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