G Nigash and Keerti Shree Reddy become Tamil Nadu State Junior Open and Girls 2024 Champions

by R Anantharam - 19/07/2024

G Nigash scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 52nd Tamil Nadu State Junior Under-19 Open Rating Championship 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. V Tarun and S Rohith scored 7.5/9 each. They secured second and third place respectively according to tie-breaks. WFM Keerti Shree Reddy and Sindhusree K scored 7.5/9 each in 37th Tamil Nadu State Junior Under-19 Girls. Keerti won due to better tie-breaks, Sindhusree secured second place. V C Nivedita finished third scoring 7/9. The total cash prize fund of the tournament was ₹60000. The top three prizes were ₹7000 + trophy, ₹5000 and ₹4000 each. The five-day rating tournament was organized by Krishnagiri District Chess Association at Mathakondapalli Model School in Hosur, Tamil Nadu from 26th to 30th June 2024. This is Nigash and Keerti's first rating tournament triumph of the year. Photos: IA R Anantharam

13th, 14th and 12th seed claim the podium in Open; top seed wins the Girls

Number 13 proved to be lucky to G Nigash of Erode, as he won the Tamil Nadu State Junior Chess Championship at Hosur, as the 13th seed of the tournament. Top seed Keerti Shree Reddy of Chengalpattu overtook her teammate K Sindusree to win the girls’ title. Nigash scored eight points, half a point ahead of the second placed V Tarun of Salem and third ranked S Rohith of Karaikudi who were declared second and third respectively.

G Nigash receives the winner trophy from Meru, secretary of the Mathakondapalli Model School, the host of the tournament

Keerti Shree Reddy is the champion among the girls

Sindusree tied with Keerti with 7.5 points, but an inferior Buchholz scored moved her to the second place

Tarun is the runner-up in the open section due to better Buchholz score than...

...S Rohith who had to be content with the third place

The fourth round win over the top seed Kavin Vijayakumar gave confidence to Nigash to have a smooth progress and the final round victory over B Badri Narayan stood in his favour to emerge clear winner.

The joint leader Nigash (left) won the final round, whereas the co-leader JR Ajjesh lost

Tarun’s win over the top seed Kavin Vijayakumar of Madurai in the ninth round helped him to clinch the second place

Tarun (right) had a better Buchholz score to finish runner-up

S Rohith started well in the opening, fumbled in the middle and recovered towards the end to record four consecutive wins to secure the third place. Ajjesh was relegated to the fourth place due the last round debacle.

Rohith (right) defeated Ajjesh in the final round who was leading the field frequently

Third seeded Ajjesh was the highest rated among the top five ranked players, the other four best players having the seeding from 11th to 14th.

Mrithyunjay Mahadevan of Chennai who had the fifth rank under his belt had the consolation of beating the second seeded S Gokul Krishna of Tirupur in the sixth round.

Mrithyunjay (right) defeated the second seed S Gokul Krishna in the sixth round

R Gokula Vishnu of Chennai scored seven points like four others and his final round win over Kiruthik Murugan M of Chengalpattu put him in the sixth place.

Gokula Vishnu (left) got the better of Kiruthik Murugan in the ninth round to scale the sixth rank

P Vignesh Kannan of Karaikudi had a blemishless record of not losing a game in the tournament. Though he defeated Gokul Krishna, four draws pushed him to the seventh place.

Vignesh Kannan (left) drew with Ajjesh (in the picture) and Mrithyunjay in the last two rounds

National Schools under 17 champion R Shadhursshaan of Aruppukottai did not meet many higher seeded players on his way to the eighth rank.

Fourth seeded Shadhursshaan's (right) loss to R Nijesh in the third round was crucial to him

Keerti who was in the forefront for the most part of the tournament had a safe draw with Femil Chelladurai of Kanyakumari to make sure of the title in her bag. The draw also helped Femil to receive the fourth place.

Keerti (right) had a safe draw with Femil to win the title

Once Keerti drew the game, Sindhusree also split the point with V C Nivedita to put herself in the runner-up spot. Nivedita was benefitted by the draw to reach the third place.

Sindhusree (white) split the point with Nivedita to gain the second rank and the latter was placed third

R Lakshanaa of Tiruvallur also had seven points to her credit, but had to be satisfied with the fifth rank.

