ALL INDIA CHESS GRAND PRIX GKCA 1ST ALL INDIA RAPID FIDE RATED CHESS TOURNAMENT – 2019

• December 31, 2019
• in Chess, Chess Spotlights, Flash News, Tournament News

ALL INDIA CHESS GRAND PRIX GKCA 1^ST ALL INDIA RAPID FIDE RATED CHESS TOURNAMENT – 2019

IM B T Muralikrishnan of Southern Railways won the All India Chess Grandprix GKCA 1^st All India Rapid FIDE Rated Chess Tournament – 2019 by scoring 7 points out of the possible 7 rounds. The tournament was held on 25^th December 2019 on the Christmas Day at Senthamarai College of Arts and Science, VRS Garden, Vadapalanji, Madurai.

The Prize fund of Rs.1,25,000/- was split into 20 main prizes, 47 special prizes in various categories. The winner gets Rs. 15000/- and a trophy. The event attracted 260 players from 3 states, 5 special units and various districts of Tamil Nadu out of which 147 players were internationally rated. Eight titled players including 2 Grandmasters – Deepan Chakkravathy and R R Laxman both from ICF, 3 International Masters – Saravana Krishnan of KVB, B T Muralikrishnan of Southern Railway and A Ra Harikrishna of Tamil Nadu, 3 FIDE Masters – Maheswaran of Postal, L R Srihari and M Pranesh from Tamil Nadu.

2^nd seeded GM Laxman held to a draw by 37^th Seeded T J Rathish of Tamil Nadu in the third round. In the fourth round FM Maheswaran held to a draw by FM Srihari and IM Harikrishnan drew with Dhanasekaran Suresh. Bunch of upsets in the fifth round resulting six share lead. Six players, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, IM Saravana Krishnan, IM B T Muralikrishnan, N Surendran, P Bala Kannamma, B S Aswin Kumar share the lead with 5 points. In the penultimate round, N Surendran of Viyugam Chess Academy won against the top seed GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of ICF creating the biggest upset of the tournament to join the lead with IM Saravana Krishnan and IM BT Muralikrishnan who won their games against Aswin Kumar and Balan Kannamma respectively. Final round the two IM’s were pitted against each other on the top board, IM Saravana Krishnan lost to IM BT Muralikrishnan defeated IM Saravana Krishnan to clinch the title with 7.0 points, where the other leader Surendran of Viyugam Chess Academy signed a peace treaty with IM A Ra Harikrishnan of Tamil Nadu and secured the second place with 6.5 points. SS Manigandan of Golden Knights Chess Academy had the better tie-break score out of the 10 players with 6 points and took the 3^rd place.

Prizes were distributed by Mrs. Parvathy, Directorate of Sciences and Mr. Nallamani, Chief Administrative Officer, Senthamarai College. Other guests were on the dais are Mr.BT Sethuraman, Secretary, MDCA and Mr.P.Pragadesh, Secretary, Ananthi Chess Academy. IA S Ganesh Babu, Secretary, GKCA delivered the vote of thanks.

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