T V Arunachalam Shivaa of Coimbatore won the KKCA 1st FIDE Rated Open Chess Tournament with a score of 7.0 points from 8 rounds. Around 260 entries mostly from Southern States have participated in this event. A prize pool of Rs.3 lakh has been allotted for main prizes and various ELO categories. 60+ plus trophies were given to encourage young talents also.
Phoobalan of ICF was the top seed followed by S S Manigandan of Madurai and A Muthuswamy of Salzer Electronics Ltd, Coimbatore. When Phoobalan lost to Shreyas of Coimbatore in the 5th round the race for the standing became wide open. Shreyas drew with Manigandan in the 6th round, meanwhile Arunachalam Shivaa outplayed Mohith to take the sole lead with 5.5 points.
A win in the 7th round against Shreyas and safe draw in the 8th final round against Vigneshwaran S made Arunachalam Shivaa, champion of the event. In a eight way tie in 6.5 points Phoobalan finished runner up on better tie break scores followed by S S Manigandan on third spot. The prizes were distributed by Mr. N Jayabal, President, CDCA, Owners of the Venue and Office bearers of Kovai Kids Chess Academy.