Aravindh Chithambaram is India's first Triple Crown Champion

by Shahid Ahmed - 29/05/2019

Aravindh Chithambaram becomes the first Indian to become the National Triple Crown Champion by winning National Rapid and Blitz titles on 28th May 2019. He had won National Open Senior title in December 2018. Aravindh etched his name in history books in an emphatic manner as he scored 10.5/11 in Rapid and 10.0/11 in Blitz. His record is similar to what Carlsen had done in 2014 when he became the first male player to become World Triple Crown Champion when he held World title in all three formats Classical, Rapid and Blitz. Susan Polgar was the first ever chess player to hold Triple Crown title in all three formats of the game in 1996. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Awesome Aravindh, Bhakti's Blitzkrieg at National Rapid and Blitz

The top finishers (L to R) - GM Swayams Mishra - 5th in Rapid, GM Aravindh Chithambaram - Champion in both Rapid and Blitz, GM Visakh N R 2nd in Rapid and 4th in Blitz, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni - 8th in Rapid and 3rd in Blitz and GM Laxman R R - 3rd in Rapid and 2nd in Blitz | Photo: Kanwarjeet/Punjab Kesari

Rapid:

Aravindh had a phenomenal start as he took a full point lead as early as round 6. Visakh N R kept chasing him for the title and remained in the hunt despite losing to the eventual champion in round 4. Aravindh maintained his sole lead till the end of the tournament and finished 1.5 point ahead of the runner-up GM Visakh N R.

With a performance rating of 2710 and facing all strong players, Aravindh absolutely dominated the field

Top 3 finishers in Rapid (L to R): GM Laxman R R 8.0/11 - 3rd, GM Visakh N R 9.0/11 - 2nd and GM Aravindh Chithambaram 10.5/11 - 1st | Photo: Kanwarjeet/Punjab Kesari

Bhakti scored 8.0/11 and finished at 8th position. She had the best finish for a woman at National Rapid in the last five years | Photo: Kanwarjeet/Punjab Kesari

Reigning National Women's Champion WGM Bhakti Kulkarni bettered her previous best performance in 2014 when she scored 7.0/11 and finished at 11th position. Since 2014, Bhakti's performance in this edition is the best for a woman in National Rapid 2019.

Here is a game of her where she defeated the defending National Blitz Champion IM Dinesh Kumar Sharma.

Blitz:

Aravindh had another amazing run at Blitz. He started with 7.0/7, at the end of round 9, he had a full point lead and won the tournament with a round to spare. Aravindh scored 10.0/11 to clinch the title and become the National Triple Crown Champion, finishing full point ahead of the runner-up GM Laxman R R.

Aravindh's phenomenal performance of scoring 10.0/11 with a performance rating of 2649 speaks volumes

Top 3 finishers in Blitz (L to R): WGM Bhakti Kulkarni 8.0/11 - 3rd, GM Laxman R R 9.0/11 - 2nd and GM Aravindh Chithambaram 10.0/11 - 1st | Photo: Kanwarjeet/Punjab Kesari

Final Standings in Rapid

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		IND	2478	Tn	10,5	0,0	71,0	76,5	72,50	10
2	17	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2268	Tn	9,0	0,0	75,0	80,5	62,50	8
3	5	GM	Laxman R.R.		IND	2429	Rspb	8,0	0,0	74,0	79,5	53,00	7
4	16	FM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.		IND	2274	Ap	8,0	0,0	73,5	78,5	55,00	5
5	3	IM	Swayams Mishra		IND	2475	Ai	8,0	0,0	73,5	77,5	54,50	6
6	7	IM	Krishna C R G		IND	2395	Rspb	8,0	0,0	69,0	74,0	51,00	7
7	4	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.		IND	2433	Lic	8,0	0,0	67,5	72,5	51,00	6
8	13	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	w	IND	2318	Ai	8,0	0,0	66,0	70,0	49,50	7
9	14	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2312	Pspb	7,5	0,0	74,0	79,5	50,75	5
10	11	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.		IND	2327	Tn	7,5	0,0	67,5	71,0	44,00	7
11	15	FM	Gahan M G		IND	2298	Kar	7,5	0,0	65,0	70,0	44,75	7
12	47		Sharan Rao		IND	1803	Kar	7,5	0,0	62,5	66,5	43,00	6
13	10	IM	Rathnakaran K.		IND	2358	Rspb	7,0	0,0	74,0	79,5	46,00	6
14	8	IM	Ravi Teja S.		IND	2378	Ap	7,0	0,0	72,0	76,0	45,00	5
15	64	FM	Aaryan Varshney		IND	1623	Del	7,0	0,0	71,0	75,0	45,25	6
16	67	FM	Dushyant Sharma		IND	1585	Pun	7,0	0,0	68,5	74,0	45,50	6
17	12	GM	Thipsay Praveen M		IND	2325	Mah	7,0	0,0	68,5	73,5	40,75	6
18	34		Joshi Govind Ballabh		IND	2011	Del	7,0	0,0	66,5	70,5	40,75	6
19	62	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	w	IND	1656	Mah	7,0	0,0	64,5	68,0	38,50	7
20	23		Senthil Maran K		IND	2181	Tn	7,0	0,0	64,0	67,5	40,75	6
21	22	IM	Shetty Rahul		IND	2198	Ai	7,0	0,0	63,0	68,0	41,25	6
22	29	FM	Anuj Shrivatri		IND	2077	Mp	7,0	0,0	63,0	66,5	38,00	7
23	27	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	w	IND	2093	Ai	7,0	0,0	60,0	65,0	38,25	6
24	36		Pradeep Tiwari		IND	1972	Del	7,0	0,0	59,5	63,0	37,00	6
25	24	IM	Muthaiah Al		IND	2177	Tn	6,5	0,0	75,5	80,0	43,25	5

Complete Standings

Final Standings in Blitz

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		IND	2532	Tn	10,0	0,0	76,5	80,5	72,50	9
2	2	GM	Laxman R.R.		IND	2463	Rspb	9,0	0,0	76,0	82,0	64,00	8
3	10	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	w	IND	2320	Ai	8,0	0,0	73,0	79,0	53,50	7
4	12	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2310	Tn	8,0	0,0	73,0	79,0	53,00	8
5	5	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2408	Pspb	8,0	0,0	72,5	77,5	52,00	6
6	8	IM	Ravi Teja S.		IND	2391	Ap	8,0	0,0	71,0	76,0	52,50	7
7	16	FM	Gahan M G		IND	2254	Kar	8,0	0,0	70,0	75,0	51,00	7
8	24		Soham Kamotra		IND	2136	J&k	8,0	0,0	69,5	73,5	51,75	7
9	7	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.		IND	2393	Lic	8,0	0,0	67,5	72,5	52,50	8
10	6	IM	Rathnakaran K.		IND	2408	Rspb	7,5	0,0	72,0	75,5	47,25	6
11	18		Shailendra K Bajpai		IND	2243	Up	7,5	0,0	67,5	72,5	44,50	7
12	13	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy		IND	2307	Pspb	7,5	0,0	66,0	71,0	45,25	7
13	22	FM	Aaryan Varshney		IND	2196	Del	7,5	0,0	65,0	69,5	43,75	7
14	9	GM	Sengupta Deep		IND	2330	Pspb	7,5	0,0	64,5	69,0	46,25	5
15	3	IM	Swayams Mishra		IND	2442	Ai	7,0	0,0	72,0	77,0	43,00	7

Complete Standings

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