a regular visitor to India. He wryly commented that he visits India with the plan to lose some rating points so he can gain in the long term. His previous visit to India in 2016 made him the Italian Champion the same year!

David beat Tamil Nadu talent S. Jayakumar convincingly.

[Event "9th Chennai Open International Grandmast"]
[Site "Chennai India"]
[Date "2017.01.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "David, Alberto"]
[Black "Jayakumaar, S."]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2569"]
[BlackElo "2211"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.01.18"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 e5 7. Nc3 Qe7 8. Bg5
Nf6 9. Nd2 h6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. a4 a5 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. g4 Re8 14. Qd2 Nh7 15. Qe3
b6 16. Bg3 Ba6 17. O-O-O Bxc4 18. dxc4 Ng5 19. Kb1 Ne6 20. Ne2 Rad8 21. h4
Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Rd8 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Qd3 Qxd3 25. cxd3 g5 26. f3 Nd4 27. Nxd4
cxd4 28. hxg5 hxg5 29. b4 Bf6 30. c5 axb4 31. cxb6 Bd8 32. Bxe5 Bxb6 33. Bf6 c5
34. Kc2 Kh7 35. Bxg5 Kg6 36. Bd2 Ba5 37. Kb3 Kf6 38. Kc4 Ke5 39. Bc1 Bb6 40.
f4+ Ke6 41. f5+ Ke5 42. g5 1-0

Maharashtra boy Pratik Patil (2208) is in fine form but lost to GM Adam Tukhaev in a similar colour bishop ending.

[Event "9th Chennai Open International Grandmast"]
[Site "Chennai India"]
[Date "2017.01.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Patil, Pratik"]
[Black "Tukhaev, Adam"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2208"]
[BlackElo "2516"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2017.01.18"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 d6 6. cxd4 dxe5 7. Nxe5 Nc6 8.
Bc4 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. Qg4 O-O 13. Nc3 Nf6 14. Bxc6
Qxc6 15. Qe2 Nd5 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. Be3 Rac8 18. a3 Rc6 19. Rac1 Rfc8 20. Qd2 a5
21. Rxc6 Rxc6 22. Rc1 a4 23. Kf1 h6 24. Rxc6 Qxc6 25. Qd3 Bd6 26. h4 b5 27. Ke2
Qd5 28. g3 h5 29. Bd2 Be7 30. Bc3 Qb3 31. Qd1 Qxd1+ 32. Kxd1 Kh7 33. Ke2 Kg6
34. Kd3 Kf5 35. d5 exd5 36. Bxg7 f6 37. Bh6 Bc5 38. f3 Bf2 39. Bf4 Ke6 40. Bb8
f5 41. Bf4 Bc5 42. Bb8 Be7 43. Kd4 Bf6+ 44. Kc5 d4 45. Kxb5 d3 46. Bf4 Be5 47.
Bd2 Bxg3 48. Kxa4 Bxh4 49. Kb3 Bg3 50. Kc3 h4 51. Be3 h3 52. Bg1 Ke5 53. Kxd3
Kf4 54. Ke2 h2 55. Bxh2 Bxh2 56. Kf2 Bg3+ 57. Ke2 Bh4 58. a4 Bf6 59. b3 Bc3 60.
Kd3 Be1 61. Ke2 Bb4 62. Kf2 Ba5 63. Ke2 Kg3 64. Ke3 f4+ 65. Ke4 Be1 0-1

Madhya Pradesh's IM-elect Arjun Tiwari is fresh off a good showing in Delhi and here, he held sixt seed GM Jacek Stopa to a draw.

[Event "9th Chennai Open International Grandmast"]
[Site "Chennai India"]
[Date "2017.01.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Stopa, Jacek"]
[Black "Tiwari, Arjun"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2479"]
[BlackElo "2169"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2017.01.18"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. c3 e5 6. Nf3 d6 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Bd3
g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. a4 a5 11. Nc4 O-O 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nfxe5 dxe5 14. b4 axb4
15. cxb4 Rd8 16. Qc2 Be6 17. Na5 Ra7 18. Qxc7 Rxa5 19. bxa5 Rxd3 20. Qxb7 Bf8
21. a6 Bh3 22. gxh3 Rxh3 23. f4 Bc5+ 24. Kg2 Rxh2+ 25. Kxh2 Qh4+ 26. Kg2 Qg4+
27. Kh2 Qh4+ 1/2-1/2

दरअसल तामिल संस्कृति में सदियों से सांड ( बैल की प्रजाति ) को लेकर खेला जाता है जल्लीकट्टू

Tamil Nadu is up in arms (well, not literally, but sort of) to fight against the Supreme Court decision to ban Jallikattu on the grounds of animal cruelty. Thousands of Chennaites gathered at the Marina Beach canvassing for the revocation of the Supreme court's decision.

What is Jallikattu?

Wikipedia: Jallikattu (or Sallikkattu), also known as Eru thazhuvuthal and Manju virattu, is a traditional sport in which a Bos indicus bull, commonly of the Kangayam breed,^[2] is released into a crowd of people. Multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump of the bull with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape. Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull's horns.

Jallikattu is typically practiced in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day.

Why was Jallikattu banned?

Wikipedia: An investigation by the Animal Welfare Board of India concluded that, "jallikattu is inherently cruel to animals".

Animal welfare organizations, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations(FIAPO) and PETA India have protested against the practice since 2004.

Protestors claim that Jallikattu is promoted as bull taming, but it exploits the bulls' natural nervousness as prey animals by deliberately placing them in a terrifying situation in which they are forced to run away from those they perceive as predators and the practice effectively involve catching a terrified animal. Along with human injuries and fatalities, sometimes bulls themselves sustain injuries which people believe as a bad omen for the village.

Other animal welfare concerns surround the handling before the bulls are released. Practices include prodding the bull with sharp sticks or scythes, and extreme bending and biting of the bull's tail.

Kollywood has come out in support of Jallikattu

Viswanathan Anand also came out in support of the Jallikattu movement

A 12-hour shutdown of Chennai city was in force

Priyadarshan Banjan contributed to this report.

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