National Challengers 10-13: Ravi Teja takes clear first
The National Challengers Championship 2016 opened at the Amity University in Noida, Delhi, as a non-rated event, for the first time in its 54-year-history. Going into the final lap, Ravi had to make sure he maintained his half-point lead. He did the needful with a timely victory in the tenth round and finished with three draws to become the champion with 10/13. We have important games and some tactics for you to enjoy in this illustrated report.
National Challengers 10-13: Ravi Teja takes clear first
In a day and age where even the under seven national championship tournament of India is a rated tourney, the premier National Challengers Championship 2016 opened at the Amity University in Noida, Delhi, as a non-rated event, for the first time in its 54-year-history. The tournament was expected to attract the stronger players into the tournament, now that there is no possibility for them to lose rating. But there was no change in the trend.
A total of 165 players including 8 Grandmasters, 19 International Masters, and 1 WGM are participating in this event. The top nine finishers of this championship will qualify for forthcoming National Premier Tournament to be held later this year.
In our previous reports, we described how Ravi Teja slowly took charge of the leaderboard and solidified his position. Going into the final lap, Ravi had to make sure he maintained his half-point lead. GM Sriram Jha and GM S.L. Narayanan breathing down his neck.
In the tenth round, Ravi faced Jha and was defending a very bad position with the black pieces. Approaching the time control, despite having a won position, Jha missed his opportunities and even passed the edge to Ravi, who duly converted.
Ravi Teja finished half a point ahead of the remaining field. Tiebreak rules favoured the head-to-head encounter and the number of wins respectively. Four players were tied for the second spot with 9.5/13:
The second position was won by Dhulipala after he defeated GM Vishnu Prasanna (2512) in the final round.
[Site "Amity University, Sector-125, "]
[Date "2016.07.19"]
[Round "13.4"]
[White "Dhulipalla, Bala Chandra Prasad"]
[Black "Vishnu, Prasanna. V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2259"]
[BlackElo "2512"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2016.07.09"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
9. Nc3 c6 10. O-O O-O 11. b4 f4 12. Qb3 fxe3 13. fxe3 Nf5 14. c5+ d5 15. e4
Nxd4 16. Nxd4 exd4 17. Bd6 Rxf1+ 18. Rxf1 Qe8 (18... Qg5 19. Bf4 Qd8 $11) 19.
Nxd5 $1 cxd5 20. Qxd5+ Kh8 21. c6 Nf6 (21... bxc6 22. Qxc6 $18) 22. cxb7 Bxb7
23. Qxb7 Nxe4 24. Bf3 Rd8 25. Bxe4 Rxd6 26. Rf7 Rb6 27. Qc7 Qg8 28. Bd5 h5 29.
Rd7 1-0
Praneeth delivered yet another strong performance at a National Challengers tournament, repeating his success from the previous year.
[Site "Amity University, Sector-125, "]
[Date "2016.07.18"]
[Round "12.5"]
[White "Akash, G."]
[Black "Praneeth, Surya K"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2413"]
[PlyCount "156"]
[EventDate "2016.07.09"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
Bg5 e6 9. Nc3 h6 10. Bh4 Be7 11. Rd1 Bc6 12. O-O O-O 13. Rfe1 Qa5 14. Qd3 Rac8
15. Nd5 exd5 16. exd5 Ba4 17. b3 Bd8 18. bxa4 Qxa4 19. Qb3 Qxc4 20. Qxb7 Ba5
21. Rd4 Qb5 22. Qxb5 axb5 23. Rb1 g5 24. Bg3 Rfd8 25. h4 g4 26. Rf4 Bc3 27. Nd4
Bxd4 28. Rxd4 Rc4 29. Rd3 b4 30. f3 gxf3 31. gxf3 Nh5 32. Be1 Nf4 33. Rd2 Ra8
34. Rdb2 Nxd5 35. Rd1 Ra5 36. a3 Nc3 37. axb4 Nxd1 38. Rg2+ Rg5 39. hxg5 Ne3
40. Re2 Nc2 41. Bd2 hxg5 42. Bxg5 Nxb4 43. Kf2 d5 44. Bf6 Kh7 45. Ke3 Kg6 46.
Bb2 Nc6 47. Rd2 Rc5 48. Kf4 f6 49. Rg2+ Kf7 50. Rh2 Rc4+ 51. Ke3 Ke6 52. Rh6
d4+ 53. Ke4 Rb4 54. Ba1 Ne7 55. Rh1 Nf5 56. Rd1 Nd6+ 57. Kf4 Kd5 58. Rh1 Ra4
59. Rd1 Kc5 60. Rc1+ Rc4 61. Rd1 Kd5 62. Bb2 Nb5 63. Kf5 Rc6 64. f4 Kc4 65. Kg6
Nc3 66. Rd2 d3 67. Bc1 Ne2 68. Rd1 Nxc1 69. Rxc1+ Kd5 70. Ra1 Ke4 71. Ra8 d2
72. Rd8 Ke3 73. f5 Ke2 74. Re8+ Kd3 75. Re6 Rxe6 76. fxe6 d1=Q 77. e7 Qg4+ 78.
Kf7 f5 0-1
Eight players tied for the second spot with 9.0/13:
Normally, nine players are selected to play in the Premier tournament to be held later this year. Therefore, the tiebreak rules played a crucial role. Practically, the rankings in this event after tiebreaks were decided by the number of wins scored by the player.
Highlights:
Some tactical highlights from the last few rounds for your enjoyment. Let us know your answers!
Final Standings:
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 14 | IM | Ravi Teja S. | IND | 2387 | RSPB | 10,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 99,0 | 105,5 | 79,50 | |
| 2 | 34 | Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad | IND | 2259 | AP | 9,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 98,5 | 105,0 | 74,75 | ||
| 3 | 10 | FM | Praneeth Surya K | IND | 2413 | TEL | 9,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 100,5 | 107,0 | 76,50 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Kunte Abhijit | IND | 2495 | PSPB | 9,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 99,0 | 105,5 | 76,25 | |
| 5 | 15 | IM | Abhishek Kelkar | IND | 2380 | MAH | 9,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 94,5 | 100,5 | 72,25 | |
| 6 | 12 | IM | Nitin S. | IND | 2398 | RSPB | 9,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 94,0 | 99,0 | 65,00 | |
| 7 | 13 | GM | Laxman R.R. | IND | 2389 | RSPB | 9,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 97,5 | 104,0 | 67,75 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Gagare Shardul | IND | 2486 | MAH | 9,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 95,5 | 102,5 | 70,75 | |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2543 | TN | 9,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 95,0 | 101,0 | 67,50 | |
| 10 | 9 | GM | Sriram Jha | IND | 2422 | LIC | 9,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 94,5 | 100,5 | 66,25 | |
| 11 | 7 | GM | Bakre Tejas | IND | 2453 | IA | 9,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 99,0 | 105,5 | 72,00 | |
| 12 | 21 | IM | Mishra Neeraj-Kumar | IND | 2328 | JHAR | 9,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 93,0 | 98,0 | 65,00 | |
| 13 | 31 | Sahoo Utkal Ranjan | IND | 2265 | ODI | 9,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 95,0 | 101,0 | 69,00 | ||
| 14 | 22 | Kunal M. | IND | 2309 | TN | 8,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 91,0 | 96,0 | 58,00 | ||
| 15 | 2 | GM | Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan | IND | 2515 | KER | 8,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 99,0 | 105,5 | 66,50 |
Complete standings here.
The top nine have confirmed their spots in the National Premier 2016. The fate of the players who finished just outside the top nine depends on the confirmation of seeded players (defending champion and others in India top five) for the Premier event.