Karthik Venkataraman conquers 61st National Championship 2024

by Shahid Ahmed - 28/08/2024

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) and IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) drew with IM Himal Gusain (RSPB) and GM Lalit Rohit (RSPB) respectively in the last round. It created a window of opportunity for GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) to win the tournament. He defeated the reigning Commonwealth champion, GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB) to become the champion. Surya finished second on tie-breaks. IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) scored a comfortable win over IM Sammed Shete (MAH) to finish third. The top three finishers scored 9/11 each. Only Neelash made zero draws and lost two games against the remaining podium finishers. Karthik earned his place at the next World Cup. Photos: Himank Ghosh

Karthik wins his second National title

GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) remained undefeated when he won the 59th edition in 2022 scoring 10/13. This time also he remained unbeaten as he scored 9/11 to become the champion.

Champion - GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) 9/11

Interview with 61st National champion - GM Karthik Venkataraman | Video: ChessBase India

Runner-up - GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) 9/11

Second Runner-up - IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) 9/11

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) 9/11, 1st GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) 9/11 and 3rd IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) 9/11

Mitrabha - Karthik

Position after 17.Bxe7?

GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB, 2537) made an incorrect decision to take the e7-pawn 17.Bxe7? Rfe8 18.Nd2 Rxe7 19.Nxc4 Bxc3 20.Rb1 Qe6 21.Qd6 Qxd6 22.Nxd6 Bb4 23.Nb5 Bc5 24.Rfc1?? Rxe2 and it is over for White. GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP, 2568) had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.

GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) scored a crucial win over GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB) in the final round to become the champion

GM Karthik Venkataraman scored an unbeaten 9/11, performed at 2653 and gained 12.6 Elo rating points

IM Himal Gusain (RSPB) - GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) - GM Lalit Rohit (PSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) got a substantial advantage out of the opening and had no trouble converting it into a win

Round 10 in progress

Prize distribution ceremony

4th GM Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB) 8.5/11

5th IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) 8.5/11

6th IM Himal Gusain (RSPB) 8.5/11

7th GM Lalit Rohit (PSPB) 8.5/11

8th GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) 8.5/11

10th GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) 8/11

Top ten finishers

For more Round 11 and Prize distribution ceremony photos, please click at the respective links.

A total of 340 players including 20 GMs, 11 IMs and 2 WGMs took part from various states and units across India in this eleven-day eleven-round Swiss League Rating Open tournament. It was organized by Haryana Chess Association at RPS International School in Gurugram, Haryana from 17th July to 27th August 2024. The time control of the tournament was 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Replay Round 11 games

Round 11 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	13	IM	Gusain, Himal	2511	RLY	8	½ - ½	8½	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2583	PSPB	1	PGN
2	9	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2535	RLY	8	½ - ½	8	GM	Lalit, Babu M R	2494	PSPB	14	PGN
3	8	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2537	RLY	7½	0 - 1	8	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2568	AP	5	PGN
4	16	IM	Neelash, Saha	2470	RLY	8	1 - 0	7½	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2386	MAH	24	PGN
5	2	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2583	PSPB	7½	1 - 0	7½	GM	Vignesh, N R	2526	RLY	10	PGN
6	4	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2568	RLY	7½	1 - 0	7½	GM	Sankalp, Gupta	2546	MAH	7	PGN
7	6	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2547	TN	7	½ - ½	7½	GM	Visakh, N R	2517	RLY	11	PGN
8	12	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2516	PSPB	7	0 - 1	7½	IM	Shyaam, Nikhil P	2442	RLY	18	PGN
9	22	IM	Ajay, Karthikeyan	2401	TN	7	1 - 0	7½	GM	Swapnil, S. Dhopade	2433	RLY	19	PGN
10	41		Koustuv, Dash	2124	ODI	7	0 - 1	7	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2571	PSPB	3	PGN

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	5	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman		IND	2568	AP	9	78	83,5	66,75	0	7	11	9	7,74	1,26	10	12,6
2	1	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar		IND	2583	PSPB	9	77,5	83,5	66,75	0	7	11	9	7,53	1,47	10	14,7
3	16	IM	Neelash, Saha		IND	2470	RLY	9	76,5	82,5	64,50	0	9	11	9	7,31	1,69	10	16,9
4	4	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan		IND	2568	RLY	8,5	78	84	63,00	0	6	11	8,5	8,05	0,45	10	4,5
5	9	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh		IND	2535	RLY	8,5	77,5	83,5	62,75	0	6	11	8,5	7,59	0,91	10	9,1
6	13	IM	Gusain, Himal		IND	2511	RLY	8,5	72,5	77	58,25	0	6	11	8,5	8,54	-0,04	10	-0,4
7	14	GM	Lalit, Babu M R		IND	2494	PSPB	8,5	71,5	77	58,50	0	7	11	8,5	8,34	0,16	10	1,6
8	2	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		IND	2583	PSPB	8,5	70,5	75,5	56,25	0	8	11	8,5	9,45	-0,95	10	-9,5
9	18	IM	Shyaam, Nikhil P		IND	2442	RLY	8,5	69	75	56,25	0	7	11	8,5	8,00	0,50	10	5
10	3	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.		IND	2571	PSPB	8	78,5	84	57,75	0	6	11	8	8,05	-0,05	10	-0,5

Details

Links

Tournament Details

Haryana Chess Association

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