14-year-old Aakash G clinches 74th Tamil Nadu State Open Rating 2024 convincingly

by R Anantharam - 12/06/2024

Top seed of the tournament, Aakash G scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 74th Tamil Nadu State Open Rating 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. Nine players scored 7.5/9 each. Out of them, Vignesh B and Sivan S Roshan secured second and third place according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹200000. The top three prizes were ₹50000 + trophy, ₹30000 and ₹20000 each. The five-day rating tournament was organized by Coimbatore District Chess Association at Hindusthan College of Arts and Science in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from 27th to 31st May 2024. This is Aakash's second consecutive Tamil Nadu State tournament triumph within a fortnight. Before this, Aakash won the Tamil Nadu State Under-15 Open 2024. Photos: IA R Anantharam

Aakash wins two Tamil Nadu State titles in two weeks

CM Aakash G of Coimbatore, a former under-9 national champion had two successive state championships under his belt in a space of one week, when he won the Tamil Nadu State Open championship at Hindusthan College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore. He was the outright winner scoring eight points, pipping nine other player by half a point. He won the sub junior title earlier at Pudukottai.

Dr. M Manickam, President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association & Ms. T R K Sarasuwathi, Managing Trustee, HICAS handed over the trophy to 14-year-old G Aakash, won the Tamil Nadu State Open Championship

G Aakash received a laptop, in addition to the regular cash prize. Among the nine players who vied for the top ranks.

G Aakash the champion was gifted a laptop

The seventh round win over former Tamil Nadu state junior champion P Maheswaran of Sivakasi was the turning point for Aakash to win the title.

On the way to the title, Aakash had two draws, one against R Anirudh in the fourth round and another against the second ranked B Vignesh. Vignesh of Chengaplattu had a superior tiebreak to be declared runner-up.

Round 7: FM P Maheshwaran - CM Aakash G: 0-1

The tie between the top two seeds and finishers ended in a draw. B Vignesh is also the runner-up

A good game by Vignesh against the state under-17 runner-up, S Gokul Krishna of Tirupur.

Round 5: S Gokul Krishna - Vignesh B: 0-1

While the top two seeds played true to their seeding, no other top ten seeded player was placed within the first six ranks. 37th seeded 16-year-old Sivan S Roshan was the surprise winner of the second runner-up position, scoring six wins and three draws. Draws against third and fourth seeded MV Lakshmi Narayanan of Kodaikanal and Ram S Krishnan of BSNL helped Sivan S Roshan to clinch the third place.

Sivan S Roshan (left) helped himself to the third place by extracting half a point from the third seeded M V Lakshmi Narayanan who was pushed to the seventh place

The fourth place went to 14-year-old Saisarvesh S of Chennai. Saisarvesh got the better of former under-12 state champion P Vignesh Kannan to achieve fourth place.

Final round victory over P Vignesh Kannan fetched the fourth place to Saisarvesh (right)

Recently crowned Tamil Nadu state under-17 champion V S Nandish of Coimbatore had a win over V Tarun of Salem, enabling him to propel to the fifth place.

Nandish (left) subdued Tarun to get fifth place

Though Haridev lost to KG Hiren in the seventh round, he managed to pull two wins in-a-row to secure sixth place.

Round 7: Hiren K G - Haridev S: 1-0

Under 17 National Schools champion R Shadhursshaan (right) defeated K Prawin to obtain eighth place

Rutherford (right) defeated the veteran and Vishy Anand’s contemporary CM Ebenezer Joseph to win ninth place

Jack Samuel spoiled the chances of fourth seeded Ram S Krishnan by splitting the point in the final round. Jack finished tenth and former national rapid champion Ram could muster only the 19th place.

Jack Samuel (left) spoiled the chances of Ram S Krishnan by splitting the point in the final round

Ms. Sarasuwathi gives away a memento to Andrews, the youngest FIDE rated player in India

The 74th open state championship is thus far the best one, attracting more than 500 players. The Secretary, FT FA K Dhanasekar, guided by the state chess association, Vice-President - IA V Vijayaraghavan and the district team did a good groundwork to make the tournament a successful one.

