13th National Schools Chess Championship kicks off in Peddapuram

by Himank Ghosh - 18/01/2025

The 13th National Schools Chess Championship 2024 started off yesterday, 17th January at the Sri Prakash Synergy School in Peddapuram, Andhra Pradesh. The tournament kicked off with a grand opening ceremony in the auditorium, followed by 2 rounds of classical chess in 12 different age categories! 1200+ players are taking part in this tournament, which makes this one of the biggest National Chess tournaments. 7 more rounds are remaining to crown the Champion in all the different sections. Check out all that happened in Day one of the National Schools Chess 2025 below. | Photos: Aditya Sur Roy, Himank Ghosh

1216 players fighting it out in Peddapuram - 13th National Schools 2025

More than 1200 players are fighting it out in a five-day battle of the minds at the 13th National Schools Chess Championship 2025. With 12 different categories spread across 5 different playing halls, the venue - Sri Prakash Synergy School art Peddapuram, Andhra Pradesh is living and breathing chess at the moment!

Once you enter the venue, this is the first thing you get to see...

The players in the Under-7 and Under-9 age categories getting ready for their games! | Photos: Himank Ghosh

Just like any other National Age-group tournament, the Arbiters are in for a busy time...

... and even more so here with so many different categories! | Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Two rounds of Chess was played in the first day, but the action all started off with a Grand opening ceremony in the School AC Auditorium on the first floor. Check out some photos from the opening ceremony:

After the prayer beautifully sung by the school students to start the ceremony, it was time for a traditional dance performance! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

It was a beautiful display of...

Classical dance by the students! | Photos: Himank Ghosh

There were many eminent dignitaries present in the auditorium for the opening ceremony - and the chief guest was Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, the MLA of Peddapuram! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

The lighting of the holy lamp to inaugurate the ceremony! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

The auditorium is full of amazing posters and inspiring quotes like this! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

The president of Andhra Chess Association and one of the main tournament organizers, Mr. KVV Sarma addressing the crowd! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

MLA Chinarajappa being felicitated by the tournament committee in the opening ceremony! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Making of the inaugural move to start off the tournament...

... and now the tournament is declared open! | Photos: Himank Ghosh

A nice group photo to end the ceremony! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Find more photos from the Opening ceremony here

The first and second round took place today. In the next 4 days, 7 more rounds will be played across 12 categories in a classical time format with a time control of 90 minutes + 30 second increment starting from move one. Here are the highest-rated players in each of the categories:

Under-7 Open and Girls: Kavish Bhattad (1515, MAH), and Pragnika Vaka Lakshmi (1495,GUJ)

Under-9 Open and Girls: Akshith Done (1652, TEL), and Aaranya R (1755, TN)

Under-11 Open and Girls: Vairaj Sogerwal (1877, HAR) and Divi Bijesh (1889, KER)

Under-13 Open and Girls: Niladri Banerjee (1963, WB) and Aamuktha Guntaka (1923, AP)

Under-15 Open and Girls: Kushagra Jain (2150, MAH) and Aadya Gupta (1968, DEL)

Under-17 Open and Girls: Adithya A Chullikkad (2166, KER) and Ananya Raman (1935, TN)

There are a total of...

...5 different playing halls to seat all the different age categories! | Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Check out the results and standings of each of the categories after the first 2 rounds of play here at Peddapuram:

Under-7 Open Round 2 results

Bo.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Black	Rtg
1	ACM	Kavish Bhattad	1515	1	1 - 0	1	Dundi Ganesh Karthikeya Hruthwik	0
2		Ivaan Dubey	0	1	1 - 0	1	Khode Nihansh	1512
3		Nimalan Dharanipathy	1496	1	1 - 0	1	Gantem Shouri Aryan	0
4		Kethan Sai Shreyash Dasam	0	1	0 - 1	1	Om Esh Gottumukala	1432
5		Rinek Singh Kadyan	1424	1	1 - 0	1	Gowlikar Sree Devansh	0

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	1	ACM	Kavish Bhattad	1515	Maharashtra	2	1	2	2,00	2
2	5		Rinek Singh Kadyan	1424	Haryana	2	1	2	2,00	2
3	8	ACM	Prabhav Rohithkumar	0	Maharashtra	2	1	2	2,00	2
4	11		Aashish S	0	Andhra Pradesh	2	1	2	2,00	2
5	14		Ainesh Kumar Dutta	0	West Bengal	2	1	2	2,00	2
6	44		Kazi Adyan Ahmed	0	West Bengal	2	1	2	2,00	2
7	72		Sai Dev P	0	Karnataka	2	1	2	2,00	2
8	75		Shastik Jayaan S	0	Tamil Nadu	2	1	2	2,00	2
9	80		Sreyansh Thumati	0	Telangana	2	1	2	2,00	2
10	90		Vivaan Vardhan Sahu	0	Karnataka	2	1	2	2,00	2

Under-7 Girls Round 2 results

Bo.	White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Black	Rtg
1	Krishvi Nirzar Nagori	0	1	0 - 1	1	Pragnika Vaka Lakshmi	1495
2	Shreyanshi Jain	1485	1	1 - 0	1	Navya R	0
3	Rithanyaa Km	0	1	1 - 0	1	Aadhya Sri Rathna Dhavali Ch	0
4	Aaradhya Dessai	0	1	1 - 0	1	Sai Shakthi S	0
5	Sanivarapu Hanshitha	0	1	1 - 0	1	Aaradhya Moharana	0

