IM Al Muthaiah wins 3rd Shaastra Rapid Rating

by R Anantharam - 02/03/2019

IM Al Muthaiah scored a mammoth 9.5/10 to win 3rd Shaastra Rapid Rating. Muthaiah finished ahead of two GMs and nine other IMs. His only draw was against the 12-year old budding talent of Tamil Nadu, Pranesh M who finished at the 2nd position with a score of 9.0/10. K Senthil Maran secured 3rd position scoring 8.5/10. Defending champion and top seed GM Deepan Chakkravarthy scored 8.0/10 and he was placed 8th. Second seed of the tournament GM Laxman R R was adjudged 4th due to a lesser tie-break score than Senthil. The two day rapid rating tournament organized by IIT Madras witnessed the participation of 434 players including 2 GMs, 10 IMs and a WGM. Prof. IA R Anantharam brings you photos and annotated games by the players themselves.

Muthaiah wins second tournament in just 12 days!

IM Al Muthaiah receives a beautiful trophy and ₹40000 cash | Photo: R Anantharam

IM Al Muthaiah's undefeated championship run at 3rd Shaastra Rapid Rating

12-days ago IM Al Muthaiah won a classical rating tournament. He is also the reigning Tamil Nadu State Rapid champion. He scored 9 wins and 1 draw. The draw was against Pranesh M in round 7. Here is an annotated game by the champion himself.

12-year old Pranesh M (left) finished half point behind the champion at 9.0/10. He won ₹30000 cash | Photo: R Anantharam

Pranesh's stellar performance at 3rd Shaastra Rapid Rating

Pranesh scored his maiden IM norm in Chennai Open early this year. He is also the reigning National School champion in under-13 boys category. Pranesh had another phenomenal at run this tournament where he claimed IM P Konguvel, VAV Rajesh and top seed GM Deepan Chakkravarthy as his victims and drew with the eventual champion of the tournament IM Al Muthaiah and GM Laxman R R. Here is a game of Pranav against IM VAV Rajesh from round 7.

K Senthil Maran scored 8.5/10 and finished at third position. He got richer by ₹20000 cash | Photo: R Anantharam

Senthil Maran suffered his only loss of the tournament against Pranesh who became the eventual runner-up of the tournament, in round 5. He also drew with S S Manigandan in the penultimate round.

Pranesh is not fazed, even though he is facing a tough challenge in the form of GM Laxman R R in the last round | Photo: R Anantharam

GM Laxman R R lost only one game in the entire tournament against Prasanna S in round 5. He drew with Pranesh M in the final round to finish 4th with a score of 8.5/10. Laxman defeated 11-year old M Bharath Subramaniyam H in the penultimate round of the tournament in a fantastic fashion.

The other 12-year old talent from Tamil Nadu, Pranav V (right) scored 8.5/10 and finished 5th | Photo: R Anantharam

S S Manigandan (right) scored 8.0/10 and he was placed 6th | Photo: R Anantharam

IM P Saravana Krishnan scored 8.0/19 and secured 7th position | Photo: R Anantharam

Former National champion, IM G Akash scored 8.0/10 and finished 8th | Photo: R Anantharam

Defending champion and top seed of the tournament GM Deepan Chakkravarthy was shocked by N Surendran in round 4. He suffered his second loss of the tournament against Pranesh in the penultimate round. Deepan scored 8.0/10 and he was placed 9th | Photo: R Anantharam

10th - IM-elect M Kunal also scored 8.0/10 | Photo: R Anantharam

Photo Gallery:

The organizer of Madurai GM tournament P Pragadesh inaugurated the tournament | Photo: R Ananthram

GM Adhiban Baskaran's mother Leela Maheshwari was seen in action | Photo: R Anantharam

IM Rathnakaran K (left) had a forgettable event | Photo: R Anantharam

WGM Meenakshi S was adjudged as the best woman | Photo: R Anantharam

IM P Konguvel scored 7.5/10 and he finished at 18th | Photo: R Anantharam

IM Ravi T S was also seen in action | Photo: R Anantharam

Organizers in focus: Shriram Vempati and Shivam Chandak participated in the tournament | Photo: R Anantharam

The number of participants increased to 434 this year. The increase in the number of participants and the number of the title holders is a measure of the growing popularity of the 3rd Shaastra Rated Rapid Chess Tournament, organised by the Shaastra, IIT Madras at the IIT campus on 23rd and 24th February 2019.

