Likhit Chilukuri becomes the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Champion

Likhit, Prachura, Parthasarathy, and Keshav to represent Karnataka in the National Premier Chess Championship

The Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Open Chess Championship came to conclusion here at Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education, Bengaluru on Sunday. 21-year-old Likhit Chilukuri clinched the title with a whopping 8.5 points out of possible nine after defeating his final round opponent Rakshith Srinivasan. Pocketing Rs. 40,000 as cash prize and a glittering trophy, Likhit employed the Tarrasch Variation of the French defense against Rakshith in the opening with the white pieces. He got his chances early in the game and converted the advantage into a winning opposite coloured bishop ending which went on for seventy moves until Black resigned.

With eight points in the kitty, the second seeded Prachura P Padakannaya finished as first runner-up after scoring a point against Raghavendra V in the final round. Parthasarathy R climbed up the leaderboard beating Manasa K. and even matched Prachura's score but had to be satisfied with the second runner-up position on the basis of tie breaks. Prachura became richer by Rs. 35,000 while Parthasarathy R went back home with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000.

Likhit Chilukuri, Prachura P.P, Parthasarathy R and Keshav Kothari will represent Karnataka in the upcoming National Premier Chess Championship which is set to take place in December 2019.

In the glittering closing ceremony Sri Hanumantha R, President of UKCA, gave away the trophies and cash prizes to the winners in presence of Shri. Anand Yadwad, Marketing Head of Akshayakalpa Organic Dairy.

Check out all photos of the colourful prize distribution in the Facebook album below:

Priyadarshan Banjan who has been the manager of Nihal Sarin since the last 4-5 years answered questions of parents/players on various aspects of developing a chess career. This was a particularly interesting and enlightening session for everyone.

Video gallery

Hear Mrs Sujatha speak about her daughter's love for chess and what they enjoy about Akshayakalpa tournaments!

Akshayakalpa's young customer tells why he loves playing chess!

Another young customer has a very unique reason for why he plays chess. Listen to him!

Mr Pradeep has been Akshayakalpa's customer for some months and talks about how Akshayakalpa is building a chess culture in Bangalore and why his kids love Akshayakalpa Organic Milk products.

A customer and chess parent tells that she is happy Akshayakalpa delivers what it promises.

Mr Makrand says his son was very excited to play the tournament. He adds that after tasting the sample, he is definitely going to subscribe to Akshayakalpa Organic Milk.

Results of round eight

Results of round nine

Standings and crosstable

Complete results and standings

About the author

Hinduja 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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