Tamil Nadu State Chess Association

Sethuraman Wins Nord-West Cup In Bad Zwischenahn
National champion Grand Master S.P. Sethuraman of Chennai won the Nord-West Cup 2015 Open at Bad Zwischenahn in Germany on January 25, 2015. In the 189-player event, he tied for first place on six points and had the higher tie-break to win the title. He was the top seed. Ninth seed Shyam Sundar of Chennai finished seventh and seventh seed Lalith Babu of Vijayawada finished ninth half a point behind on 5.5 points. Sethuraman was India’s highest performer in the Tromso Olympiad 2014 in which India won its maiden medal – bronze. Sethuraman is employed with ONGC, India’s largest profit making Government owned company. Bad Zwischenahn is between Groningen (Netherlands) and Hamburg (Germany) in north west Germany. The event had a prize fund of Euro 5,000 of which Sethuraman’s share was Euro 1000. This event ran from January 22-25, 2015. Final placings: 1-2. GM S.P. Sethuraman, GM Alexandre Danin 6/7 each; 3-15. GM V Epishin, IM M Blubaum, IM N Meskows, IM J Van Foreest, GM M Shyam Sundar, GM M.R. Lalith Babu, GM Lev Gutman, GM Vitaky Kunin, IM Nikolas Lubbe, IM Jonathan Carlstedt, Ferenc Langheinrich, Dmitry Kollars, Daniel Margraf 5.5 each…189 players.

Popov Ivan wins 7th Chennai International Open title
Top seed Grandmaster Popov Ivan of Russia with 7.5 points and a superior tie-break clinched the title in the 7th Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament at Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today. For the first time in the history of Chennai Open, there was an eight way tie. Sharing the top spot with Popov were Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Ramnath Bhuvanesh R, Swapnil S Dhopade, Ravichandran Siddharth (all India), Gasanov Eldar (Ukraine), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam), all at 7.5 points. Champion Popov Ivan (Russia) was awarded the cash purse of Rs. 200000 (Rupees Two Lakhs only), while Runner-up second placed Uzbek GM Dzhumaev Marat got Rs 150000 (Rupees One lakh fifty thousand only). Third placed GM Mozharov Mikhail (Russia) secured a cash award of Rs. 115000 (Rupees one lakh fifteen thousand only).

Dheekshith Kumar wins Chennai International Open "C" Chess Tournament. title
With a high score of 8.5 points from nine rounds R Dheekshith Kuimar won the title in the Chennai International Open "C" (Under 1600) Chess Tournament at Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today. Dheekshith shed a single draw and won the other eight games to finish ahead of the pack. The title win fetched Dheekshith a cash award of Rs 25000 (Rupees twenty five thousand only). Vignesh Kasi PL took the runner up spot with 8.0 points, along with a cash award of Rs 15000 (Rupees fifteen thousand only). 386 players participated in this nine round Swiss tournament run parallel to the Chennai International Open Grandmaster tournament.

GM Norm for Ramnath Bhuvanesh, seven share lead
International Master Ramnath Bhuvanesh (7.0) held fellow Indian International Master Swapnil Dhopade to a draw in the ninth round, securing his second Grandmaster Norm in the 7th Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament at Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today. Ramnath Bhuvanesh with 7.0 points now shares the lead with six other players viz., Popov Ivan (Russia), Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Swapnil S Dhopade (India), Gasanov Eldar (Ukraine) and Ravichandran Siddharth (India). Trailing the leaders by half a point at 6.5 points were Cruz Cristhian (Peru), Brunello Sabino (Italy), Baryshpolets Andrey (Ukraine), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam), Karthikeyan Murali, Das Sayantan, Prasanna Raghuram Rao, Visakh N R (all India). Needing a draw for a Grandmaster Norm, Ramnath Bhuvanesh, got just that, in the nick of the time. For, the second board Trompovsky game went to the wire, when both the players were down to last three minutes. But, Ramnath held his nerve pushing Swapnil to repeat the moves, splitting the point after 33 moves. Ramnath adds this second GM Norm to the first one he achieved in Abu Dhabi last year. The crucial final round deciding the top prizes is scheduled for 10am tomorrow. Please find attached the invitation for the prize distribution function scheduled at 4 PM tomorrow.

Popov beats Swapnil, five share lead
Top seed Grandmaster Popov Ivan (Russia) stopped tournament leader Swapnil Dhopade (India) and moved into shared lead at 6.5 points after the eighth round of the 7th Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament at Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today. Sharing the lead with Popov were the quartet viz., Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Swapnil S Dhopade, Ramnath Bhuvanesh R (both India), all at 6.5 points.