Harikrishnan A Ra clinches VHNSN College Rapid Rating Open 2023 with a perfect 9/9

by R Anantharam - 14/09/2023

IM FT Harikrishnan A Ra scored a perfect 9/9 to win Virudhunagar Hindu Nadars' Senthikumara Nadar College Rapid Rating Open 2023. Harikrishnan finished a full point ahead of the competition. Ram S Krishnan scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. FM P Maheshwaran, IM Murali Krishnan B T and P Dharmaraj scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed second, third and fourth respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹150000. The top three prizes were ₹20000, ₹16000 and ₹12000 each respectively. This is Harikrishnan's eighth Rating tournament triumph of the year. He remained undefeated in all his triumphs in 2023 and this is also his second triumph with a 100% score. Photos: IA R Anantharam

Harikrishnan wins his eighth rating tournament of 2023

International Master Harikrishnan A Ra scored a triple hat-trick in nine rounds to win the VHNSN College rapid rating tournament at Virudhunagar, a district headquarters in Tamil Nadu, on 3rd September. This follows his recent blitz victory with another centum score of 11/11 score in the Pays de Charleroi blitz tournament in Charleroi, Belgium. He also won the Classical event.

IM Harikrishnan A Ra receives the winner's purse from M D Sarpparajan, Secretary of VHNSN College

The next best scorer in the tournament was Ram S Krishnan of BSNL, a former national rapid champion, who had eight points to his credit.

Ram S Krishnan, a former National Rapid champion, was the runner-up

Former Tamil Nadu junior champion FM Maheswaran P from Virudhunagar district, IM Murali Krishnan B T of Southern Railway and P Dharmaraj of Thoothukudi tied for the places from three to five and they were placed in that order. All the three players had collected 7.5 points each.

FM Maheswaran P, a former Tamil Nadu State Junior champion, secured the third place

International Master B T Murali Krishnan of Southern Railway finished fourth

IM Harikrishnan A Ra scored a perfect 9/9 and gained 12 Elo rating points

Dharmaraj won against Tamil Nadu under-9 champion Akshaya Vignesh and finished fifth

The more heartening news for Virudhunagar on the final day of the tournament is that A Kumaresh from the town won the Asian Amateur championship in Dubai. Kumaresh is currently training at Hatsun Chess Academy, Sivakasi, 20 km away from his town and a former student of Brilliant Chess Academy, Virudhunagar. He is also a former student of Sri Kaliswari College Sivakasi, a strong supporter of chess, which has organized many nationals and rating tournaments.

Kumaresh A is the Asian Amateur Champion 2023 | Photo: UAE Chess Federation

Kumaresh of Virudhunagar won the Asian Amateur title when the rapid tournament was held in his town

Nine players had a similar score of seven points, among whom the sixth place went to the former national under 11 champion G Aakash of Coimbatore, who recently defeated a grandmaster in a norm tournament.

IM Harikrishnan registered his sixth win over the former under 11 national champion G Aakash. The latter finished sixth

B Sidhhartha and TJ Rathish, a former State under-14 Rapid champion from Virudhunagar had the honour of cementing the seventh and eighth places

Siddhartha B (right) and TJ Rathish achieved the seventh and eighth places

Sachiel Parthiban (left), a young talent got the ninth place

K Shrinimeshika, a product of Hatsun Chess Academy was the only girl to find a place among the top ten achievers. She got the tenth position.

K Shrinimeshika who has a rare talent to read with completely closed eyes won the tenth place

IM Harikrishnan registered his seventh win over the former national rapid champion Ram S Krishnan

The crucial encounter between second and third seeded FM Maheswaran and IM Murali Krishnan ended in a draw

Young Aakash (right) upset the second seeded IM Murali Krishnan BT of Southern Railway

Ram S Krishnan had a good run in the tournament to score eight points

R Srinivasa Perumal IPS, Superintendent of Police Virudhunagar district who is a staunch chess lover and player inaugurated the tournament. Can you guess the position on the board of the match between the Chief Guest and the Secretary of the college, MD Sarpparajan?

R Srinivasa Perumal IPS, SP of Virudhunagar district and also a chess player inaugurated the tournament

A panoramic view of the top boards

Team of arbiters

Virudhunagar Hindu Nadars Senthikumara Nadar College

A total of 236 players including 2 IMs participated from Tamil Nadu. The two-day nine-round Swiss league Rapid Rating tournament was held on 2nd and 3rd September 2023. It was organized by Virudhunagar Chess Club at VHNSN College in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu. The time control for event was 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment from move no.1.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra,			IND	2301	TN	9	54,5	57,5	57,50	0	9	8	8	7,40	0,60	20	12
2	5		Ram, S. Krishnan			IND	1983	TN	8	53,5	57,5	48,50	0	8	8	7	6,59	0,41	20	8,2
3	3	FM	Maheswaran, P.			IND	2162	TN-V	7,5	53,5	59	46,25	0	7	8	6,5	6,68	-0,18	20	-3,6
4	2	IM	Murali, Krishnan B T			IND	2216	TN	7,5	52,5	56,5	45,75	0	7	8	6,5	7,36	-0,86	20	-17,2
5	7		Dharmaraj, P.			IND	1669	TN	7,5	48,5	52,5	41,25	0	6	8	6,5	7,27	-0,77	20	-15,4
6	4		Aakash, G	U14		IND	1986	TN	7	53,5	55	38,50	0	7	8	6	5,79	0,21	40	8,4
7	16	AFM	Siddhartha, B	U14		IND	1356	TN	7	51,5	56,5	41,50	0	7	7	5	4,13	0,87	40	34,8
8	9		Rathish, T.J.			IND	1640	TN-V	7	51	55,5	42,00	0	7	8	6	6,54	-0,54	20	-10,8
9	22	AFM	Sachiel, Parthiban	U12		IND	1281	TN	7	49,5	54,5	39,50	0	7	7	5	3,38	1,62	40	64,8
10	20		Shrinimeshika, K		w	IND	1290	TN-V	7	48	52	36,00	0	7	8	6	4,75	1,25	40	50
11	13		Prawin, K			IND	1419	TN	7	47	51,5	37,00	0	7	8	6	5,69	0,31	40	12,4
12	34		Rohith, P	U12		IND	1179	TN-V	7	47	51	34,50	0	7	7	5	2,51	2,49	40	99,6
13	17		Kirpesh, I			IND	1346	TN-V	7	46,5	50,5	37,50	0	7	8	6	5,49	0,51	40	20,4
14	6		Alaguraja, M.A.			IND	1754	TN	7	46,5	50,5	35,50	0	7	8	6	7,84	-1,84	20	-36,8
15	12		Ram, Kailash Pl			IND	1499	TN	6,5	52,5	56	36,25	0	6	8	5,5	5,57	-0,07	20	-1,4
16	26		Akshaya, Vignesh M	U10		IND	1231	TN-V	6,5	48,5	52,5	35,50	0	6	5	2,5	1,64	0,86	40	34,4
17	25		Kamalesh, T	U14		IND	1236	TN-V	6,5	48	51,5	33,75	0	6	7	4,5	2,80	1,70	40	68
18	14		Surya, Sathiaguru			IND	1380	TN-V	6,5	47	51	33,75	0	6	7	4,5	4,41	0,09	40	3,6
19	32		Santhosh, Varma S			IND	1206	TN	6,5	47	50,5	29,75	0	5	8	5,5	4,65	0,85	20	17
20	23		Akul, Vishruth T	U14		IND	1254	TN-V	6,5	47	49	31,50	0	6	7	4,5	4,06	0,44	40	17,6

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