Dharamshala is situated in the northern part of India in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is one of the most scenic destinations in the whole of India. The entire city is covered with dense coniferous trees which are mainly Deodar cedar trees. Though natural beauty is the selling point of Dharamshala, it is equally famous for being the home to one of the biggest spiritual leaders in the world: The Dalai Lama.
The 14th Dalai Lama, Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzing Gyatso,
established Mcleodganj, Dharamshala as his headquarters in the year 1959
Dharamshala is the centre of the Tibetan exile world in India. Following the 1959 Tibetan uprising there was an influx of Tibetan refugees who followed the 14th Dalai Lama. His presence and the Tibetan population has made Dharamshala a popular destination for Indian and foreign tourists, including students studying Tibet.
The Dalai Lama is no stranger to the world of chess. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov met
the Tibetian leader in April 2012 at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates held in Chicago.
Dharamshala boasts of a lot of spots with natural beauty. If you are ready to trek for nine
kilometres from this city you reach one of the most pristine spots in the valley: the Triund hill.
This is how the same spot looks when it snows
Before we are completely lost in this natural beauty let me bring you back to the world of chess. The most important tournament in India is the National Premier (formerly known as National A). This is because the Indian Olympiad team is selected on the basis of this tournament. Earlier grandmasters used to get direct seeding into the National Premier Championships. However, now the rule has changed and any Indian grandmaster who wishes to play in the National Premier has to qualify through the National Challenger’s tournament (formerly known as National B). The top nine finishers of National Challenger’s 2014 will qualify for the National Premier Championship.
That explains why the 52nd National Challenger’s chess championship that is currently being held in Dharamshala from the 9th-19th May 2014 is so very strong. There are in all 14 GMs and 22 IMs taking part, and there are nearly 56 players in the tournament above Elo 2200. It is a 13-round event with a time control of 1 hr 30 minutes with an addition of 30 minutes after the 40 moves with an increment of 30 seconds from move one.
Beauty personified! On the right is the famous cricket stadium of Dharamshala, and on the left...
... in front of a mountain backdrop the stadium where the tournament is being held.
The badminton hall is converted into a chess tournament hall for the next ten days
Though the tournament is held in such a picturesque location with so many strong players taking part, it is simply disappointing to note the prize fund (the above is a snapshot from the tournament circular). The first prize is a meager Rs 60,000, which comes to around $1000, and the total prize fund is around $3,300. This is surprising because India is host to six to eight huge International Open events with the first prize of more than $4,000. I truly wonder what motivates the best players of India to play in such an intense tournament with such a low prize fund! Maybe it’s the love for the game of chess?!
The top seed of the tournament is GM Vidit Gujrathi (2606), and he was in the sole lead after nine rounds, with 7.5/9. Gaining three Elo in-spite of being the Elo favourite means you are playing excellent chess! Nigel Short in his recent article in New in Chess described Vidit as arguably the most talented youngster from India. The thing which separates the World Junior 2013 bronze medalist from his contemporaries is that he hardly loses. Even in his worst tournament for the year, the Asian continental 2014, Vidit made seven draws and two wins! Now that’s called consistency.
In this tournament, after a slow start of two wins and two draws in the first four rounds, Vidit stepped on the accelerator to score four and a half points in the next five rounds. Currently he is the hot favourite to win the title, given his super solid style of play. And if that doesn’t happen, I am sure he will be one of the nine players to qualify for the National Premier Championships. Though Vidit has played many a good games in this tournament, my favourite remains his first round victory over a player who was rated nearly 700 points below him!
Another lad from Chennai, hometown of former World Champion Vishy Anand, 15-year-old Murali Karthikeyan (2475) was playing excellently in the tournament. Karthikeyan was the sole leader with 6.0/7. In the eighth round he lost to Vidit Gujrathi and is currently relegated to the seventh spot. But that doesn’t take away from him the beautiful games that he had played up to that point.
Karthikeyan is also an avid problem solver and had recently finished third in the International Solver’s competition. This resourcefulness is bound to be reflected in his play as he stands on the brink of his grandmaster title. The game below showcases his talent in a perfect manner.
