MPL 11th National Schools Chess Championships 2023 - A Curtain Raiser
Why Tamil Nadu is the numero-uno in the Indian chess scene? One of the main reasons is its organizing strength and ability to conduct big level tournaments. Regular, frequent and systematic tournaments have helped to generate the players, quality as well as quantity wise. Academic institutions play a vital role in promoting chess by helping players as well as providing venue with excellent infrastructure and facilities. Adhiyaman College Engineering, Hosur and Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering, Pollachi have come forward to hold the National Schools Chess Championships and the National Team Chess Championships within a gap of ten days. The Schools championships is to be held at Adhiyaman College of Engineering from 27th to 31st January and the team championships at MCET from 10th to 16th February 2023. Photo: Tournament Circular
Over 1575 children are slated to take part
The National Schools championship, the number wise biggest national has attracted more than 1600 school students from almost all the nooks and corners of the country.
Preparation of the playing hall
The tournament is jointly organized by Ananthi Chess Academy Madurai and Viyugam Chess Academy, on behalf of Krishnagiri District Chess Association and Tamil Nadu State Chess Association with a big support from Adhiyaman College of Engineering. Only bonafide school students are eligible to participate in the Under 17, 15, 13, 11, 9 and 7 categories for open and girls.
Surprisingly the highest rated player of the championship does not hail from the Under 17 or 15 categories but from the under 13. Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy of Uttar Pradesh has a rating of 1900 and he is followed by G Aakash of Tamil Nadu, a former under 9 national champion in the under-13. The next best player of the championship belongs to the under 11 category – Vivaan Vishal Shah of Gujarat, who has a rating of 1873.
The Goa lad, Lad Mandar Pradip is the top seed in the under 17 category, with a rating of 1776 and the highest seeded player in the under 15 category – MS Midilesh of Tamil Nadu has 1738 rating to his credit. The 2022 world under 8 girls champion Charvi A of Karnataka, who won eight medals in the Asian Youth championship 2022 has opted to play in the under 17 open category.
The Chennai girl Pragnya H G of the under 15 category bags the honour of having the highest rating among the girls. She was also the runner-up in the nationals in her category last year. A S Sharvaanica of Tamil Nadu who won the National Under 7, National Schools, all the formats Asian Schools Under 7 tournaments has grown older to play in the under 9 category.
The Chief Arbiter of the tournament is IA Dharmendra Kumar, Chairman of the Arbiters Commission, AICF.
P Prgadesh is the Tournament Director, who has a vast experience of organizing international GM tournaments at Madurai. He is also organizing the Little England open tournament, the very next day after the nationals, which is followed by the below 1600 rating tournament – all at the same venue. N Lokesh, rated 2212 is the organizing secretary and he has produced several good players as a coach.
Another good feature for the arbiters is the Senior National Arbiter seminar and examination on 28th and 29th January, for which IA Gopakumar, Rating officer AICF and Councilor, Fairplay Commission FIDE will be the lecturer.
Adhiyaman College of Engineering has already hosted eight state chess championships and two rating tournaments besides an arbiter seminar. The mammoth playing hall is comfortably sufficient to accommodate 1600 players. The college helps chess in a big way. Dr. G Ranganath, Principal of the college is an ardent sports lover and does not hesitate to provide the college as the venue for any sports event.
The weather in Hosur is very pleasant during the time of the tournament, the day temperature being around 28° C and in the night it will be around 17° C. Hosur is about 40 km from Bengaluru and it is a fast-growing major industrial town with various industrial units like Titan, Ashok Leyland, Hindustan Motors, TVS and a host of other small, medium scale industries.
Players list Under-17 Open
| No. | Name | FideID | Rtg | sex | Club/City | |
| 1 | Lad Mandar Pradip | 25747630 | 1776 | GOA | ||
| 2 | Rupesh Reddy Y | 25737775 | 1688 | AP | ||
| 3 | Utkarsh Bhatnagar | 25714422 | 1680 | UP | ||
| 4 | Gokulakrishna S | 25935500 | 1665 | TN | ||
| 5 | Jaiveer Mahendru | 25611151 | 1610 | MAH | ||
| 6 | Mohammed Tharig S | 25978241 | 1604 | TN | ||
| 7 | Hari Ganesh T | 25995901 | 1570 | TN | ||
| 8 | Saravanan J | 25901109 | 1548 | TN | ||
| 9 | Gokula Vishnu R | 46639640 | 1535 | TN | ||
| 10 | Shankhadeep Maity | 25771345 | 1482 | WB |
Players list Under-17 Girls
| No. | Name | FideID | Rtg | Club/City | |
| 1 | Sneha Halder | 25693263 | 1662 | WB | |
| 2 | Kashthuri Bhai R | 25611607 | 1457 | A & N | |
| 3 | Pranavasri S | 33406758 | 1451 | TN | |
| 4 | Falak Joni Naik | 45069310 | 1419 | GUJ | |
| 5 | Padmini S | 25782738 | 1372 | TN | |
| 6 | Diya Jain | 25731343 | 1367 | TN | |
| 7 | Dhakshniga T | 25611542 | 1350 | TN | |
| 8 | Swati M | 25608126 | 1344 | TN | |
| 9 | AFM | Asudani Ruhani Raj | 25697463 | 1336 | GUJ |
| 10 | Prakash Vaishnavi | 46660445 | 1325 | UP |
More categories: Under-7 - Open and Girls, Under-9 - Open and Girls, Under-11 - Open and Girls, Under-13 - Open and Girls, and Under-15 - Open and Girls.
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.
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A dozen champions crowned at MPL 11th National Schools 2023
@ 02/02/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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1500+ players in action at MPL 11th National Schools 2023
@ 30/01/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |