Vishnu wins Golden Jubilee of Sivakasi Chess Club, NPSS Rathina Nadar - Dr. N Mahalingam Rating Open 2023
GM Vishnu Prasanna V scored 8/9 to win 50th year of Sivakasi Chess Club, NPSS Rathina Nadar Dr. N Mahalingam Rating Open 2023. Vishnu finished a half point ahead of the field. Thus, no tie-breaks were required. Despite losing the second round game, Vishnu bounced back by winning the next seven games in a row. Four players - IM Nitin S, IM Ratnakaran K, Selvamurugan B and Surendran N scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed second to fifth respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹1000000. The top three prizes were ₹120000, ₹80000 and ₹65000 along with a trophy each. This is only fourth tournament Vishnu played this year. His last tournament triumph was exactly a year and a day ago at Olympiad Curtain Raiser Rapid Rating Open 2023. Photos: IA R Anantharam
Vishnu wins a tournament after a year and a day later
Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna, the coach of India no. 2 D. Gukesh ended a long drought of winning a FIDE rated tournament at the 50th year of Sivakasi Chess Club NPSS Rathina Nadar – Dr. N. Mahalingam chess tournament with prize money of ten lacs rupees.
Vishnu Prasanna, as the champion, received one lakh and twenty thousand rupees. The tournament was held at Sivakasi from 21st to 25th July 2023. 266 players from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana participated in the nine rounds event.
Irrespective of the final round loss to Vishnu, International Master S Nitin of Railways secured the runner-up spot. Nitin scored 7.5 points from nine games. Nitin received a prize of ₹80000.
IM Ratnakaran K of Railways did a Houdini act, capitalizing a blunder by S Rohith of TN to win the game from a total losing position and the third place went to him. The win helped him to get a cash prize of ₹65000.
Dr. M. Manickam, A P Selvarajan and A Tenzing, industrialists and big supporters of chess are adjacent to the winners.
Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna, the head coach of Hatsun Chess Academy, Sivakasi did not disappoint his local students and scored eight points and the only loss came against his own student I Kirpesh at the Hatsun CA. in the second round. Kirpesh is also a member of the host Sivakasi Chess Club.
B Selvamurugan of Tamil Nadu defeated S Gokulakrishna to gain the fourth rank. Gokulakrishna is the biggest beneficiary in terms of gaining 114 rating points in the tournament.
Experienced N Surendran, a coach rated 2197, defeated youngster G Aakash, a former national under-11 champion, to win the fifth rank. His friend N Lokesh, a good player, trainer and chess administrator, who organised the National Schools 2023, together with Ananthi Chess Academy Madurai won the next rank.
Former Tamil Nadu state junior champion SS Manigandan of Golden Knights CA, Madurai got the better of former national under-11 girls champion Anupam M Sreekumar of Kerala, which helped him to finish eighth.
Swarna Nihal of Andhra Pradesh, who finished tenth, played a marathon game against Srihari K R in the third round and drew.
Nitin - Vishnu, Round 9
White's only defense was 29.Qb6 which is not easy to spot considering his king is in a precarious position. 29.Nf4?? Bf3 ended things in a hurry for IM Nitin S (2389). His opponent, GM Vishnu Prasanna (2413) went on to win the game in another eleven moves.
R Anantharam, Secretary of Sivakasi Chess Club was the Chief Arbiter, helped by IA Vijayaraghavan V as the Deputy Chief. Member of the Technical Commission, FIDE IA Arasu B was the fair play officer and was also in charge of the 12 live games.
A total of 266 players participated from various parts of the Tamil Nadu. The five-day nine-round Swiss league Rating tournament was held from 21st to 25th July 2023. It was organized by Sivakasi Chess Club at Kammavar Kalyana Mandapam in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. The time control for event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Replay all available games
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Vishnu, Prasanna. V | IND | 2413 | 8 | 48 | 52 | 0 | 46,50 | 9 | 8 | 8,20 | -0,20 | 10 | -2 | ||
| 2 | 2 | IM | Nitin, S. | IND | 2389 | 7,5 | 53,5 | 58 | 0 | 46,50 | 9 | 7,5 | 7,83 | -0,33 | 10 | -3,3 | ||
| 3 | 4 | IM | Ratnakaran, K. | IND | 2237 | 7,5 | 51 | 55,5 | 0 | 44,75 | 9 | 7,5 | 7,95 | -0,45 | 10 | -4,5 | ||
| 4 | 11 | Selvamurugan, B | IND | 1945 | 7,5 | 47 | 51 | 0 | 42,25 | 9 | 7,5 | 7,72 | -0,22 | 20 | -4,4 | |||
| 5 | 5 | Surendran, N | IND | 2197 | 7,5 | 46,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 42,25 | 9 | 7,5 | 8,67 | -1,17 | 20 | -23,4 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Lokesh, N. | IND | 2152 | 7 | 51 | 55,5 | 0 | 40,75 | 9 | 7 | 7,01 | -0,01 | 20 | -0,2 | |||
| 7 | 14 | Vijay, Shreeram P | IND | 1840 | 7 | 48 | 52 | 0 | 38,50 | 9 | 7 | 6,77 | 0,23 | 20 | 4,6 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Manigandan, S S | IND | 2036 | 7 | 47,5 | 52,5 | 0 | 40,00 | 9 | 7 | 7,99 | -0,99 | 20 | -19,8 | |||
| 9 | 16 | Balkishan, A. | IND | 1826 | 7 | 46 | 50 | 0 | 37,00 | 9 | 7 | 7,06 | -0,06 | 20 | -1,2 | |||
| 10 | 15 | Swarna, Nihal | U15 | IND | 1839 | 7 | 42,5 | 45,5 | 0 | 35,50 | 9 | 7 | 7,83 | -0,83 | 40 | -33,2 | ||
| 11 | 24 | Gokulakrishna, S | IND | 1743 | 6,5 | 50 | 54,5 | 0 | 37,00 | 9 | 6,5 | 3,65 | 2,85 | 40 | 114 | |||
| 12 | 21 | Rohith, S | U15 | IND | 1756 | 6,5 | 48 | 52,5 | 0 | 35,50 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,70 | 0,80 | 40 | 32 | ||
| 13 | 3 | Srihari, L | IND | 2281 | 6,5 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 36,25 | 9 | 6,5 | 8,74 | -2,24 | 20 | -44,8 | |||
| 14 | 32 | Shadhursshaan, R | IND | 1681 | 6,5 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 34,75 | 9 | 6,5 | 4,39 | 2,11 | 40 | 84,4 | |||
| 15 | 17 | AGM | Sa, Kannan | IND | 1820 | 6,5 | 47 | 51,5 | 0 | 36,50 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,56 | -0,06 | 20 | -1,2 | ||
| 16 | 27 | Kanishka, S | w | IND | 1723 | 6,5 | 47 | 51,5 | 0 | 35,25 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,69 | -0,19 | 40 | -7,6 | ||
| 17 | 19 | Aakash, G | U15 | IND | 1784 | 6,5 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 0 | 34,50 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,30 | 0,20 | 40 | 8 | ||
| 18 | 20 | Anilkumar, O.T. | S55 | IND | 1778 | 6,5 | 46 | 50 | 0 | 32,00 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,25 | 0,25 | 20 | 5 | ||
| 19 | 7 | FM | Maheswaran, P. | IND | 2058 | 6,5 | 45 | 49,5 | 0 | 34,75 | 9 | 6,5 | 8,63 | -2,13 | 20 | -42,6 | ||
| 20 | 59 | Ahaz, E U | U15 | IND | 1512 | 6,5 | 43 | 46,5 | 0 | 32,50 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,20 | 1,30 | 40 | 52 | ||
| 21 | 50 | Gokula, Vishnu R | IND | 1558 | 6,5 | 41,5 | 43,5 | 0 | 29,25 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,34 | 1,16 | 40 | 46,4 | |||
| 22 | 38 | Naveen, K S | IND | 1652 | 6,5 | 38,5 | 42,5 | 0 | 30,75 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,51 | -1,01 | 40 | -40,4 | |||
| 23 | 10 | FM | Vinoth Kumar, M. | IND | 1967 | 6 | 48 | 52,5 | 0 | 32,50 | 9 | 6 | 7,37 | -1,37 | 20 | -27,4 | ||
| 24 | 46 | Anupam, M Sreekumar | F15 | w | IND | 1595 | 6 | 48 | 52 | 0 | 31,25 | 9 | 6 | 3,93 | 2,07 | 40 | 82,8 | |
| 25 | 18 | Jai, Sankar Subramanian | IND | 1797 | 6 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 30,75 | 9 | 6 | 6,43 | -0,43 | 40 | -17,2 | |||
| 26 | 13 | Dhanush, Ragav N S | IND | 1860 | 6 | 47,5 | 51 | 0 | 32,25 | 9 | 6 | 6,15 | -0,15 | 20 | -3 | |||
| 27 | 47 | Mahith, Giridhar | IND | 1595 | 6 | 47 | 51,5 | 0 | 32,50 | 9 | 6 | 4,97 | 1,03 | 40 | 41,2 | |||
| 28 | 61 | Raaghav, Kabil M | IND | 1499 | 6 | 47 | 50,5 | 0 | 30,75 | 9 | 6 | 3,88 | 2,12 | 40 | 84,8 | |||
| 29 | 45 | Abel, Sajan | U15 | IND | 1603 | 6 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 0 | 31,25 | 9 | 6 | 4,80 | 1,20 | 40 | 48 | ||
| 30 | 35 | Yashwant, B | U15 | IND | 1667 | 6 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 0 | 31,00 | 9 | 6 | 5,36 | 0,64 | 40 | 25,6 |
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