The second spot is currently held by the 19-year-old youngster from Delhi GM Sahaj Grover, rated 2469. Unlike many GMs who don’t really care how they look, Sahaj goes to his games well dressed and smart, like a professional chess player! He has an extremely aggressive style and more than that loves to play chess in a romantic fashion. Many times he tries to go for variations which are beautiful rather than the strongest. This results in sometimes having an undesired outcome, but when the hammer hits the head of the nail, what we get is a Sahaj Grover brilliancy!
IM V.A.V. Rajesh (2382) is in third place and has a very original style of play. He hardly depends on the opening theory and the fact that he is already an IM speaks volumes about his playing strength. IM P. Shyam Nikil (2422), who in 2012 July had an Elo of 2502, is currently on the fourth spot with 7.0/9, and is inching back towards his career high Elo with a 15 point gain.
S.P. Sethuraman (2582) is an extremely strong GM from India. His talent is comparable to the likes of young Indian super talents Adhiban and Vidit. In this tournament he is lagging behind a little with 6.5/9, but his nice attacking game against IM Anurag Mhamal is worthy of closer inspection.
GM Debashish Das thinking whether his trap will work or not! It did!!
Some pictures from the Himachal Chess facebook page
In the meantime eleven rounds have been played and the rankings are as follows:
| Rk. | SNo | Ti. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2606 | 8.5 | 75.0 | 68.5 | 61.00 |
| 2 | 11 | GM | Grover Sahaj | 2469 | 8.5 | 73.5 | 67.5 | 58.75 |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Sengupta Deep | 2536 | 8.5 | 73.0 | 66.5 | 60.50 |
| 4 | 18 | IM | Shyam Nikil P. | 2422 | 8.5 | 72.0 | 66.0 | 58.25 |
| 5 | 6 | GM | Deepan Chakkravarthy J. | 2513 | 8.5 | 71.0 | 65.5 | 58.25 |
| 6 | 23 | IM | Rajesh V A V | 2382 | 8.0 | 72.5 | 66.5 | 53.75 |
| 7 | 16 | IM | Swayams Mishra | 2442 | 8.0 | 70.5 | 65.5 | 52.25 |
| 8 | 9 | GM | Kunte Abhijit | 2484 | 8.0 | 70.5 | 64.5 | 54.00 |
| 9 | 24 | IM | Karthikeyan P. | 2380 | 8.0 | 69.5 | 63.5 | 53.00 |
| 10 | 33 | CM | Prince Bajaj | 2318 | 8.0 | 69.0 | 63.5 | 53.00 |
| 11 | 48 | Lokesh P. | 2253 | 8.0 | 67.5 | 62.0 | 49.50 | |
| 12 | 35 | IM | Girinath P.D.S. | 2312 | 8.0 | 66.0 | 61.0 | 49.00 |
| 13 | 29 | IM | Himanshu Sharma | 2350 | 7.5 | 77.0 | 70.5 | 54.25 |
| 14 | 15 | GM | Laxman R.R. | 2450 | 7.5 | 74.0 | 68.0 | 52.50 |
| 15 | 2 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2582 | 7.5 | 72.5 | 66.5 | 50.50 |
| 16 | 38 | Kumaran B | 2294 | 7.5 | 71.5 | 66.0 | 49.50 | |
| 17 | 3 | GM | Lalith Babu M.R. | 2571 | 7.5 | 71.5 | 65.0 | 51.75 |
| 18 | 12 | GM | Vishnu Prasanna. V | 2467 | 7.5 | 70.5 | 65.0 | 50.00 |
| 19 | 7 | GM | Debashis Das | 2501 | 7.5 | 70.0 | 64.0 | 50.75 |
| 20 | 71 | Abhishek A | 2123 | 7.5 | 67.0 | 62.5 | 46.25 | |
| 21 | 26 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | 2372 | 7.5 | 66.5 | 60.5 | 47.00 |
| 22 | 28 | IM | Nitin S. | 2357 | 7.5 | 65.0 | 60.0 | 45.75 |
| 23 | 21 | Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan | 2402 | 7.5 | 64.5 | 59.5 | 44.75 | |
| 24 | 57 | Rohan Ahuja | 2185 | 7.5 | 63.5 | 59.0 | 43.75 | |
| 25 | 37 | IM | Murali Krishnan B.T. | 2299 | 7.5 | 63.5 | 58.5 | 43.00 |
| 26 | 25 | IM | Das Sayantan | 2373 | 7.5 | 59.5 | 54.5 | 43.50 |
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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