Final Standings:

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	25	IM	Muthaiah Al			5156	IND	2113	TN	9,5	0,0	65,0	70,0	66,00	9	10	9,5	6,83	2,67	20	53,4
2	47		Pranesh M	U15		5044	IND	1775	TN	9,0	0,0	70,0	74,5	65,50	8	10	9	3,34	5,66	20	113,2
3	18		Senthil Maran K			6073	IND	2195	TN	8,5	0,0	64,0	69,0	56,00	8	10	8,5	8,87	-0,37	20	-7,4
4	2	GM	Laxman R.R.			NA	IND	2455	ICF	8,5	0,0	62,5	68,0	57,00	8	10	8,5	9,05	-0,55	20	-11,0
5	33		Pranav V	U15		5169	IND	1941	TN	8,5	0,0	62,0	66,0	56,00	8	10	8,5	4,35	4,15	20	83,0
6	29		Manigandan S S			5029	IND	2032	TN	8,0	0,0	65,5	70,0	53,75	7	10	8	6,09	1,91	20	38,2
7	6	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.			NA	IND	2326	TN	8,0	0,0	63,5	69,0	52,50	8	10	8	9,03	-1,03	20	-20,6
8	3	IM	Akash G			6598	IND	2411	TN	8,0	0,0	63,0	67,0	52,25	7	10	8	8,88	-0,88	10	-8,8
9	1	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.			LM	IND	2524	ICF	8,0	0,0	62,5	67,5	51,50	8	10	8	9,20	-1,20	20	-24,0
10	5		Kunal M.			5240	IND	2342	TN	8,0	0,0	62,0	67,0	53,50	7	10	8	9,20	-1,20	20	-24,0
11	20		Syed Anwar Shazuli			5139	IND	2189	TN	8,0	0,0	61,0	66,5	52,25	7	10	8	8,50	-0,50	20	-10,0
12	16		Balasubramaniam H	U15		5086	IND	2229	TN	8,0	0,0	59,5	64,0	48,50	8	10	8	9,20	-1,20	20	-24,0
13	86		Srihari L	U15		NA	IND	1491	PON	8,0	0,0	59,5	64,0	47,00	8	10	8	4,10	3,90	20	78,0
14	48	CM	Rohith Krishna S	U15		5158	IND	1772	TN	8,0	0,0	56,5	61,0	46,50	7	10	8	5,12	2,88	20	57,6
15	37		Mahesh Kumar K			NA	IND	1906	AP	7,5	0,0	67,0	72,0	50,75	7	10	7,5	5,07	2,43	20	48,6
16	9	IM	Rajesh V A V			5298	IND	2307	TN	7,5	0,0	65,5	70,0	47,75	7	10	7,5	8,64	-1,14	20	-22,8
17	23		Prasannaa.S			5609	IND	2135	TN	7,5	0,0	63,5	69,0	49,75	7	10	7,5	7,48	0,02	20	0,4
18	12	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy			LM	IND	2281	TN	7,5	0,0	63,5	68,5	47,25	7	10	7,5	9,16	-1,66	20	-33,2
19	31		Siddarth M			5785	IND	1983	TN	7,5	0,0	63,0	68,5	48,50	7	10	7,5	4,65	2,85	20	57,0
20	8	IM	Praveen Kumar C			5596	IND	2316	ICF	7,5	0,0	62,0	66,5	45,25	7	10	7,5	8,96	-1,46	20	-29,2

Complete standings

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Arbiters’ Commission in All India Chess Federation and also International Braille Chess Association, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships.

Article was edited by Shahid Ahmed