The 47th National Premier Chess Championship (formerly known as National A) organized by Venus Chess Academy under the auspices of the Bombay Chess Association and Maharashtra Chess Association on behalf of All India Chess Federation was held at the Goregaon Sports Club, Mumbai from 1st to 14th December 2009. It turned out to be the strongest ever National Premier championship played under Swiss system. Participation of 10 GMs and 20 IMs is an unprecedented one in the annals of the national championship.
A galaxy of world champions - World Under 16 champion S.P. Sethuraman of Tamil Nadu, former world under 16 champion B. Adhiban of Tamil Nadu, playing for PSPB, former world under 14 champion Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of the host Maharashtra, former world under 14 girls’ champion Padmini Rout of Orissa and former under 12 world champion Deep Sengupta of PSPB was the special feature of the tournament.
G.N. Gopal, the grandmaster from Kerala, representing Petroleum Sports Board was the top seed, followed by Abhijeet Gupta, world junior champion 2008. But, Adhiban (tenth seed). S.P. Sethuramn made mockery of the seeding by grabbing the
Swapnil Dhopade of the host Maharashtra Association started splendidly by holding the top seed Gopal in the very first round. S. Arun Prasad of PSPB and Jha led with 3.5 points each defeating their fourth round rivals Himanshu Sharma of Haryana and Sundarrajan Kidambi of PSPB respectively. Jha continued his fine run to outwit Abhjeet Gupta, whereas Arun Prasad was subdued by Gopal. Jha maintained the sole lead for one more round but lost to Adhiban in the seventh round, who joined him in the lead. Adhiban had an exemplary performance from fifth to ninth round defeating all the opponents who came in his way. Five consecutive wins in National Premier championship might have never been heard of. In the process, he secured his maiden GM norm also.
Adhiban drew his eleventh round game against Gopal. In the twelfth round, he capitalized on the mistakes of Abhijeet Gupta to play a bold and patient game to clinch victory from a slightly inferior position. His tally of 9.5 points fetched him the title in the penultimate round itself. Sethuraman overcame Sriram Jha in the twelfth round to stay in contention for one of the top slots. He missed his maiden GM norm in the final round, but had the consolation of securing the runner up spot. Sundarrajan Kidambi had a steady rise in the second half of the tournament to finish third. Vidit also missed his GM norm chances and obtained the fourth position. Jha lost his last round game to Abhijit Kunte to be ranked sixth behind Kunte. Adhiban earned one lakh rupees for his effort and Sethuraman received seventy five thousand rupees.
The tournament was well organized under the guidance of Mr. Ravindra Dongre, Vice President of AICF.
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