National A 2019 for the Blind kicks off in Nagpur

by Murthy Manjunatha - 06/01/2019

The National A for Blind 2019 has begun in Nagpur from the 5th of January 2019. It is going to be an exciting event as top four players from this 14-player round robin event, qualify for the World Championship in Italy from 5th to 15th og April 2019. The favourite is definitely five-time National Champion Kishan Gangolli, but he will be receiving stiff resistance from youngsters Aryan Joshi. Marimuthu, Soundarya Pradhan and others. Regular readers of ChessBase India will remember that the 2018 edition of the National A for blind happened because of the crowdfunding done on ChessBase India. It's a pleasant feeling to see that the 2019 edition has kicked off without any issues and is being smoothly organized. Check out the round one results.

14th National “A” Chess Championship for visually challenged 2019 started on 05/01/2019 at MLA Hostel Nagpur, Maharashtra. Top fourteen qualified players from National B Chess Championship are facing each other to be selected to (Top four players) represent the country in the forthcoming World Individual Chess Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired 2019 to be held in Cagliari, Italy from 5th to 15th April, 2019.

Sri Manoj Itkelwar Vice President, AICF inaugurated the championships in presence of Sri Anup Deshmukh, International Master, Sri Manish Thool General secretary AICFB, Sri Swapnil Shah Treasurer AICFB. Manish Thool welcomed the gathering followed by some some enchanting and motivating speeches by other dignitaries. Vote of thanks came from Mr Swapnil Shah and the first round of the tournament started at 3 pm as per schedule.

Participants of National A 2019

No.	Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	Club/City
9	Kishan Gangolli	5049350	IND	2008	Kar
5	Aryan B Joshi	35055933	IND	1863	Mah
13	Soundarya Kumar Pradhan	25051822	IND	1819	Odisha
11	Kavlekar Sanjay R.	5045541	IND	1812	Goa
3	Makwana Ashvin K	5081912	IND	1747	Guj
4	Krishna Udupa	5014875	IND	1697	Kar
1	Patra Subhendu Kumar	46604634	IND	1686	Odisha
14	Patil Shirish	5081904	IND	1673	Mah
6	Prachurya Kumar Pradhan	25051580	IND	1634	Odisha
10	Swapanil Shah	5043484	IND	1634	Mah
2	Marimuthu K	45023859	IND	1563	T N
12	Waghmare Sachin Lahu	5081882	IND	1557	Mah
8	Shashidhar K M	25051806	IND	1522	Kar
7	Hariharan Gandhi	45073791	IND	1448	T N

Playing hall of the National A | Photo: Murthy Manjunatha

The upset of the day was surely Soundarya Kumar Pradhan losing to K. Marimuthu.

Aryan Joshi, the second seed of the tournament scored a fine win over Swapnil Shah | Photo: Murthy Manjunatha

Five-time National Champion Kishan Gangolli was held to a draw by Prachurya Pradhan | Photo: Murthy Manjunatha

Results of round one

Round 1 on 2019/01/05 at 03.00PM
Bo.	No.	Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	1686	Patra Subhendu Kumar	1 - 0	Patil Shirish	1673	14
2	2	1563	Marimuthu K	1 - 0	Soundarya Kumar Pradhan	1819	13
3	3	1747	Makwana Ashvin K	1 - 0	Waghmare Sachin Lahu	1557	12
4	4	1697	Krishna Udupa	½ - ½	Kavlekar Sanjay R.	1812	11
5	5	1863	Aryan B Joshi	1 - 0	Swapanil Shah	1634	10
6	6	1634	Prachurya Kumar Pradhan	½ - ½	Kishan Gangolli	2008	9
7	7	1448	Hariharan Gandhi	0 - 1	Shashidhar K M	1522	8

About the author

Murthy Manjunatha is the chief arbiter at the National Premier 2019. He has been an arbiter at blind tournaments since many years and conducts the proceedings with great speed and accuracy and a human touch!

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