National U-11: Manish Anto surprise winner
The Suresh Agrawal Memorial 30th National Under-11 Chess Championships took place at Raipur, Chattisgarh. Around 220 youngsters from across the country in the tournament. The medal winners in this event secure a place in the Asian and World championship in the under-12 category. The Open tourney was surprisingly won by the seventeenth seed Manish Anto Cristiano of Tamil Nadu. The Girl's section was ýet-another-national-title' for Divya Deshmukh. An illustrated report.
National U-11: Manish Anto surprise winner
The Suresh Agrawal Memorial 30th National Under-11 Chess Championships took place at Shri Ramswaroop Niranjanlal Dharamshala in VIP Road in Raipur. Around 220 youngsters from across the country in the tournament. The medal winners in this event secure a place in the Asian and World championship in the under-12 category.
Open Category:
The tournament was expected to be a race between the top three seeds — Raunak Sadhwani (2084), Gukesh D. (2056), and Bharath S. (1896). Only Bharath managed to finish in the top-10!
The first place went to Tamil Nadu's Manish Anto Cristiano, who started the tournament as the seventeenth seed. He was, in fact, tied for the first place with state-mate Pranesh M. (1746), but took the gold in the tie-break.
In the penultimate round, he played a beautiful game with the black pieces after his opponent recklessly moved his kingside pawns.
[Site "SHRI RAMSWAROOP NIRANJANLAL D"]
[Date "2016.07.05"]
[Round "10.4"]
[White "Aaryan, Varshney"]
[Black "Manish, Anto Cristiano F"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1681"]
[BlackElo "1668"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2016.06.28"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
O-O f6 9. h3 Bh5 10. a3 Ba5 11. g4 Bf7 12. b4 Bb6 13. b5 Na5 14. Nh4 O-O 15. f4
Nc4 16. Bxc4 dxc4 17. Nf3 Nd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. c3 c6 20. bxc6 Bxc6 21. Qd2 Bc7
22. Rae1 Re8 23. Qb2 Qd5 24. Qc1 Re7 25. Bd2 Rae8 26. Rxe7 Rxe7 27. Qd1 b5 28.
Kf2 Re4 29. Qc1 g5 30. fxg5 Rxg4 31. Ke1 Qe4+ 32. Kd1 Qd3 33. Nh2 Bxh2 0-1
In the final round, Manish, with the white pieces, benefited from a faulty maneuver by his opponent.
[Site "SHRI RAMSWAROOP NIRANJANLAL D"]
[Date "2016.07.06"]
[Round "11.1"]
[White "Manish, Anto Cristiano F"]
[Black "Sreeshwan, Maralakshikari"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B99"]
[WhiteElo "1668"]
[BlackElo "1850"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1k2r/4bppp/pq2p3/6P1/1p1NQP1P/8/PPP5/1KR4R b k - 0 22"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[EventDate "2016.06.28"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
Nxf5 Bc5 27. Qe5 f6 28. gxf6 Rxf6 29. Rd8+ Bf8 30. Ne7+ Rxe7 31. Qxe7 $18 1-0
Final Standings:
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 17 | Manish Anto Cristiano F | IND | 1668 | TN | 9,0 | 0,5 | 8,0 | 72,5 | 77,0 | 61,50 | |
| 2 | 10 | Pranesh M | IND | 1746 | TN | 9,0 | 0,5 | 8,0 | 72,5 | 77,0 | 60,25 | |
| 3 | 9 | Rohith Krishna S | IND | 1761 | TN | 8,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 71,5 | 76,5 | 55,00 | |
| 4 | 4 | Pranav V | IND | 1857 | TN | 8,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 67,5 | 72,0 | 53,50 | |
| 5 | 5 | Sreeshwan Maralakshikari | IND | 1850 | TEL | 8,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 78,0 | 84,0 | 62,75 | |
| 6 | 21 | Mahitosh Dey | IND | 1658 | ODI | 8,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 71,0 | 76,5 | 56,75 | |
| 7 | 8 | Srihari L R | IND | 1765 | TN | 8,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 67,5 | 72,0 | 48,50 | |
| 8 | 38 | Harshit Ranjan Sahu | IND | 1433 | ODI | 8,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 67,0 | 71,0 | 48,50 | |
| 9 | 3 | CM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | IND | 1896 | TN | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 75,5 | 80,5 | 56,25 |
| 10 | 18 | Samip Roy | IND | 1664 | WB | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 67,0 | 72,0 | 50,25 |
Check the complete standings here.
Girls' Category:
That Divya Deshmukh of Maharastra won the tournament is no surprise. A veteran of age-group tournaments, winning a medal in almost every event she has bothered to play in, it was not a question of winning, but the margin with which she would win. This time, she lost a point, but nevertheless, wrapped up with 10.0/11.
Final Standings:
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 1 | WFM | Divya Deshmukh | IND | 1908 | MAH | 10,0 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 72,5 | 78,0 | 70,50 |
| 2 | 2 | Rakshitta Ravi | IND | 1716 | TN | 9,0 | 0,0 | 9,0 | 75,5 | 81,0 | 63,00 | |
| 3 | 3 | Bhagyashree Patil | IND | 1547 | MAH | 8,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 72,0 | 77,5 | 51,00 | |
| 4 | 11 | Kriti Mayur Patel | IND | 1379 | MAH | 8,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 63,5 | 68,0 | 46,00 | |
| 5 | 5 | Dhyana Patel | IND | 1446 | GUJ | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 72,0 | 77,5 | 52,75 |
Check the complete standings here.