T. S. Ravi of Indian Oil
Corporation became the 47th TamilNadu State Chess Champion after a final round draw with National Under 14 Champion
M. R. Venkatesh at Nehru Stadium, Chennai. Ravi emerged the clear victor scoing 8.5 points
from 10 rounds and was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 along with the glittering
Brahmiah Rolling Shield. The
Championship was held as a FIDE rated event and became the first ever State Championship
to be organised as an International rating event.The hosts Chennai District Chess
Association felt that since Tamil Nadu is the strongest Chess playing state in the country
with the most number of rated players and young talents, it was high time that the
prestigious Championship be organised as a rating tournament.
Like always, talents never failed to
respond. The very first round saw two eleven-year-olds, Bharathraj Kidambi and Naveen
Khanna, score upset victories over Veteran National players S. Jeyaprakash and V.
Kameswaran. And in the second round, young R. S. Prasanna vanquished fifth seed K.
Visweswaran when the latter over stepped the time limit.
Meanwhile the top seed of the
tournament, Sundararajan Kidambi was starting to  convince everyone
of his eminent championship victory. After seven rounds he was in the lead with 6.5
points, followed closely by T. S. Ravi and T. V. Karthikeyan. In the next round, which was
the game of the tournament, T. S. Ravi took the lead defeating Kidambi in a scintillating
battle. Ravi tried to surprise Kidambi in the opening but later proved to be well prepared
and took over the initiative. In the ensuing tense middle game, Kidambi missed some
chances and his advantage slipped away. Ravi, in spite of being in severe time pressure,
played accurately thereafter to clinch the issue.
In the last round T. S. Ravi opted for
a quick draw with Venkatesh to assure himself of the title. Karthikeyan displayed some
patient Chess and skillful manoeuvering to overwhelm his much experienced rival B. T.
Muralkrishnan of Southern Railways. Veteran K. Ranganathan reprenting the life members'
district proved that even in an era of 'Youth Domination', experience is bound to pay off.
With his clear cut last round victory, he made his way into the state team after a
gap of several years. The top four, apart from the seeded players, qualify for the National B championship to be held in
Mumbai in August.
The Championship was sponsored by Rotary Club of Ashok
Nagar and Co-Sponsored by United India Insurance. Rotarian Bhoja Shetty, gave away the
prizes while V. G. Subramaniam presided over the closing cermony function. |
