Commonwealth 2018 Round 3: The fall and rise of Meghna CH

by Sagar Shah - 29/06/2018

Chess players need to be mentally strong. That's the only way in which they can succeed. A brilliant case of this was showcased at the Commonwealth Championships 2018. Meghna CH is a 19-year-old player from Kerala. She came to Delhi with big hopes of winning a medal in the under-20 section. However, in the 2nd round she lost to higher rated Sakshi Chitlange and in the third round she was beaten by her state mate Abdeen Asna who was rated 1162! Nothing could have been worse for Meghna. But she turned things around in style. Check out this article to know how she did it.

Meghna CH is rated 1955, comes from Kerala and is 19 years old | Photo: Delhi Chess Association

Chess has a unique way of rewarding people who do not despair and give up. Meghna is a talented youngster from Kerala. Thanks to her chess achievements recently she was recruited into Railways - their first ever women's chess team. Of course, the Commonwealth Championships meant a lot to her. A medal is what she was looking for.

Starting rank for under-20 girls

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	Club/City
1	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	5001080	IND	2238	Tamilnadu
2	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	35002899	IND	2162	Maharashtra
3	WFM	Varshini V	5091241	IND	2129	Tamilnadu
4	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	5056535	IND	1981	West Bengal
5	WFM	Meghna C H	5044790	IND	1955	Kerala

Being the fifth seed, getting a medal looked highly probable. Meghna also decided that she should play in the open section. So every day she would play a round in the morning at 9.30 a.m. in the under-20 section and at 3 p.m. in the open section.

Meghna began with a win in the under-20 section but lost her second game to second seeded Sakshi Chitlange. But things got worse as she lost her third round against Abdeen Asna, who was rated 800 points below!

Abdeen Asna (1162) vs Meghna CH

Meghna took on b3 which looked dangerous for White. But Asna was up to the task and defended with great tenacity.

It was one of those games where the 1100 rated player played much better than what her rating suggests. Check out the accurate moves that Asna Abdeen made in order to bring home the full point:

It was a heartbreak for Meghna. Her medal hopes had been destroyed and sad news was that there was another round to be played in a few hours and that too against a GM. While for many this would have led to a nervous breakdown, Meghna took this as an opportunity!

Meghna vs GM Abhijit Kunte (2494)

The experienced and very solid Abhijit Kunte began the game with his favourite Sicilian Kan. Very soon he had a comfortable position. But when the Pune GM allowed her opponent's knight to e4, things started to get very tense.

White has his pieces very well placed. And if Black is short on time, this is very difficult to play.

Meghna managed to handle tactics really well and within a few moves was a rook up! Kunte had no option but to resign!

And thus ended an extremely eventful day in the life of the Kerala girl. From the downs of losing to a player rated 800 points below her to the joy of beating a grandmaster, Meghna experienced all of this within a day! No wonder, Bobby Fischer used to say - "Chess is Life!"

Photo Gallery by Amruta Mokal:

Chess and team always go well together. The organizers have done a fabulous job of offering tea in clay cups. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

For the 8-year-old Aakash, chess means everything! Second seed in the under-8 boys. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Making a comeback to chess after a very long time. G.Aakash managed to hold top seed Deep Sengupta to a draw in round one | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Handshakes all around! Great timing! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The arbiters are kept busy throughout the day! That's Amit Sharma of Delhi | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Do you prefer a cap.... | Photo: Amruta Mokal

...or a hoodie! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Aditya Patil of Maharashtra | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Tania Sachdev takes a stroll! She won her second game on trot and is on 2.0/3 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The young talent from Maharashtra Eesha Sarda | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Oh yes! Chess can be exciting! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

This picture is a representation of the fact that a LOT of Indians play chess! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Free juice packs for players to keep themselves hydrated during the game! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Krishna Teja created the upset of the day by beating the in form Kartik Venkatraman in the third round | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Lalith is also upbeat and enjoying chess! However, he must surely not be thrilled to have drawn a completely winning position against Ratnakaran | Photo: Amruta Mokal

That's how Ratnakaran plays. It's never over until it is over! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Why are you taking my picture? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Bleed blue! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A big talent from Assam Mrinmoy Rajkhowa is on 3.0/3 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Watch out for this lad on the left Sreeshwan Maralakshakari! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Oh my god! Chess is stressful!... | Photo: Amruta Mokal

...That's why you need smiley pads to cheer you up! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Caption this! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Results of round 3:

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	Rtg	No.
1	20	IM	Akash G		2391	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Sengupta Deep		2565	1
2	22		Sammed Jaykumar Shete		2375	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		2531	3
3	4	GM	Lalith Babu M R		2529	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Rathnakaran K.		2386	21
4	35		Navalgund Niranjan		2282	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		2525	5
5	6	GM	Debashis Das		2522	2	1 - 0	2		Koustav Chatterjee		2365	23
6	41		Aaryan Varshney		2210	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade		2495	7
7	10	IM	Karthik Venkataraman		2475	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Kobese Watu		2349	26
8	12	IM	Karthikeyan P.		2456	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann		2285	32
9	43		Moksh Amit Doshi		2203	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh		2441	13
10	14	IM	Nitin S.		2441	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv		2270	36
11	16	GM	Laxman R.R.		2438	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Thilakarathne G M H		2188	45
12	18	GM	Thipsay Praveen M		2405	2	1 - 0	2	WFM	Lakshmi C		1954	80
13	79	WFM	Meghna C H		1955	2	1 - 0	1½	GM	Kunte Abhijit		2494	9
14	2	GM	Vaibhav Suri		2556	1½	1 - 0	1½		Nayak Rajesh		2195	44
15	8	GM	Thejkumar M. S.		2495	1½	½ - ½	1½		Panda Sambit		2187	46
16	55		Mahitosh Dey		2115	1½	0 - 1	1½	IM	Visakh N R		2467	11
17	57		Mohite Ranveer		2089	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Bakre Tejas		2439	15
18	60	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee		2076	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		2425	17
19	24		Sankalp Gupta		2365	1½	1 - 0	1½	WFM	Divya Deshmukh		2139	52
20	27	IM	Siva Mahadevan		2346	1½	0 - 1	1½	AGM	Jubin Jimmy		2113	56

Pairings for round 4:

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	Rtg	No.
1	5	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		2525	3		3	IM	Nitin S.		2441	14
2	16	GM	Laxman R.R.		2438	3		3	GM	Debashis Das		2522	6
3	79	WFM	Meghna C H		1955	3		3	IM	Karthik Venkataraman		2475	10
4	1	GM	Sengupta Deep		2565	2½		3	GM	Thipsay Praveen M		2405	18
5	28	CM	Kushagra Mohan		2307	2½		2½	GM	Vaibhav Suri		2556	2
6	3	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		2531	2½		2½		Sankalp Gupta		2365	24
7	30		Wagh Suyog		2289	2½		2½	GM	Lalith Babu M R		2529	4
8	7	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade		2495	2½		2½		Sammed Jaykumar Shete		2375	22
9	11	IM	Visakh N R		2467	2½		2½	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.		2283	33
10	38		Dixit Nikhil		2252	2½		2½	IM	Karthikeyan P.		2456	12

Video gallery:

Pravin Thipsay had won the Commonwealth title 33 years ago, can he do it now once again?

Interview with one of the rising talents of Indian chess - Kriti Patel

Live commentary from the venue by IM Sagar Shah and Vishal Sareen.

Catch us live at 4.30 p.m. today on the ChessBase India Youtube Channel