Ram S Krishnan wins Sivakasi Chess Club NPSS Rathina Nadar Dr. N Mahalingam Rapid Rating Open 2023
Ram S Krishnan and Sham R scored 8/9 each at Sivakasi Chess Club NPSS Rathina Nadar Dr. N Mahalingam Rapid Rating Open 2023. Ram won the tournament due to better tie-breaks, Sham was placed second. Only Ram remained undefeated among the podium finishers. Four players - Dinesh Rajan M, Nandish V S, Kumaresh A and Mithun Anand V scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third to sixth respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹150000. The top three prizes were ₹20000, ₹16000 and ₹13000 along with a trophy each. This is also Ram's 25th rating tournament victory. The team 'Ground Breaking Strategy' comprising Sham R and Gugan G won the Doubles tournament scoring 12/14. Golden Knights and King of Knightmares also scored the same. They were placed second and third respectively. Photos: IA R Anantharam
Ram's 25th rating tournament triumph
Multiple IM-norm holder and former national rapid champion Ram S Krishnan of BSNL won the Sivakasi Chess Club NPSS Rathina Nadar – Dr. N Mahalingam Rapid Rating Tournament, celebrating the 50th year of Sivakasi Chess Club. It is also Ram’s 25th triumph of rating tournaments and also his first rapid title after the national title in 2012.
While the former national and only online national amateur champion won the first place, the runner-up spot went to the current national amateur (below 1700) champion, 19-year-old R Sham of Tamil Nadu. Both had a similar score of eight points, but Ram had a better tiebreak compared to Sham. The speed chess is a natural flow to Sham, as he has already won the state blitz championship this year. While Ram had two draws in his journey towards attaining eight points Sham had a second round loss to Ashwinth Michael in getting the same eight points.
Four players M Dinesh Rajan (brother of GM Pranesh M), Nandhish V S, A Kumaresh and Mithun Anand V – all from Tamil Nadu had half a point less than Ram and Sham, finished from third to sixth in that order.
The top seed and a former state junior champion P Maheswaran of Sivakasi Chess Club (now looking after Deeksha Chess Academy) could muster only 6.5 points, as he lost to his district mate A Kumaresh of Hatsun Chess Academy in the eighth round.
S Gokulakrishna was credited with the seventh place because of his creditable win over IA Ganesh Babu S but he lost to both top two finishers.
S Vijayasubhasri was the only girl to finish among the top ten. She had seven wins and two losses against the top seed Maheswaran and top finisher Ram.
FM Ayushh Ravikumar was placed ninth and had a loss against Dinesh Rajan in the seventh round.
Sivakasi Chess Club has been regularly conducting different types of tournaments like Chess 960, Chess Doubles, Basque Chess, Fun Chess etc. Chess Doubles has been conducted several times featuring many IMs like P Shyam Nikhil. To make chess a spectator sport, players have to stand and play and the partners of a team have to make the alternate moves, without consulting each other. First violation in any form will receive a yellow card and the second violation will invite a red card and loss of the game.
The champion in the Doubles and runner up in the rapid event has an appeal to the chess lovers. As the national amateur champion (below 1700) he wants to represent the country in the world amateur to be held in Dubai. But his financial constraints have put a question mark over his participation in the world event. The author requests the Chessbase India readers to help him by offering financial assistance.
The game needs understanding between the two players and a lot of strategy is involved. All the players participated with vigour and enthusiasm.
A total of 235 players participated from various parts of the Tamil Nadu. The two-day nine-round Swiss league Rapid Rating tournament was held on 1st and 2nd July 2023. The Doubles tournament witnessed the participation of 103 teams means 206 players across the state. Both events were organized by Sivakasi Chess Club at Kammavar Kalyana Mandapam in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. The time control for the Rapid Rating was 15 minutes + 10 seconds delay, for Doubles it was 10 minutes + 5 seconds delay from move no.1.