Lakshanaa (white) defeated Tharunika to score seven points and the fifth rank

S Padmini of Chengalpattu was the topper among the 6.5 players to be placed sixth.

Padmini (black) drew with eighth seeded A Sawatha in the final round

S Kanishka (white) of Salem defeated T Dhakshniga of Trichy to be placed seventh

IA S Ganesh Babu and his team exhibited the arbiters’ duties very well. Mr. P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and Mr. Meru Secretary, Mathakondapalli Model School inaugurated the tournament in the presence of IA R Anantharam, Vice President, TNSCA, P Pragadesh and P Rajasekaran, Joint Secretaries, TNSCA.

P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, TNSCA made the first move of the tournament

Mathakondapalli Model School, Hosur, a child centric day cum boarding school managed by Rural Institute Community has many unique features, focussing more on sports. The lush green school has full of green trees with a plethora of flora and fauna and it is a scenic beauty. The 76 acres of nature surrounded campus has excellent weather and large plantation.

A panoramic view of the MM School Hosur

A bunch of amla in front of the dining hall was a feast for eyes as well as the stomach

A monkey, an uninvited spectator in the playing hall

Picturesque way to the tournament hall

M. Meru, the secretary of the school is an expert in child development and protection with a notable skillset in enhancing educational curriculums by integrating sports, games, and life skills.

Meru addressing the gathering during the inauguration. Jayabala Chandadi the founder of Krishnagiri DCA, P Pragadesh, Joint Secretary, TNSCA and the Chief Arbiter - S Ganesh Babu are also in the picture

A total of 150 players participated from various districts of Tamil Nadu in this five-day nine round State Rating Under-19 Open tournament. It was organized by Krishnagiri District Chess Association at Mathakondapalli Model School in Hosur, Tamil Nadu from 26th to 30th June 2024. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	13		Nigash, G		IND	1865	ERO	8	50	54,5	47,25	7
2	14		Tarun, V		IND	1851	SLM	7,5	48	52,5	41,50	7
3	12		Rohith, S		IND	1866	SVG	7,5	43,5	47,5	39,50	7
4	3		Ajjesh, J R		IND	1939	CHE	7	55	59,5	44,50	6
5	11	CM	Mrithyunjay, Mahadevan		IND	1867	CHE	7	49	53	39,25	6
6	15		Gokula, Vishnu R		IND	1843	CHE	7	47	51	38,00	7
7	18		Vignesh, Kannan P	U15	IND	1837	SVG	7	44,5	47,5	35,25	5
8	4	CM	Shadhursshaan, R		IND	1913	VNR	7	43	47	37,50	7
9	6		Hari, Ganesh T		IND	1897	CGL	6,5	50	55,5	38,25	6
10	8		Yashwant, B	U15	IND	1883	MDU	6,5	48,5	53	36,25	5

Details

A total of 87 girls participated from various districts of Tamil Nadu in this five-day nine round State Rating Under-19 Girls tournament. It was organized by Krishnagiri District Chess Association at Mathakondapalli Model School in Hosur, Tamil Nadu from 26th to 30th June 2024. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings in Girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	1	WFM	Keerti, Shree Reddy	w	IND	1908	CGL	7,5	50	54,5	43,50	7
2	7		Sindhusree, K	w	IND	1846	CGL	7,5	48	51,5	41,25	6
3	4		Nivedita, V C	w	IND	1877	CHE	7	52,5	56,5	42,75	6
4	11		Femil, Chelladurai	w	IND	1713	KKI	7	49	53	38,50	6
5	19		Lakshanaa, R	w	IND	1669	TLR	7	45	49	35,00	7
6	5		Padmini, S	w	IND	1872	CGL	6,5	49	53,5	36,75	5
7	3		Kanishka, S	w	IND	1883	SLM	6,5	47	52	35,00	6
8	20		Kavyasree, S	w	IND	1668	SLM	6,5	42	45,5	31,00	5
9	17		Trisha, B	w	IND	1676	CHE	6,5	41,5	45,5	32,00	6
10	8	WCM	Sasvatha, A	w	IND	1825	CGL	6,5	41,5	45	31,00	5

Details

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