Vaibhav Suri victorious at 2nd RCMIC Rotachess Rapid Rating Open 2024
Four players - GM Vaibhav Suri, GM Pranesh M, IM Ilamparthi A R and FM Ram Aravind L N scored 8/9 each at 2nd RCMIC Rotachess Rapid Rating Open 2024. Vaibhav became champion due to better tie-break score. The remaining three were placed second to fourth according to tie-breaks. Top three remained undefeated. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹600000. The top three prizes were ₹80000, ₹50000 and ₹40000 along with a trophy each. The tournament was organized by YMCA Madras Physical Activities Committee, Rotary Club of Madras Industrial City and T Nagar Chess Academy at YMCA Royapettah in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 23rd June 2024. Check out a huge report of the tournament with lots of photos, games, videos and few interviews. Photos: Shahid Ahmed
Top four score 8/9
Only three players - GM Vaibhav Suri, GM Pranesh M and GM Mitrabha Guha were the leaders 7.5/8, going into the final round. Vaibhav drew with Pranesh to become the champion, Pranesh finished second. IM Ilamparthi A R defeated Mitrabha to finish third. FM Ram Aravind L N scored an impressive 8/9 to finish fourth. Despite losing the second round, Ram won his next seven games in-a-row to finish fourth. To get an inkling about the strength of the tournament - the defending champion GM Sethuraman S P scored 6.5/9 to finish at 38th place. Six out of nine participating GMs finished in top 13. The remaining three finished outside of the top 25.
Round 3: Midilesh defends against Ilamparthi
Midilesh Ms (1751) defended well against IM Ilamparthi A R (2280). Midilesh had a knight for his opponent's five pawns in the endgame.
Kanishka S (1750) was clearly better against IM Harikrishnan A Ra (2253). She missed a great opportunity to win and the game ended in a draw.
T Nagar Chess Academy made a nice gesture of distributing pre-owned chess books to players who score an upset or play a good game against titled players.
Round 4: Sai Vishwesh stuns Sethuraman
Sai Vishwesh C (1984) stunned the defending champion - GM Sethuraman S P (2536). Sai's rapid rating might be low but his classical rating shows his actual strength. He is a former National Under-17 Open champion. So him upsetting the GM is not a huge surprise. He launched a brutal attack and left the GM's king stranded at the center.
Vijay Shreeram P (1899) and Sailesh R (1889) held GM Mitrabha Guha (2461) and GM Pa Iniyan (2439) to solid draws respectively.
Round 5: Arpith S Bijoy puts up a tough fight against Vaibhav Suri
Arpith S Bijoy (2110) quite possibly put up the toughest challenge for GM Vaibhav Suri (2543) at the event. The teenager decided not to repeat moves at a position which seemed to be better for him from a human perspective. However, the computer disagrees.
Sasvatha - Muthaiah
The above position should end in a draw with a correct play. However, in less time it is not easy to be accurate all the time. WCM Sasvatha A (1712) made one tiny mistake against IM Muthaiah Al (2231). However, it went unnoticed. She also missed an opportunity to secure the draw and finish things much earlier.
Round 6: Sham made Pranesh earn his point
Sham R (2025) put up a good fight against GM Pranesh M (2473) where the former could have lost on multiple counts. He also had several chances to save the game.
Pranesh - Sham
It might seem like it is over for Black as the queen is fixed due to b8Q looming large. Thanks to the white king's awkward placement at h4, Black has an opportunity to fight back. Find out what it was.
Round 7: Mitrabha swindles Deepan
GM Mitrabha Guha (2461) had a difficult position for the better part of the game against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2335) for the better part of the game. However, he kept fighting and aimed for one last trick.
Mitrabha - Deepan
37.Rh1 is one last attempt by White to swindle. Is it really over or can Black continue the fight?
Round 8: Mitrabha stuns Aravindh
GM Mitrabha Guha (2461) had an exciting battle against GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2545). Both players were aiming for their opponent's king.
Mitrabha - Aravindh
18...Bh3?? turned out to be the decisive mistake by Black 19.Nf6+! Bxf6 20.Qxd6 Qe6 21.Qf8+ Kd7 22.Rfd1+ Rd4 23.Rxd4+ exd4 24.Qd6+ Qxd6 25.Bxh3+ Kc6 26.Bg2+ Kd7 27.Bxd6 Kxd6 28.gxf6 and it's over.
IM Ilamparthi A R (2280) surprised GM Sethuraman S P (2536) with a 3..g5 surprise in the Sicilian Defense. The thrilling battle ended in a draw.
