Exactly a year ago Aravindh Chithambaram had a chance to win the National Championship 2017 in Patna Bihar. He went into the final round leading along with Lalith Babu. Lalith quickly drew his game against Swapnil Dhopade. The ball was now in Aravindh's court. If he did beat Debashis Das then he would become the National Champion. The tension, drama and the pressure was all too much for Aravindh to handle. He crashed to a defeat and lost the game.
Fast forward one year and Aravindh once again has chance to become the National Champion. Going into the final 13th round, this is how things stand at the National Championship 2018.
Rank after round 12
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 4 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2584 | TN | 9,5 | 0,0 | 85,0 | 91,0 | 12 | 9,5 | 7,66 | 1,84 | 10 | 18,4 |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | IND | 2589 | PSPB | 9,0 | 0,0 | 86,0 | 92,0 | 12 | 9 | 8,02 | 0,98 | 10 | 9,8 |
| 3 | 16 | IM | Krishna C R G | IND | 2464 | RSPB | 9,0 | 0,0 | 78,0 | 83,5 | 12 | 9 | 8,64 | 0,36 | 10 | 3,6 |
| 4 | 12 | IM | Stany G.A. | IND | 2509 | AAI | 8,5 | 0,0 | 87,0 | 92,5 | 12 | 8,5 | 7,23 | 1,27 | 10 | 12,7 |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Sengupta Deep | IND | 2565 | PSPB | 8,5 | 0,0 | 86,5 | 93,0 | 12 | 8,5 | 8,42 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 |
| 6 | 10 | GM | Vishnu Prasanna. V | IND | 2518 | TN | 8,5 | 0,0 | 82,5 | 88,5 | 12 | 8,5 | 8,02 | 0,48 | 10 | 4,8 |
| 7 | 45 | Srijit Paul | IND | 2298 | WB | 8,5 | 0,0 | 75,0 | 80,0 | 12 | 8,5 | 5,61 | 2,89 | 20 | 57,8 | |
| 8 | 8 | GM | Venkatesh M.R. | IND | 2528 | PSPB | 8,5 | 0,0 | 74,5 | 78,0 | 12 | 8,5 | 10,03 | -1,53 | 10 | -15,3 |
| 9 | 7 | GM | Deepan Chakkravarthy J. | IND | 2550 | RSPB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 84,5 | 90,0 | 12 | 8 | 8,53 | -0,53 | 10 | -5,3 |
| 10 | 24 | GM | Bakre Tejas | IND | 2433 | AI | 8,0 | 0,0 | 83,0 | 88,0 | 12 | 8 | 7,20 | 0,80 | 10 | 8,0 |
| 11 | 25 | GM | Neelotpal Das | IND | 2412 | PSPB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 82,5 | 87,5 | 12 | 8 | 7,43 | 0,57 | 10 | 5,7 |
| 12 | 2 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2591 | PSPB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 82,0 | 88,0 | 12 | 8 | 9,44 | -1,44 | 10 | -14,4 |
| 13 | 55 | FM | Navalgund Niranjan | IND | 2240 | KAR | 8,0 | 0,0 | 81,5 | 86,5 | 12 | 8 | 3,98 | 4,02 | 20 | 80,4 |
| 14 | 18 | IM | Vignesh N R | IND | 2455 | TN | 8,0 | 0,0 | 81,0 | 87,0 | 12 | 8 | 7,72 | 0,28 | 10 | 2,8 |
| 15 | 9 | GM | Karthik Venkataraman | IND | 2527 | AP | 8,0 | 0,0 | 80,0 | 85,0 | 12 | 8 | 9,23 | -1,23 | 10 | -12,3 |
| 16 | 22 | IM | Akash G | IND | 2443 | TN | 8,0 | 0,0 | 79,5 | 84,5 | 12 | 8 | 7,74 | 0,26 | 10 | 2,6 |
| 17 | 21 | IM | Shyaamnikhil P | IND | 2448 | RSPB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 78,0 | 83,5 | 12 | 8 | 8,72 | -0,72 | 10 | -7,2 |
| 18 | 6 | GM | Chanda Sandipan | IND | 2555 | WB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 77,5 | 83,0 | 12 | 8 | 9,71 | -1,71 | 10 | -17,1 |
| 19 | 32 | IM | Gusain Himal | IND | 2379 | RSPB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 74,0 | 79,5 | 12 | 8 | 8,65 | -0,65 | 10 | -6,5 |
| 20 | 13 | GM | Anurag Mhamal | IND | 2491 | GOA | 7,5 | 0,0 | 87,5 | 94,0 | 12 | 7,5 | 7,12 | 0,38 | 10 | 3,8 |
Aravindh played a wonderful game in round 12 to beat Karthikeyan Murali. Here's how he did it:
If Aravindh can win his final round against IM CRG Krishna, he becomes the National Champion. If he draws his game and Vaibhav Suri manages to beat Srijit Paul with the White pieces, the Delhi boy could become the Champion. Let's have a look at round 13 pairing:
Round 13 pairing:
It's an exciting round and you can watch it LIVE now below!
Final round at 9 a.m. IST. Watch it LIVE!
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