Karnataka State Chess Championship - halfway through and in full swing!

by Hinduja Reddy - 05/10/2019

The Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Championship is halfway through. The over-the-board battles are slowly getting longer and more intense. At the conclusion of day three seven players have emerged as joint leaders with perfect scores of 5.0/5 points each and they are being followed by as many as fourteen players who are just half a point behind with 4.5/5. Thanks to various initiatives of Akshayakalpa, the tournament has established itself as a zero-plastic sporting event. The authorities have effectively managed to avoid the use of even a single plastic or paper cup. Consequently, the food is being served on steel ware and players are being provided with steel bottles. Hinduja Reddy, our author who is present at the venue, sends an illustrated report.

Isha Sharma among the seven leaders

Isha Sharma has had a more or less smooth sailing so far in the event | Photo: Akshayakalpa

It was Anantharam R U who became Isha's casualty in round five | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Top-seed and Karnataka’s first Woman International Master Isha Sharma has scored a perfect 5.0/5 points so far to be among the seven leaders at the end of five rounds of Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Open Chess Championship organized by Innovators Chess Academy at Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education in Bengaluru. On the first board, Isha playing black pieces scored a convincing victory against Anantharam R U. Anantharam chose to surprise his opponent by playing the irregular 1.b4 but Isha maintained her composure and managed to get a slightly better position out of the opening. Not long after she landed with a decisive advantage after White blundered on move 34.

Anantharam R U - Isha Sharma, Round 5

Can you see what White missed when he captured a pawn on a5?

White had to play 34.Rd4 in the last move and the position would have remained equal. But 34.Nxa5 was a mistake and allowed 34...Rc1+ 35.Kh2 h4!

After 35...h4! the decisive threat is Nb3 followed by Rh1#

There is no good way to prevent this. Something like 36.g4 / g3 runs into 37...hxg3+ after which Black gets a winning passer in the g-pawn. In the game, 36.Nb3 Rb1 was played and White decided to call it a day!

Vivek Nambiar defeated Shiva S with the white pieces on the second board in round five | Photo: Akshayakalpa

On the second board, Vivek Nambiar defeated Shiva S in a Classical Dutch-Stonewall Defense. Vivek, playing White, got clear opening advantage after few inaccuracies from the black side. This was enough for White to build a strong pressure in the center. Black soon succumbed after a deadly blunder on move 30.

10-year-old Vaibhav Kalpaka went down against Rakshith Srinivasan in the fifth round | Photo: Akshayakalpa

11-year-old Arnav Muralidhar held higher rated Likhit Chilukuri to a draw in the fifth round on board three | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Namboothiri K N in action against Siri Sharma | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Bharani GN has participated in the event along with her father Gavi Siddayya | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Video Gallery

Watch the highlights comprising of rounds four and five from day three of Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Championship 2019!

At the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Championship 2019, players and parents got an 'hands on' experience on how to turn a lump of clay into something artistic. Each candidate got to practice on the wheel. At the end of the workshop, they could take home all the beautiful pieces.

Vidya Narayan is a busy chess mom. She is the mother of talented chess player Avantika Banujit Narayan. We caught up with her and asked her few questions. Hear her talk about how her daughter started playing chess in this video.

Check out in the video below of all the Akshayakalpa products being sold at the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Championship 2019!

An environment friendly initiative by Akshayakalpa

The authorities are proud to declare Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Open Chess Championship as a Zero-Plastic Sporting Event. Food here is being served in steelware. They have taken measures to avoid single-use plastic or paper cups for water consumption. Owing to which all players have been given steel water bottles | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Players during the rounds with their steel bottles | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Results of round four

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	WCM	Sharma Isha	2182	3	1 - 0	3		Aravinda B R	1622	37
2	36	AIM	Abhijit Chutia	1623	3	0 - 1	3		Nambiar Vivek	2030	4
3	41		Devi Das Suresh Pai	1615	3	1 - 0	3		Parthasarathy R	1984	5
4	43		Apoorv Kamble	1600	3	1 - 0	3		Varma Shabdhik	1947	6
5	7		Santoshkashyap Hg	1931	3	½ - ½	3		Namboothiri K N	1619	39
6	45		Hariharan S Pillai	1568	3	0 - 1	3		Likhit Chilukuri	1926	8
7	9		Rakshith Srinivasan	1899	3	1 - 0	3	AIM	Sushrutha Reddy	1617	40
8	10		Sharan Rao	1894	3	1 - 0	3		Thirunarayanan Sampath Kumar	1610	42
9	13		Manasa K.	1830	3	1 - 0	3		Sujay B M	1541	48
10	51		Amith A	1525	3	1 - 0	3		Jagadish P	1829	14

Results of round five

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	23		Anantharam R U	1763	4	0 - 1	4	WCM	Sharma Isha	2182	1
2	4		Nambiar Vivek	2030	4	1 - 0	4		Shiva S	1756	24
3	8		Likhit Chilukuri	1926	4	½ - ½	4		Arnav Muralidhar	1739	26
4	32		Vaibhav Kalpaka	1675	4	0 - 1	4		Rakshith Srinivasan	1899	9
5	33		Anand Vittal T R	1672	4	½ - ½	4		Sharan Rao	1894	10
6	34	ACM	Anil Thungesh	1665	4	1 - 0	4		Manasa K.	1830	13
7	41		Devi Das Suresh Pai	1615	4	1 - 0	4		Sudarshan Bhat	1815	15
8	43		Apoorv Kamble	1600	4	½ - ½	4	AIM	Kaushik G Iyer	1788	17
9	18		Teja Kirthi	1785	4	½ - ½	4		Amith A	1525	51
10	64		Anirudh Sharma	1446	4	½ - ½	4		Gavi Siddayya	1783	19

Standings after round five

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	20		Keshav Kothari	U16			1775	5,0	0,0	13,5	17,5
2	41		Devi Das Suresh Pai				1615	5,0	0,0	13,0	17,0
3	4		Nambiar Vivek				2030	5,0	0,0	12,0	16,0
	9		Rakshith Srinivasan	U16			1899	5,0	0,0	12,0	16,0
5	1	WCM	Sharma Isha		w		2182	5,0	0,0	11,0	15,0
6	34	ACM	Anil Thungesh	U16			1665	5,0	0,0	10,5	14,5
	248		Ajith Chandy Jose				0	5,0	0,0	10,5	14,5
8	8		Likhit Chilukuri				1926	4,5	0,0	14,0	18,5
	17	AIM	Kaushik G Iyer	U16			1788	4,5	0,0	14,0	18,5
10	7		Santoshkashyap Hg				1931	4,5	0,0	13,0	17,5

Complete results and standings

About the author

Hinduja Reddy is a 24-year-old Chess Entrepreneur who lives in Bengaluru. She is a former National Women's B bronze medalist, chess writer, coach and co-founder of ChessMine events.

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