52nd Indian National Premier Championship

Google Map's view of the venue

The Venue: CMS College, Kottayam

The competition underway

The tournament was originally intended to be a fourteen-player all-play-all event with eight Grandmasters and five International Masters fighting for a prize fund of 10 Lakh Indian Rupees – almost US$16,700 or 12,500 Euros. Nevertheless, it was shortened to a thirteen-player category 10 round-robin as defending champion GM Krishnan Sasikiran opted to skip the tournament after a gruelling month where he assisted Vishy Anand in his World Championship bid. This tournament gains added importance for the Indian players as it provides qualification spots in the Indian team for official events such as the World Cup, Asian Teams and Olympiad.

The event in progress

The tournament was won by 21 year old Grand Master S.P. Sethuraman who scored 8.5/12, half a point ahead of the remaining field. This victory enables him to represent India (Zone 3.7) in the FIDE events. He was part of the Bronze medal winning Indian team at the Tromso Olympiad, 2014.

Sethu, as he is popularly known in the Indian chess circle, is a sportsperson in the rolls of PSPB (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board of India) which has done yeomen service to excelling Indian chess players by supporting them in their endeavours. His parents and younger brother are also tournament level players.

Sethuraman (2622 FIDE) in action

Here are excerpts from a chat with the new Indian champion:

PB: Can you please comment on how you feel about your win?

Sethu: It feels great to win National Premiers, especially to qualify to the World Cup 2015.It has been my long time wish to play in the World Cup.

How were your preparations for this tournament?

Before the event I played Chigorin Memorial in Russia which was a good training tournament for me where I remained undefeated and finished third in a strong Open. Also, I had been playing consistent chess since Olympiad without losing a single game till now which was a great boost to my confidence.

Where does your career go from here?

As of now my main focus is to train hard and play my best at the forthcoming World Cup.

The crucial game in this tournament?

The game against GM Kunte was the most crucial; it was completely equal game after the opening. It was my preparation till the point when I played a6-b5.

How does Black improve his pieces?

After he castled, it certainly seems that Black has an easier position to play.

Yes, my opponent actually offered a draw around move 16-17. I decided to continue a bit. He played 16.Rfb1 which was not required as 16.Rab1 was just equal and from that point he started to go a bit astray and I slowly improved my position. That was not a big mistake but slowly one small one creates another one and the position gets worse.

Yes, the domino effect.

In the first two games I had worse positions but managed to save them - I defended well. But against Swayams I was clearly losing and I was lucky. The game against Deep was good as well as the Sahaj game. Comparatively, last year’s edition was much stronger with Sasikran there. Still, this time it was a tough event as you could see, and there were lots of upsets, especially in the last round when Vidit lost his game to veteran IM Girinath. As of my competitors, Deep Sengupta, who finished second, was the closest. He played interesting chess and lost only against me.

Sethu with his winnings

The second position was taken on tie-break by GM Deep Sengupta who scored 8.0/12. GM Deep is former World U-12 Chess champion and is also a sportsperson representing the PSPB which, as mentioned before, is a sporting giant in India’s public sector.

GM Vidit Gujarathi vs GM Deep Sengupta

The surprise of the event was 25-year-old IM P. Karthikeyan representing Railways (India) who tied for second, but had to settle for third place, scoring 8.0/12. He clocked a rating performance of 2619 to register his third and final Grandmaster norm and increased 35 rating points in the process. However, the former Asian Junior Champion needs to raise his rating above 2500 to become a GM.

IM P. Karthikeyan

A chat with IM Karthikeyan after the tournament:

PB: Can you please comment on how you feel about your performance?

Karthikeyan: It feels good because my family is happy and that’s more important to me than this performance!

Karthikeyan playing his wife Harini Sankaran (2046 FIDE) at a tournament

How were your preparations for this tournament?

ICF Railways, where I work, gave me 20 days preparation leave which was very useful to study my opponents and find their weaknesses. I took a meditation and yoga class before and during tournament which was very helpful for making me calm under time trouble and take proper decisions.

Let us talk about your game with GM Deepan Chakravarthy.

Well, it was an English attack which I was not expecting. Since he plays so many variations, it was difficult. I had analysed it earlier but during the game I remembered the positional line where black plays Nb6 and white continues a4. I remembered a recent Shirov game with black pieces where he equalised but I was feeling so energetic - I wanted to castle long and attack!

White plays 12.g5 signalling an all-out attack

It was felt that a direct g5 was planless.

I remembered Kb1 and Qf2 should be played before pushing g5 or h5 but feared the classic Kasparov idea where Black plays Rc8 and Rxc3, so I went with the flow.

You went all in with a sacrifice on e6. Objectively, it is incorrect.

After an early g5 I can’t come back. I should go with the flow. The position needed the sacrifice on e6 otherwise it’s just lost. Yes, with engines it is easy to defend but during the game I found it so interesting – it was the only way to turn the tables.

How much time did you spend on this move? Isn’t it tough to convince ourselves to go ahead with a sacrifice?

Yes, I understand but all other moves will give me a weak position. I thought for about 15-20 minutes and just went for it. Additionally, for the last ten moves, we had only five minutes on the clock to reach the first time-control.

The finishing tactic is nice; the game never saw the time-control!

The three prize winners with other dignitaries

GM Deep Sengupta playing IM Swayams Mishra

IM P. Shyam Nikhil playing GM Sahaj Grover

A parallelogram: GM Kunte playing GM Deepan

Interestingly, of the 78 games played in this tournament, 39 ended decisively and 39 games were drawn. Quite a few of them went down interesting roads. Here are some impressions with analysis by IM Sagar Shah and IM Prathamesh Mokal:

GM Grover executes a beautiful idea (notes by IM Sagar Shah)

GM Deepan Chakravarthy played a game with a famous parallel

As pointed out by FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Prathamesh Mokal, the extraordinary position from the game bore a significant resemblance to a classic.

This remarkable position was reached after 36...f2 in Rajesh-Deepan

This was the finish of McDonnell-De Labourdonnais (1834)

The full game with commentary by IM Prathamesh Mokal:

Final standings

Special thanks to IM Sagar Shah for choosing and analysing the games, FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Prathamesh Mokal for analysing the Rajesh vs. Deepan game.

Photos by Rajesh Nattakom

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.