Shyam Nikhil Wins Rs.70,000
By Arvind Aaron
 

Teenaged Shyam P Nikhil of Madurai won the 6th Pink City Open that took place at the Jaipur Club in Jaipur from Jan 24-31. He had the best tie-break score after three players tied for the first place with 9/11. K.Ratnakaran of Southern Railway, Kozhikode finished second and Roktim Bandyopadhyay of Kolkata took the third place.

The undefeated leader until the penultimate round, Sriram Jha of LIC, Delhi was tripped to defeat by Ratnakaran in the final round. This unexpected result opened up these possibilities and Shyam emerged champion picking up the trophy and Rs.70,000 cash. Over 251 players played in the three lakh prize money FIDE rating event.

On course to the title, Shyam beat Suvrajit Saha of Eastern Railway, Kolkata and Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury. He had lost to Saptarshi Roy. To win ahead of 10 IMs and 11 other high rated players is quite an achievement. Another Madurai teenager K.Priyadharshan (7.5) also impressed with wins over D.P.Singh and others.

If Dustageer Ibrahim was the find of 2006 for beating D.P.Singh and winning the SPIC FIDE Rated Open, at Tuticorin it looks like another Madurai player is already out there to be the find of 2007. One is certain to read more about Shyam Nikhil.

The opening ceremony saw Member of Parliament, Girdhari Lal Bhargava, President of the Jaipur District Chess Association and A.K.Mittal, General Manager, GAIL as the chief guest. The chief guest in the closing ceremony was Jaipur Mayor Ashok Parnami. Also present were Meenakshi Mishra, Accountant General, Rajasthan and D.V.Sundar, Hon Secretary, AICF.

Final placings: 1-3 Shyam P Nikhil, K.Ratnakaran, Roktim Bandyopadhyay 9/11, 4-6 Saptarshi Roy, Sriram Jha, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury 8.5 each, 7-15 Arghyadip Das, Rahul Sangma, Rahul Shetty, Akshat Kamparia, Laisram Imoc-ha, Suvrajit Saha, Sohel Chowdhury (Ban), R.Balasubramaniam, Somak Palit 8 each.... record 251 players.

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Published on : 07th Feb, 2007