Pranesh finishes with two wins

GM Pranesh M emerged as the winner of the inaugural Chola Chess Open, held from 30 October to 7 November in Chennai, India. The 20-year-old grandmaster scored 7/9 points, finishing half a point ahead of a group of five players.

The tournament also produced nine title norms, with several young Indian players making notable progress towards higher titles. Among them were 16-year-old Viresh Sharnarthi, who secured his second GM norm, and 11-year-old Sarbartho Mani, who earned his first IM norm.

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The nine-round classical tournament brought together 86 titled players, including 34 grandmasters and 21 international masters. With an average rating of 2412 and a minimum entry rating of 2250, the event provided a strong field in which younger competitors had opportunities to face established grandmasters. Top seed Aravindh Chithambaram (2677), second seed Pranesh (2674) and Karthikeyan Murali (2647) were the leading participants.

Pranesh was among the frontrunners throughout the competition, but his path to first place was not straightforward. Following his victory over fellow rising star Leon Luke Mendonca (see the game with annotations below), a defeat against S. L. Narayanan in round seven left him half a point behind the lead. Pranesh responded by defeating Harshavardhan G B in round eight, joining Narayanan, Iniyan Panneerselvam and Vitaliy Bernadskiy at the top of the standings on 6/8.

The final round saw Pranesh paired against Iniyan, with both players needing a victory to maximise their chances of taking the title. Playing white, Pranesh demonstrated excellent opening preparation. He played his first 18 moves without using any time on his clock, while his opponent had already spent a considerable amount of time considering the position.

Pranesh sacrificed the exchange to obtain the bishop pair and attacking chances. The resulting initiative proved sufficient to secure the full point, and he finished the game with more than an hour remaining on his clock.

Meanwhile, Narayanan drew with Bernadskiy, allowing Pranesh to take first place outright. Narayanan finished second on tiebreaks, ahead of Aravindh, who defeated Ethan Vaz in the final round. Ilamparthi A R and Viresh Sharnarthi also finished on 6½/9, as did Bernadskiy.

Final standings

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...86 players

Viresh Sharnarthi earns his second GM norm

One of the tournament's most notable performances came from 16-year-old Viresh Sharnarthi, who entered the competition as the 68^th seed, with a rating of 2326. Having recently won the Western Asian Junior Championship, where he earned the IM title and his first GM norm, Viresh added a second GM norm in Chennai.

His tournament began relatively modestly, with 2½ points from his first 5 games. He then won four consecutive encounters, defeating an FM, an IM and two GMs.

The final victory was particularly important. Facing Mendonca (2629) with the black pieces, Viresh needed a win to secure his norm. He achieved exactly that, defeating the fourth seed and finishing fifth overall with 6½/9 points.

The result gave Viresh his second GM norm in the space of ten days, an unusual sequence for a player who had only recently qualified for the IM title.

Viresh Sharnarthi, who became IM and scored his maiden GM norm 10 days ago after winning the Western Asian Junior Championship, scored a win over Leon Mendonca in the final round to score his second GM Norm | Photo: Devansh Singh

Sarbartho Mani defeats two grandmasters

Another young player who attracted attention was 11-year-old Sarbartho Mani, the 71^st seed with a rating of 2311. The FIDE master began with a victory over IM Shahil Dey before defeating Greek GM Dimitris Alexakis (2536) in the second round, his first win against a grandmaster in classical chess.

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Mani subsequently lost to Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and Alisher Suleymenov, but recovered with draws against two international masters. In round seven, he claimed another notable result by defeating GM Sayantan Das.

Although he scored half a point in his final two games, Mani finished with 4½/9 and a rating performance of 2451, sufficient for his first IM norm. He placed 38th in the final standings.

FM Sarbartho Mani scored his maiden IM norm | Photo: Devansh Singh

The tournament produced nine title norms in total: one GM norm, seven IM norms and one WIM norm. Alongside Viresh Sharnarthi and Sarbartho Mani, several other players completed important steps towards higher titles.

• IM Viresh Sharnarthi (India) – Second GM norm
• FM Aadik Theophane Lenin (India) – Third and final IM norm
• FM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma (India) – Second IM norm
• Yohan Yadav Tarala (India) – First IM norm
• FM Madhesh Kumar (India) – First IM norm
• FM Sarbartho Mani (India) – First IM norm
• FM Avirat Chauhan (India) – Second IM norm
• FM Mariano Fabian Glen (Indonesia) – IM norm
• WFM Anna Zhurova – WIM norm

All norm achievers with Mr. Vellayan Subbiah (Former Managing Director, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance), Mrs. Kanika Subbiah (Founder, WeddingWishlist.Com ), WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy and GM RB Ramesh | Photo: Devansh Singh

All available games

Links

• Official website
• Can you solve these positions from the Chola Chess camp? — First edition | Second edition | Third edition