National Challengers 2017 kicks off with Parthiv Patel as the chief guest

by Gopakumar Sudhakaran - 13/08/2017

One of the most important tournaments in the Indian circuit National Challengers 2017 is about to begin from 13th of August 2017. On 12th August former Indian test cricketer Parthiv Patel attended the opening ceremony and made the inaugural moves against WIM Dhyani Dave. Round one begins at 3 p.m. on 13th. Top seed is GM Aravindh Chithambaram followed by S.L. Narayanan, Lalith Babu and ten other grandmasters and seventeen International Masters. Pictures from the opening ceremony.

Aravindh gets top billing at the National Challengers

Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamilnadu starts as the top seed at the 55th National Challengers Chess Championship formerly known as National B Chess Championship that gets underway at Karnavati Club, Ahmedabad from Sunday.

The event will see 13 grandmasters and 17 International Masters in action in a field of more than 250 players from 27 states and 10 Institutional teams. Grandmasters S L Narayanan of Kerala and MR Lalith Babu of PSPB are the second and third seed respectively in this thirteen round Swiss system tournament.

Starting rank (players above 2200)

No.		Name	ID	FideID	FED	Rtg	sex	Club/City
1	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	0	5072786	IND	2579		TN
2	GM	Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan	0	5058422	IND	2564		KER
3	GM	Lalith Babu M R	0	5024595	IND	2529		PSPB
4	GM	Narayanan Srinath	0	5018420	IND	2524		AI
5	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	0	5019184	IND	2516		RSPB
6	GM	Himanshu Sharma	0	5007836	IND	2514		RSPB
7	GM	Kunte Abhijit	0	5002265	IND	2505		PSPB
8	GM	Debashis Das	0	5024854	IND	2493		ODI
9	IM	Thejkumar M. S.	0	5009154	IND	2481		RSPB
10	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	0	5011132	IND	2466		RSPB
11	GM	Bakre Tejas	0	5004195	IND	2464		AI
12	IM	Swayams Mishra	0	5028183	IND	2455		AI
13	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	0	5024218	IND	2447		RSPB
14	IM	Nitin S.	0	5018277	IND	2421		RSPB
15	IM	Das Arghyadip	0	5003610	IND	2419		RSPB
16	IM	Satyapragyan Swayangsu	0	5004306	IND	2410		AI
17	GM	Laxman R.R.	0	5005361	IND	2397		RSPB
18	IM	Krishna C R G	0	5018625	IND	2387		RSPB
19	IM	Ravi Teja S.	0	5017220	IND	2383		RSPB
20	GM	Sriram Jha	0	5001668	IND	2375		LIC
21		Hemant Sharma (del)	0	5025842	IND	2371		RSPB
22	IM	Rathnakaran K.	0	5005507	IND	2354		RSPB
23	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	0	5013623	IND	2344	w	PSPB
24	FM	Erigaisi Arjun	0	35009192	IND	2342		TEL
25		Navalgund Niranjan	0	5030854	IND	2335		TN
26	IM	Padmini Rout	0	5029295	IND	2327	w	PSPB
27	AGM	Fenil Shah	0	5019850	IND	2326		GUJ
28	FM	Mitrabha Guha	0	5057000	IND	2323		WB
29	GM	Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi	0	5002974	IND	2317		RSPB
30		Akash Pc Iyer	0	5006775	IND	2304		TN
31		Audi Ameya	0	25034430	IND	2287		GOA
32	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	0	5004110	IND	2279		LIC
33	IM	Chakravarthi Reddy M	0	25009532	IND	2277		TEL
34		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	0	5073421	IND	2277		MAH
35	IM	Kathmale Sameer	0	5024498	IND	2275		MAH
36	IM	Shashikant Kutwal	0	5006520	IND	2268		RSPB
37	FM	Gajwa Ankit	0	5077834	IND	2267		MP
38		Sankalp Gupta	0	5097010	IND	2254		MAH
39		Tiwari Arjun	0	5011337	IND	2251		MP
40		Kaustuv Kundu	0	5056900	IND	2240		WB
41		Wagh Suyog	0	25071688	IND	2234		MAH
42		Rathore S.K.	0	5000750	IND	2230		MP
43		Ram S. Krishnan	0	5010519	IND	2214		BSNL
44		Nayak Rajesh	0	35017152	IND	2211		ODI
45	IM	Shetty Rahul	0	5000513	IND	2207		AI
46		Dhananjay S	0	5092892	IND	2206		CHAT
47		Lokesh N.	0	5025044	IND	2205		TN

Complete starting list

The total prize fund of the event is Rupees 5 Lakhs out of which Rs. 1.5 Lakhs is reserved for the winner. India's latest grandmasters N. Srinath of Air India, Himanshu Sharma of Railways and former National Champion Abhijit Kunte of PSPB will be eying the winner’s purse.

Parthiv Patel at the Opening ceremony:

In a colourful opening ceremony on Saturday evening, Test Cricketer Parthiv Patel formally inaugurated the event by making customary first move against Gujarat’s first Women International Master Dhyani Dave

Parthiv knows his chess 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3!

Gujarat State Chess Association Secretary Bhavesh Patel welcomes Parthiv Patel

Did you know, Parthiv debuted in the year 2002 against England at Trent Bridge at 17 years and 153 days to become Test Cricket's youngest wicketkeeper.

Round one begins from 13th of August at 3 p.m. Top nine players from the tournament qualify for the National Premier.

About the author:

Gopakumar became an A-grade International Arbiter during the FIDE Arbiter's Commission meeting. He is only the fifth Indian to achieve this feat. He was the chief arbiter at two 2600+ double round robin events, Asian Youth Chief Arbiter at South Korea, Deputy chief arbiter at Asian Youth and Asian Junior at New Delhi. He dedicates his success to the Air Force background that he comes from.