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo	Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	8	Anannya Annwesha Mishra	0	Odisha	2	1	2	2,00	2
2	34	Rithanyaa Km	0	Tamil Nadu	2	1	2	2,00	2
3	37	Samaira Omkar Thorat	0	Maharashtra	2	1	2	2,00	2
4	52	Yaazhisai B	0	Tamil Nadu	2	1	2	2,00	2
5	48	Vanshika Mahashswari	0	Bihar	2	1	1,5	1,50	2
6	1	Pragnika Vaka Lakshmi	1495	Gujarat	2	1	1	1,00	2
7	2	Shreyanshi Jain	1485	Rajasthan	2	1	1	1,00	2
8	4	Aaradhya Dessai	0	Goa	2	1	1	1,00	2
9	38	Sanivarapu Hanshitha	0	Andhra Pradesh	2	1	1	1,00	2
10	42	Shruthi Anand	0	Tamil Nadu	2	1	1	1,00	2

Under-17 Open Round 2 results

Bo.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg
1	CM	Adithya A Chullikkad	2166	1	1 - 0	1		Shubhankar Bamalia	1702
2		Sahithyan D	1711	1	0 - 1	1	AFM	Pavan Karthikeya Varma Gunturi	2115
3		Gyana Sai Santhosh M	2024	1	½ - ½	1		Bala Sanjay J G	1635
4		Majji Ram Charan Teja	1698	1	½ - ½	1		Naga Sai Sarthak Karanam	2009
5		Kadam Arnav	1972	1	1 - 0	1		Shrestha Vijay D	1608

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	1	CM	Adithya A Chullikkad	2166	Kerala	2	1	2	2,00	2
2	2	AFM	Pavan Karthikeya Varma Gunturi	2115	Telangana	2	1	2	2,00	2
3	5		Kadam Arnav	1972	Maharashtra	2	1	2	2,00	2
4	7		Seetasagar Konaparthi	1887	Andhra Pradesh	2	1	2	2,00	2
5	9		Lukesh A	1842	Tamil Nadu	2	1	2	2,00	2
6	11		Sidharth Mohan	1804	Kerala	2	1	2	2,00	2
7	13		Aaradhya Jain	1771	Gujarat	2	1	2	2,00	2
8	6		Sri Charan Sandipagu	1935	Telangana	2	1	1,5	1,50	2
9	10		Sriram Sundar V	1817	Tamil Nadu	2	1	1,5	1,50	2
10	12		Rithwik Reddy Upparigudam	1782	Telangana	2	1	1	1,00	2

Under-17 Girls Round 2 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1		Ananya Raman	1935	1	1 - 0	1		Behera Snehayukta	1642	8
2	9	ACM	Sandhana D	1635	1	0 - 1	1	AIM	Gade Sharanya	1929	2
3	3		Magizhini M	1834	1	1 - 0	1		Kanak Dubey	1584	10
4	11		Bhuvana Koppineni	1567	1	0 - 1	1		Sananda R	1748	4
5	5		Sarvani Cheedella	1716	1	1 - 0	1		Rithika Sunil	1507	14

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	4		Sananda R	1748	Tamil Nadu	2	1	2	2,00	2
2	5		Sarvani Cheedella	1716	Andhra Pradesh	2	1	2	2,00	2
3	7		Disha U A	1661	Karnataka	2	1	2	2,00	2
4	1		Ananya Raman	1935	Tamil Nadu	2	1	1	1,00	2
5	2	AIM	Gade Sharanya	1929	Telangana	2	1	1	1,00	2
6	3		Magizhini M	1834	Tamil Nadu	2	1	1	1,00	2
7	13		Twinkle Riju	1557	Kerala	2	1	1	1,00	2
8	12		Padmini Panigrahi	1559	Odisha	1,5	1,5	1,5	0,75	1
9	26		Ritisha Mayra Rajbongshi	0	Assam	1,5	1,5	1,5	0,75	1
10	8		Behera Snehayukta	1642	Odisha	1	2	3	1,00	1

More categories: Under-9 - Open and Girls, Under-11 - Open and Girls, Under-13 - Open and Girls, and Under-15 - Open and Girls.

Complete tournament brochure

Photos of players in action in Round 1 and Round 2

The top seed of the U-13 Open section, Niladri Banerjee | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

The top seed of the Under-11 Open section, Vairaj Sogerwal | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Maitreyi Mondal in action - the reigning champion in Under-13 Girls category! | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Divi Bijesh, the top seed of the Girls Under-11 category! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

What do you think the little ones are analyzing? | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

It is important to stretch during an OTB game! | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

This little boy is calling the Arbiter! | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

One of the many attractions of the National Schools Chess Championships is the huge ChessBase India stall! Lots of players and parents visited the stall today, collecting their favourite products. Here are a few photos of the happy customers:

GothamChess fans are everywhere! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Proud dad with his daughter and son, who got a variety of Chess books | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Gukesh's favorite book - Game Changer was one of the highest-demanded books! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Jeremy Silman may have passed away, but his legacy lives on through his fantastic books! | Photo: Himank Ghosh

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