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Tournament Report – R. Anantharam, Chief Arbiter
The GVMC 32nd National A Women and 43rd
National A Chess Championships were inaugurated at Swarna
Bharathi Stadium, Visakhapatnam on 2nd April. The
strongest ever National A, with an average rating above
2440, a category 8 tournament started with 22 players,
including 6 GMs and 10 IMs. The women championship had 19
players, comprising one IM, 6 WGMs and 2 WIMs. Both
championships were held on a strenuous round robin basis,
probably for the last time in this format, with a time
control of 90 minutes for each player and an increment of
30 seconds per move.
Though Koneru Humpy was qualified to play in both
sections, she preferred the men category, as she is
already selected to represent the country in the Women
section. Tejas Bakre of Gujarat withdrew from the second
round, reducing the number of players to 21 in the open
section. Almost all the games were tough, exciting and
interesting. Especially, the penultimate round stunningly
twisted the course of the tournament, throwing the
championship wide open in the final round, leading to a
scintillating finish. Ultimately, S.S. Ganguly proved his
class, to finish on top, followed by Sandipan Chanda, who
inflicted a defeat on the hitherto leader Deepan
Chakkaravarthy. Though Ganguly, Chanda and D.P. Singh
scored 14 points, Ganguly is declared winner, based on the
tie-break system. A hat trick of titles to Ganguly and
Visakhapatnam seems to be a hunting place for him, as he
clinched the title here, last year also.
The women section was smooth, as Swathi Ghate of
Maharashtra took an early lead and continued to keep it
until the last to emerge victorious. Mary Ann Gomes
trailed her from the beginning and finished runner-up.
Harika of Andhra Pradesh finished third.
The championships had a norm galore, which was never
witnessed by the previous editions. Deepan Chakkaravarthy
of Tamil Nadu made a 18 game GM norm, M.R. Venakatesh of
BPCL gained a 15 game GM norm, D.P. Singh of Jharkahand
got a 20 game IM norm, Mary Ann Gomes secured a 14 game
WGM norm and Nimmy A. George obtained a game 12 game WIM
norm. Deepan due to his stupendous performance, crossed
the 2500 rating barrier during the middle of the
tournament, thereby confirming the GM title.
The championships were planned and executed well by All
Vizag District Chess Association and kudos to Sri. K.V.V.
Sarma and his efficient team for organising such a
wonderful tournament.
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GVMC 43rd
National A Chess Championship, Vizag. |
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Table/starting rank after round 21
men |
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SNo. |
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Name |
Rtg |
FED |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
Pts |
Koya |
Rank |
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1 |
|
Himanshu, Sharma |
2398 |
IND |
* |
1 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
- |
0 |
½ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
7 |
2 |
17 |
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2 |
GM |
Ganguly, Surya
Shekhar |
2578 |
IND |
0 |
* |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
- |
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
14 |
5 |
1 |
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3 |
IM |
Ravi, Lanka |
2423 |
IND |
½ |
½ |
* |
0 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
0 |
- |
1 |
½ |
0 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
15 |
|
4 |
IM |
Roy, Chowdhury, Saptarshi |
2376 |
IND |
½ |
½ |
1 |
* |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
½ |
- |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
11 |
4 |
8 |
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5 |
IM |
Arun Prasad, S. |
2384 |
IND |
1 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
* |
1 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
- |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
9 |
2½ |
11 |
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6 |
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Das, Arghyadip |
2399 |
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