Final standings in Rapid Rating
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 3 | Ram, S. Krishnan | Sign | IND | 2011 | 8 | 51,5 | 56,5 | 49,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 2 | 10 | Sham, R | EP | IND | 1881 | 8 | 50 | 54,5 | 48,00 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 3 | 9 | Dinesh, Rajan M | CF | IND | 1894 | 7,5 | 53 | 58 | 46,75 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 4 | 20 | Nandish, V S | CF | IND | 1714 | 7,5 | 51,5 | 55,5 | 44,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 5 | 32 | Kumaresh, A | CF | IND | 1550 | 7,5 | 49,5 | 53 | 42,25 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 6 | 16 | Mithun, Anand V | CF | IND | 1771 | 7,5 | 47 | 49 | 40,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 7 | 23 | Gokulakrishna, S | EP | IND | 1689 | 7 | 50 | 54,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 8 | 35 | Vijayasubhasri, S | w | CM | IND | 1524 | 7 | 49 | 50,5 | 36,00 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 9 | 12 | FM | Ayushh, Ravikumar | EP | IND | 1854 | 7 | 48,5 | 53 | 39,25 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 10 | 11 | Gugan, G | EP | IND | 1878 | 7 | 48 | 52 | 36,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 11 | 15 | Hiren, K G | CF | IND | 1782 | 7 | 46 | 50 | 36,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 12 | 4 | Arnav, Maheshwari | CF | IND | 1990 | 7 | 44 | 48 | 37,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 13 | 19 | Ram, Alagappan S | CF | IND | 1716 | 7 | 42 | 45,5 | 35,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 14 | 1 | FM | Maheswaran, P. | RA | IND | 2238 | 6,5 | 56 | 60 | 41,50 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 15 | 27 | Rohith, S | CM | IND | 1584 | 6,5 | 51 | 55,5 | 36,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 16 | 73 | AFM | Ashwinth, Michael | Inba | IND | 1202 | 6,5 | 50,5 | 54,5 | 37,50 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 17 | 34 | AIM | Arul, Prakash N | DCA | IND | 1534 | 6,5 | 50,5 | 53 | 34,75 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 18 | 6 | Manigandan, S S | RA | IND | 1924 | 6,5 | 50 | 53,5 | 34,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 19 | 5 | Ganesh, R | Hatsun | IND | 1989 | 6,5 | 49,5 | 53,5 | 36,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 20 | 25 | Rathish, T.J. | CF | IND | 1616 | 6,5 | 48,5 | 52 | 34,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 21 | 2 | Ganesh, Babu S | RA | IND | 2026 | 6,5 | 48 | 53 | 36,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 22 | 14 | Alaguraja, M.A. | DCA | IND | 1791 | 6,5 | 48 | 52,5 | 35,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 23 | 21 | Jai, Sankar Subramanian | CM | IND | 1694 | 6,5 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 35,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 24 | 37 | Pulkit, Rathi V | EP | IND | 1485 | 6,5 | 47,5 | 49,5 | 31,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 25 | 8 | Sarveshwaran, V | CF | IND | 1915 | 6,5 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 35,50 | 0 | 5 | |||
| 26 | 30 | Mohammed, Tharig S | DCA | IND | 1562 | 6,5 | 46 | 50 | 32,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 27 | 13 | Vignesh, Kannan P | Sign | IND | 1806 | 6,5 | 45,5 | 49 | 33,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 28 | 41 | Mithiran, A | CF | IND | 1392 | 6,5 | 39 | 42 | 28,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 29 | 54 | Jagendran, Kamak N | RA | IND | 1272 | 6 | 48 | 51 | 30,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 30 | 47 | Kirpesh, I | RA | IND | 1310 | 6 | 47 | 50,5 | 31,00 | 0 | 5 |
Final standings in Doubles
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 |
| 1 | 4 | Ground Breaking Strategy | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 116 | 0 | 69 |
| 2 | 2 | Golden Knights | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 114 | 0 | 69 |
| 3 | 3 | King of Knightmares | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 108 | 0 | 64 |
| 4 | 11 | Hatsun Hunters | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 100 | 0 | 62 |
| 5 | 1 | Modhi Paar | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 100 | 0 | 60 |
| 6 | 12 | Hatsun Attackers | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 94 | 0 | 59 |
| 7 | 10 | DCA Dons | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 103 | 0 | 69 |
| 8 | 5 | GG | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 97 | 0 | 66 |
| 9 | 7 | Leo the Goat | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 88 | 0 | 62 |
| 10 | 6 | Kalakkal Heroes | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 86 | 0 | 67 |
About the Author
Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships.
The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed
