Aakash and Vaishnavi are Tamil Nadu State Under-15 Open and Girls 2024 Champions

by R Anantharam - 06/06/2024

Aakash G and Vaishnavi S K became Tamil Nadu State Under-15 Open and Girls 2024 Champions. Both of them scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 each and finished a half point ahead of the rest. S Haridev and Ananya Raman scored 8/9 each, remained undefeated and secure runner-up in Open and Girls tournaments respectively. Arul Prakash N and Nivedita V C secured third place in their categories scoring 7.5/9 each. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹60000, ₹30000 for each event. The top three prizes were ₹7000 + trophy, ₹5000 and ₹3500 each. The five-day rating tournament was organized by Pudukottai District Chess Association at Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu from 15th to 19th May 2024. This is Aakash and Shanmathi's first rating tournament triumph of the year. Aakash went on to become 74th Tamil Nadu State Open 2024 champion after this. Photos: IA R Anantharam

Coimbatore bags a double

Coimbatore bagged a double in the Tamil Nadu State Under-15 chess championships, when G Aakash and S K Vaishnavi of the district convincingly won the titles in the open and girls’ categories respectively at Chendhuran College of Engineering & Technology, Pudukottai.

G Aakash receives the winner's trophy from Mr. Subramanaian, Secretary J J College of Engineering & Technology, Pudukottai and his wife Dr. Kaitha

S K Vaishnavi also of Coimbatore won the girls' championship. She receives the trophy from Mr. Vairavan, Chairman Chendhuran College of ET

Several records were broken at the Under-15 Chess Championships, organised by Pudukottai District Chess Association at Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology. 608 players is an amazing and best ever count for a state championship in Tamil Nadu. The participation of all 38 districts of the state is another unique feature, which has not been observed for the past several years.

G Aakash, rated 2241, a former National under-9 champion is the top seed in the tournament among the boys and Anaya Raman of Chennai in the girls’ category. Aakash conceded only one draw on the way to his title, collecting 8.5 points from nine games.

Top seed G Aakash of Coimbatore was held a to a draw by PU Prem Shankar of Chennai in the fifth round

Similarly, Vaishnavi also settled for her only draw against fourth placed K P Theephigaa of Chennai.

Vaishnavi was on par with Aakash in the point tally, the only draw coming against Theephigaa

Haridev S of Chennai scored eight points to win the second place. Four players collected 7.5 points – N Arul Prakash of Madurai and V Raghav of Chennai had better tiebreaks than the other two to win the third and fourth places.

Chennai players wrested the second to fourth places in the girls’ section. Top seed Ananya Raman had eight points to her credit. V C Nivedita and Theephigaa scored half a point less.

Vaishnavi at the centre together with Ananya, Nivedita and Theephigaa

The top four players in both categories will represent Tamil Nadu in the ensuing sub junior nationals.

The top four prize winners with the guests

Second and third ranked Haridev (left) and Arul Prakash drew their sixth round encounter

M Prasanna Karthik's win over B Yashwant put him in the fifth place

Saisarvesh (black) had an unbeaten record to win the sixth place

Third seeded P Vignesh Kannan of Karaikudi was upset by Jack Samuel of Dindigul in the fourth round

Recently crowned Tamil Nadu State Under-17 champion S Shanmathi Sree lost to the eventual champion Vaishnavi which dashed her hopes of consecutive titles.

Second seed Shanmathi Sree lost to S K Vaishnavi in the sixth round

Top seed Ananya Raman (white) had two draws which put her on the second rank

Nafila A (white) hails from a remote place near Ooty. Her hard work has fetched her the fifth place

A mother trains her little son for the next round

Dr. S. Karthik, CEO of Chendhuran College of Engineering inaugurated the tournament in the presence of M Kannan, Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and Dr. Ganesh Babu, Principal, Chendhuran College of Engineering & Technology.

Karthik, CEO of Senthuran College of Engineering, inaugurated the tournament. He is flanked by Adaikalavan, the organiser and also the Vice President of PDCA and M Kannan, Joint Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association

Team of arbiters and officials

Mr. N Subramanaian and Dr. Kavitha Subramanian, Trustees J J Group of Institutions distributed the prizes in the presence of Mr. M Ramachandran, President, Pudukottai District Chess Association and RM Vairavan, MD, Chendhuran College of Engineering & Technology.

A Angappan, the Deputy Chief Arbiter, a physically handicapped player is a role model for grit and determination. The FIDE Arbiter cum player runs a chess academy in Pudukottai and has been selected as the Deputy Chief Arbiter for the forthcoming nationals for physically challenged. His father and the organiser Adaikalavan has dedicated his life to his son and chess.

S Mohamed Jaleel, Chairman, SITA. Angappan, the Deputy Chief Arbiter receives a memento from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu - M K Stalin, and a big chess lover. Adaikalavan is on the left

Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology

Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology is a regular venue for chess events, which accommodates more than 600 players and equal number of parents easily. The beautiful air-conditioned hall was a big relief to the players in the scorching summer.

A total of 401 in the Open and 207 in the Girls participated from all 38 districts of Tamil Nadu in this five-day nine round Under-15 Rating Open and Girls tournaments. It was organized by Pudukottai District Chess Association at Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu from 15th to 19th May 2024. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	CM	Aakash, G	U15	25832CBE2024	2241	CBE	8,5	51	55,5	52,25
2	3		Haridev, S	U15	3718CHE2024	1931	CHE	8	53,5	57,5	50,25
3	6		Arul, Prakash N	U15	5543MDU2024	1859	MDU	7,5	52	56,5	44,00
4	2		Raghav, V	U15	2353CHE2024	1963	CHE	7,5	51,5	54,5	44,75
5	26		Prasanna, Karthick M	U15	24942TVM2024	1703	TVM	7,5	49,5	54	42,25
6	11		Saisarvesh, S	U15	2336TLR2024	1813	TVLR	7,5	48,5	53	43,50
7	7		Shashveen, A K	U13	17292CHE2024	1854	CHE	7	52	56,5	42,00
8	19		Logesh, Kumar R	U15	2962CHE2024	1740	CHE	7	50	53,5	39,25
9	9		Mohit, S	U15	2330CHE2024	1834	CHE	7	49,5	53,5	39,50
10	14		Jackson, V X	U13	2350CHE2024	1776	CHE	7	48	51	36,50

Details

Final standings in Girls

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	Gr	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	7	Vaishnavi, S K	U15	24516CBE2024	1689	CBE	8,5	50,5	55,5
2	1	Ananya, Raman	U15	2383CHE2024	1895	CHE	8	50,5	54
3	3	Nivedita, V C	U13	2390CHE2024	1805	CHE	7,5	50,5	53,5
4	6	Theephigaa, K P	U15	2735CHE2024	1747	CHE	7,5	49,5	52
5	8	Nafila, A	U15	6375NIL2024	1688	NIL	7	52,5	55
6	11	Kavyasree, S	U15	6571SLM2024	1617	SLM	7	47,5	51,5
7	9	Pradiksha, P S	U15	2323CHE2024	1650	CHE	7	46,5	51
8	4	Sahana, Shainsha	U15	5548MDU2024	1791	MDU	6,5	51,5	55
9	24	Janani, P	U15	9132VNR2024	1560	VNR	6,5	50,5	54,5
10	46	Vasanthi, S	U15	3967CBE2024	1446	CBE	6,5	50	52

Details

Links

Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology

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