The PSNA CET National Junior & Girls Chess Championship 2015 was open to the Indian juniors younger than 19 years of age, in Boys and Girls categories. The 45th edition for boys and 30th for girls were held at the picturesque campus of PSNA College of Engineering and Technology at DIndigul, a small town in Tamil Nadu state. Into its This tournament has always been a gateway for top Indian talents to make their mark in the chess world. 1999 born GM Aravindh Chithambaram won this tournament (for the second time!) with 9.5/11, while the R. Vaishali with 8.5/10 won the Girls section. Both the champions are coached by Grandmaster R.B. Ramesh.
Into its 45th edition, the PSNA College, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu (picture above) and Golden Knights Chess Academy hosted this tournament from 23rd July, 2015 to 31st July, 2015. The time control was 90 minutes per player for the whole game plus 30 seconds increment per move.
Fifteen-year-old GM Aravindh Chithambaram dropped only three draws, massacring the rest of his opposition, to win the tournament with 9.5/11. He managed to register crucial victories in the eighth and the ninth round, in the latter winning against another bright Indian hope, GM Murali Karthikeyan. He eventually finished a full point ahead of the remaining field to be crowned the champion.
A view of the spacious playing hall
| Rk. | SNo | Ti. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2507 | 9.5 | 73.0 | 67.0 | 67.50 |
| 2 | 4 | IM | Akash G | 2354 | 8.5 | 75.0 | 69.0 | 58.50 |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2509 | 8.0 | 75.5 | 68.5 | 55.00 |
| 4 | 5 | Sai Vishwesh.C | 2318 | 8.0 | 71.5 | 65.5 | 53.50 | |
| 5 | 3 | Harsha Bharathakoti | 2368 | 8.0 | 71.0 | 65.0 | 55.00 | |
| 6 | 9 | Kumaran B | 2254 | 8.0 | 70.5 | 65.0 | 54.25 | |
| 7 | 6 | Sammed Jaykumar Shete | 2267 | 8.0 | 68.0 | 62.0 | 52.00 | |
| 8 | 17 | Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad | 2207 | 7.5 | 72.5 | 66.5 | 47.50 | |
| 9 | 19 | Krishna Teja N | 2192 | 7.5 | 69.5 | 64.0 | 49.75 | |
| 10 | 11 | Pranavananda V | 2246 | 7.5 | 66.5 | 61.0 | 47.25 | |
| 11 | 7 | IM | Chakravarthi Reddy M | 2260 | 7.5 | 65.5 | 59.5 | 47.75 |
IM G., Akash (above), who has previously won even the National Premier title, finished runner-up with 8.5/11. Akash had a terrific start to his campaign, with seven consecutive victories. However, two consecutive losses towards the end of the tournament derailed his assault on the title.
GM Murali Karthikeyan (2509) had a subdued tournament losing to both the winner and the runner-up, finishing with 8.0/11. But that was enough to finish third on tiebreak.
The Girls section of the National Junior Championship was into its 30th edition and three players were tied for the first place with 8.5/11. Just as in the recently concluded National Women’s Challengers tournament, WFM Vaishali R. (2276) took home the trophy on tiebreak, this time ahead of WFM G.K. Monnisha (2288) and Harshita Guddanti (1785).
Top final ranking (after 11 rounds)
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 2 | WFM | Vaishali R | 2276 | 8.5 | 71.5 | 66.0 | 57.25 |
| 2 | 1 | WFM | Monnisha G K | 2288 | 8.5 | 70.5 | 64.5 | 57.25 |
| 3 | 29 | Harshita Guddanti | 1785 | 8.5 | 67.0 | 61.0 | 54.25 | |
| 4 | 3 | WIM | Michelle Catherina P | 2220 | 8.0 | 76.0 | 69.5 | 56.75 |
| 5 | 5 | WFM | Mahalakshmi M | 2149 | 8.0 | 73.5 | 67.0 | 55.50 |
| 6 | 13 | WFM | Varshini V | 1958 | 7.5 | 70.5 | 65.0 | 50.75 |
| 7 | 14 | Lasya.G | 1955 | 7.5 | 70.0 | 64.5 | 46.25 | |
| 8 | 12 | WCM | Sapale Saloni | 1981 | 7.5 | 69.5 | 63.5 | 50.25 |
| 9 | 15 | Bala Kannamma.P | 1948 | 7.5 | 66.0 | 60.5 | 46.00 |
The winner, WFM R. Vaishali (2276), who annotated one of her games for us:
Second: WFM G.K. Monnisha (2288)
Surprise of the event: Untitled Harshita Guddanti (1785) left many of her higher rated peers
behind to finish third on tiebreak. She increased a hefty 210 points in the process – truly inspiring.
White looks to be in trouble, or is he? White to play.
Click for the solution
If 1…h6, White has a cute mate with 2.Qxh6.
However, Black (to play) can obviously one up that.
Tricky knights. Black to play.
Click for the solution
It's time to drag the king out – White to play
Click for the solution
WIM Michelle Catherina (2220) finished fourth in Girls category with 8.0/11
WFM M. Mahalkshmi (2149) was fifth with 8.0/11
In the final three rounds, B. Kumaran (2254) beat the runner-up IM G. Akash
and held both GM Aravindh and GM Murali to draws to score 8.0/11.
One of India’s brightest hope eleven years old Nihal Sarin (2248) had a forgettable
tournament. The best way to heal old wounds is to fight new battles.
The host state of Tamil Nadu, the home province of the Madras Tiger, is a cradle for the best Indian talents
Fide Trainer & Fide Arbiter V Hariharan, Secretary of All India Chess Federation (third from left) inaugurated the tournament. Others from left to right are IA S ganesh Babu, Tournament Organiser, Abdul Nazar Joint Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, IA R. Anantharam Tournament Co-ordinator, IA V Vijayaraghavan Joint Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and Nagarajan coach
Dindigul is a small city, about 450 KMs south of Chennai. It is the gateway to salubrious Kodai hills, adorned with flora and fauna. The climate of Kodaikanal matches that of summer in Europe.
Silver Cascade falls with heavy icy water
A beautiful view of Kodaikanal lake
Devil's kitchen a deep narrow valley looks like small trenches but are deceptively deep
Variety of birds move to Kodaikanal from different parts of the world
Palani, a popular pilgrimage centre in India is about 40 KMs from the playing venue
Hostel of PSNA Engineering College, where the tournament was played
WGM Soumya Swaminathan recounts in her report here that thanks to Vishy, Chennai (capital city of Tamil Nadu) has been the epicenter of Indian chess for a long time now. Just to emphasize the point, during a recent auto-rickshaw (read Indian taxi) ride in Chennai, the driver revealed that he was a chess fan and actually played the game.
All photos from the official Facebook page of PSNA 45th National Junior
and 30th National Junior Girls Chess Championship, 2015
LinksYou can use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. |
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