Round 9: Vaibhav draws with Pranesh, Ilamparthi spoils the title for Mitrabha
GM Pranesh M and GM Vaibhav Suri made a quick Grandmaster draw in 20 moves. GM Mitrabha Guha needed to win against IM Ilamparthi A R to become the champion. Mitrabha lost, finished tenth and Ilamparthi was placed third. GM Laxman R R (2181) won a nice endgame against GM Sethuraman S P. It pushed Sethuraman to 38th place in the final standings.
Prize distribution ceremony photos
Photo Gallery
For more photos, please check out the album here. More game videos will be published soon, stay tuned.
Video Gallery
A total of 582 players including 9 GMs, 15 IMs and 3 WIMs took part from various places across the country in this one-day nine-round Swiss League Rapid Rating Open tournament. The event was organized by YMCA Madras Physical Activities Committee, Rotary Club of Madras Industrial City and T Nagar Chess Academy at YMCA Royapettah in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 23rd June 2024. The time control of the tournament was 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | S18 | 2543 | 8 | 55,5 | 60,5 | 52,75 | 0 | 7 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Pranesh M | S18 | 2473 | 8 | 53 | 57 | 49,25 | 0 | 7 | |
| 3 | 10 | IM | Ilamparthi A R | 2280 | 8 | 50 | 54 | 47,00 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 27 | FM | Ram Aravind L N | S18 | 2121 | 8 | 48 | 52 | 46,00 | 0 | 8 | |
| 5 | 9 | IM | Srihari L R | S18 | 2319 | 7,5 | 54 | 58,5 | 46,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 6 | 1 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | S18 | 2545 | 7,5 | 54 | 58 | 46,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 7 | 6 | GM | Iniyan Pa | S18 | 2439 | 7,5 | 53,5 | 57,5 | 46,25 | 0 | 7 | |
| 8 | 30 | FM | Md Imran | 2094 | 7,5 | 52,5 | 56,5 | 45,25 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 9 | 26 | IM | Srihari L | S18 | 2140 | 7,5 | 51,5 | 56 | 44,75 | 0 | 7 | |
| 10 | 5 | GM | Mitrabha Guha | S18 | 2461 | 7,5 | 51,5 | 55 | 43,00 | 0 | 7 | |
| 11 | 29 | Arpith S Bijoy | 2110 | 7,5 | 51 | 56 | 44,25 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 12 | 33 | FM | John Veny Akkarakaran | 2063 | 7,5 | 49,5 | 53,5 | 43,00 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 13 | 21 | GM | Laxman R.R. | S18 | 2181 | 7,5 | 49 | 54 | 43,75 | 0 | 7 | |
| 14 | 18 | IM | Muthaiah Al | S18 | 2231 | 7,5 | 48 | 52,5 | 44,25 | 0 | 7 | |
| 15 | 35 | CM | Aakash G | U14 | 2040 | 7,5 | 48 | 52,5 | 42,00 | 0 | 7 | |
| 16 | 12 | IM | Rohith Krishna S | S18 | 2275 | 7 | 52,5 | 57 | 42,50 | 0 | 5 | |
| 17 | 36 | AGM | Vignesh B | S18 | 2037 | 7 | 52,5 | 57 | 42,00 | 0 | 7 | |
| 18 | 32 | Dinesh Rajan M | S18 | 2067 | 7 | 52 | 56,5 | 41,00 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 19 | 19 | IM | Nitin S. | S18 | 2220 | 7 | 51 | 54,5 | 40,50 | 0 | 6 | |
| 20 | 192 | Prasanna Karthick M | 1585 | 7 | 51 | 54 | 40,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 21 | 14 | IM | Harikrishnan A Ra | S18 | 2253 | 7 | 50,5 | 55 | 42,25 | 0 | 6 | |
| 22 | 56 | Vijay Shreeram P | S18 | 1899 | 7 | 50,5 | 55 | 39,75 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 23 | 15 | IM | Raahul V S | S18 | 2249 | 7 | 50,5 | 54,5 | 39,00 | 0 | 7 | |
| 24 | 37 | Sham R | S18 | 2025 | 7 | 50 | 54 | 38,50 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 25 | 40 | Arjun C Krishnamachari | S18 | 1994 | 7 | 50 | 53 | 38,00 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 26 | 13 | IM | Ravi Teja S. | S18 | 2257 | 7 | 49,5 | 52,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 27 | 17 | GM | Karthikeyan P. | S18 | 2232 | 7 | 48,5 | 52,5 | 38,75 | 0 | 6 | |
| 28 | 111 | AFM | Karthick Sai P | U14 | 1720 | 7 | 48,5 | 52,5 | 37,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 29 | 45 | Madhesh Kumar S | U14 | 1951 | 7 | 48,5 | 52,5 | 37,00 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 30 | 24 | IM | Ratnakaran K. | S18 | 2144 | 7 | 47,5 | 52,5 | 33,00 | 0 | 7 |
