5th SCS Fide Rated Chess Tournament, Sivakasi

• April 20, 2019
• in Chess, Chess Spotlights, Flash News, Tournament News

The fifth edition of the Sivakasi Chess Sparklers fide rated tournament was held at Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi from 14^th to 17^th April 2019. Four hundred and twenty one players from various states participated in the eight round Swiss format tournament, with a time control of 90 minutes each with an increment of 30 seconds from move 1. Former under 17 national champion international master P. Shyaamnikhil of ICF was the top seed of the tournament, followed by IM Harikrishann A Ra and IM BT Muralikrishnan of Southern Railway.

There were no major upsets up to the fourth round of the tournament. In the fifth round, Harikrishnan was beaten by B Selvamurugan of Madurai and BT Muralikrihnan was held to a draw by S Suganthan of Tirunelveli, bringing down the number of leaders to nine. Five players – Shyaamnikhil, N Lokesh of Hosur, FM P. Maheswaran of India Posts, J Saranya of Chennai and Selvamurugan scored six points in six rounds to lead the field.

Shyaamnikhil scored his seventh win of the tournament in the seventh round by beating the Sivakasi player Maheswaran representing India Posts. Selvamurugan exceeded the expectations by outwitting the experienced Lokesh to join Shyaam at the top, without conceding even half a point up to the end of the penultimate round. J Saranya had 6.5 points to her credit to be on the second spot. In the final round, Shyaamnikhil defeated Selvamurugan to clinch the title and collect a cash award of Rs.70000/-. Six players tied for the first place with seven points each. Expectedly, Selvamurugan won the second place and the third place was claimed by P Maheswaran. N Lokesh of Hosur and international arbiter S> Ganesh Babu were placed fourth and fifth respectively.

The tournament was inaugurated by Dr. S. Arivazhagan, Principal of MepcoSchlenk Engineering College and Mr. AMSG Ramamoorthy former Vice president of TNSCA distributed the prizes on the final day. As in the last year, players and parents enjoyed the tournament with good staying facilities in the hostel and sumptuous food at a nominal rate. Parents also had chess tournament for them and there was a talent show wherein all the participants exhibited their innate talents other than chess.

Final Ranking