Dhanasekar, Secretary of CDCA, FIDE Instructor, FIDE arbiter, besides a good player promotes chess in a big manner

IA Vijayaraghavan is a guiding force for the growth of Coimbatore District Chess Association

The venue Hindusthan College of Arts & Science is a regular supporter of chess, organising many state championships, rating tournaments and inter university tournaments. It admits chess players to the college, providing free admission, boarding and lodging.

Hindusthan College of Arts & Science

A total of 502 players participated from various districts of Tamil Nadu in this five-day nine round State Rating Open tournament. It was organized by Coimbatore District Chess Association at Hindusthan College of Arts and Science in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from 27th to 31st May 2024. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	1	CM	Aakash, G	U17	25832CBE2024	2241	Coimbatore	8	52,5	57,5	50,75	7
2	2	AGM	Vignesh, B		9624CGL2024	2220	Chengalpattu	7,5	54,5	59	47,50	6
3	37		Sivan, S Roshan		23673CHE2024	1798	Chennai	7,5	52,5	55	44,25	6
4	32		Saisarvesh, S	U17	2336TLR2024	1813	Tiruvallur	7,5	52	56	45,00	6
5	17		Nandish, V S	U17	3898CBE2024	1899	Coimbatore	7,5	51,5	56,5	45,50	6
6	12		Haridev, S	U17	3718CHE2024	1931	Chennai	7,5	50,5	54,5	44,00	7
7	3	CM	Lakshmi, Narayanan M V		26406DGL2024	2137	Dindigul	7,5	50	54,5	43,75	6
8	8	CM	Shadhursshaan, R	U17	9230VNR2024	1967	Virudhunagar	7,5	47	51	41,50	6
9	29	AGM	Rutherford, S		1322KKI2024	1825	Kanyakumari	7,5	47	49,5	39,25	7
10	67		Jack, Samuel	U17	4349DGL2024	1694	Dindigul	7,5	46,5	50,5	41,50	6
11	9		Dinesh, Rajan M		6865SIV2024	1967	Sivagangai	7	52,5	57	41,50	7
12	16		Vijay, Shreeram P		2888CHE2024	1901	Chennai	7	52	56,5	42,00	5
13	23		Nandha, Kumar K		26404CBE2024	1860	Coimbatore	7	52	56	41,75	6
14	6	FM	Maheswaran, P.		9269VNR2024	1996	Virudhunagar	7	51,5	56	42,00	6
15	5		Hiren, K G		2739CHE2024	2013	Chennai	7	51,5	56	41,75	6
16	33		Tarun, V		26301SLM2024	1807	Salem	7	51	55	40,00	7
17	19		Nigash, G	U17	4416ERO2024	1890	Erode	7	50,5	55	41,00	6
18	21		Gokul, Krishna S	U17	7618TPR2024	1881	Tiruppur	7	50	54,5	39,50	7
19	4		Ram, S. Krishnan		5537CHE2024	2029	Chennai	7	49,5	54,5	41,50	5
20	54		Kanishkaraj, V	U17	24553CHE2024	1725	Chennai	7	49	52	38,25	6
21	72		Nafila, A	U17	6375NIL2024	1688	Nilgiris	7	46	48	34,50	7
22	68		Aswin, D	U17	8887TRY2024	1693	Tiruchirapalli	7	45	49	35,50	7
23	115	AGM	Kannan, R.		4818CBE2024	1605	Coimbatore	7	43	46,5	35,50	7
24	18		Yashwant, B	U17	5556MDU2024	1895	Madurai	6,5	51	55,5	36,75	6
25	20	CM	Ebenezer, Joseph		3739CHE2024	1882	Chennai	6,5	50	53	35,00	6

Details

Links

Hindusthan College of Arts and Science

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed