Manipal 03+04: Top seeds have smooth sailing
The second day of the National-B for the Blind was good for the top-two seeds, who won their games without much difficulties. The third seed Krishna Udupa, though, tasted defeat in the third round. In the FIDE Open, a handful of experienced players were held to draws by their young lower-rated opponents. We bring you a pictorial report from Manipal.
Manipal 03+04: Top seeds have smooth sailing
The top two seeds at the National B Chess Championship for the Blind, 2015 had smooth sailing as they duly dispatched their lower-rated opponents without much fuss. The second day of the tournament that witnessed the third and the fourth round of this prestigious event was a hard day of work for most players...
Darpan Inani lost his sight at the age of four – a victim of the Steven Johnson Syndrome. Nevertheless, he never lost his vision, for which chess came as a fresh breath of life. In 2010, at the age of 16, Darpan became the youngest National Blind Chess champion ever, the youngest unsighted National Champion across all the sports in India’s history.
You may be surprised to know that he has been a topper in a school with sighted children for most of his life! Right now, he is in the final three years of the Chartered Accountancy course in the Institute of Chartered Accountancy of India (ICAI), widely believed to be amongst the toughest courses in this country.
The visualization skills chess has developed in him has played a major role in helping Darpan excel in his academics.
He is an idiosyncratic, confident and extremely positive young man, focused on achieving what he desires, in chess as well as life. If you meet him, you will also ‘see’ that Darpan has always possessed wisdom that belies his age. He hopes to become an entrepreneur in the future.
For Darpan Inani, chess is a sport which has changed his life in more than one ways. “Basically, there is no other sport except for chess wherein visually impaired can compete on an equal footing with the sighted,” Darpan says. “Other games like cricket, soccer, etc. are played by the ones without sight as well, but they are always visually impaired vs. visually impaired games. We cannot play football or similar sports with the sighted players in its originality. Chess is the only sport which allows me to compete at par with the sighted.”
Final Ranking after Round 04:
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 1 | Kishan Gangolli | IND | 2044 | KAR | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 9,50 | |
| 2 | Darpan Inani | IND | 1995 | GUJ | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 9,50 | ||
| 3 | 4 | Patil Shirish | IND | 1823 | MAH | 3,5 | 9,5 | 6,5 | 9,75 | |
| 4 | 5 | Gaurav Gadodia | IND | 1784 | MAH | 3,5 | 9,0 | 6,5 | 9,25 | |
| 5 | 16 | Balaraman P | IND | 1590 | KER | 3,5 | 8,5 | 6,5 | 8,25 | |
| 6 | 22 | Deeptyajeet De | IND | 1549 | W B | 3,5 | 7,5 | 5,5 | 7,00 | |
| 7 | 13 | Yudhajeet D E | IND | 1620 | W B | 3,5 | 7,5 | 5,5 | 5,75 | |
| 8 | 14 | Waghmare Sachin Lahu | IND | 1612 | MAH | 3,5 | 6,5 | 5,0 | 6,25 | |
| 9 | 15 | Soundarya Kumar Pradhan | IND | 1591 | ODI | 3,0 | 9,0 | 7,0 | 6,00 | |
| 10 | 7 | Swapanil Shah | IND | 1755 | MAH | 3,0 | 8,5 | 6,5 | 7,25 |
Check the pairings for Round 05 here.
Manipal University FIDE Open
The tournament witnessed a handful of upsets on the second day...
Final Ranking after Round 04:
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 2 | IM | Stany G.A. | IND | 2421 | KAR | 4,0 | 9,0 | 6,0 | 12,00 | ||
| 2 | 13 | Kulkarni Vinayak | IND | 2043 | KAR | 4,0 | 9,0 | 6,0 | 10,00 | |||
| 3 | 1 | IM | Thejkumar M. S. | IND | 2439 | SWR | 4,0 | 8,5 | 6,0 | 11,00 | ||
| 14 | Ojas Kulkarni | U16 | IND | 2000 | KAR | 4,0 | 8,5 | 6,0 | 11,00 | |||
| 5 | 4 | IM | Girinath P.D.S. | IND | 2317 | SCR | 4,0 | 8,5 | 6,0 | 10,50 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Vijay Keerthi K. | IND | 2248 | KAR | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 10,00 | |||
| 18 | Chandar Raju | U16 | IND | 1950 | KER | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 10,00 | |||
| 19 | Sameer Ghotane | IND | 1938 | KAR | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 10,00 | ||||
| 23 | Balkishan A. | IND | 1925 | KAR | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 10,00 | ||||
| 10 | 5 | Muthaiah Al * | U16 | IND | 2297 | TN | 4,0 | 8,0 | 6,0 | 9,50 |
Check the pairings for Round 05 here.