11th KIIT International Chess Festival 2018, 3rd Kolkata Open International
Bhubaneshwar Grandmasters Tournament, Kolkata
AICF CHRONICLE
1
JUNE 2018
had no problem in beating Swapnil to tie for the first place with 9.5 points each. As Lalith 3rd Kolkata Open International Grandmasters Tournament, Kolkata
had beaten Aravindh, the direct encounter tie break helped Lalith Babu to become the na-
tional Rapid champion, in addition to the National Premier he won about five months back.
Blitz
RR Laxman of Railways had the highest rating of 2550 in the Blitz section and two more
players Lalith Babu and Aravindh Chithambaram had a rating of 2543 and 2519 respectively.
GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways was shocked by SuyogWagh of Maharashtra and fourth
seeded Rathnakaran also of Railways was beaten by Virender Singh Negi of Delhi. Lalith
Babu was held to a draw by IM Abhishek Kelkar of Maharashtra in third round.
At the end of the fifth round, three players Aravindh Chithambaram, Erigaisi Arjun of Tel-
angana and Dinesh Sharma were leading with 5 points each. Arjun defeated his co-leader
Dinesh and emerged on top, as LalithBabu had a win over the other leader Aravindh. The
top seed was again held to a draw by IM Abhishek Kelkar in the sixth round, Lalith pre-
vailed over Arjun in the seventh round and five other players registered wins to reach six
points, half point behind Lalith. Arjun and Dinesh again joined Lalith in the lead by beating
Rathnakaran and Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana, as Lalith conceded a draw to Laxman
in the eighth round. What Dinesh missed in the Rapid event, he accomplished in the Blitz
(left to right ) Mr.Bharat Singh Chauhan, Eminent Hockey player Mr.Gurbux Singh, Winner
– beating Lalith Babu in the ninth round and took the lead with eight points. Aravindh and
GM Narayan Srinath receiving trophy from Mr. Dinesh Bhagat (Zonal Manager, Eastern zone,
Arjun raised their tally to 7.5 points, breathing close to Dinesh. Dinesh was in fine fettle to LIC), Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Mr.Prabhakar from Hotel Novotel and Ms.Shatabdi
shock Aravindh also to continue his dominance and Arjun was on 8.5 points, half a point Bhattacharya, Principal New Town School.
behind Dinesh. Dinesh Sharma had a safe draw in the final round to win a national champi-
onship after 18 years. Lalith Babu and Arjun tied with 9 points each and Lalith had a better Kasparov below 1600 Fide Rated Chess Tournament, Thrissur
tiebreak ti be declared runner up.
Sri.Jayesh Modi, President of Karnavati Club which hosted the World Under 16 Olympiad in
December inaugurated the championship. Sri. Ajay Patel, President of Gujarat State Chess
Association and Chairman of GSC Bank which has been a regular venue for many national
events, distributed the prizes in the presence of Sri. Jayesh Modi.
The much awaited KIIT International Chess Visal R. All the other players had a smooth
Festival 2018 was organized once again in sailing winning their first round games. At
grandeur by All Odisha Chess Association. the end of 4 rounds, Rozum Ivan lead the
Over the years, this event which was spon- category table with 4 out of 4 points. Sharing
sored by KIIT, has become an important the position with him was GM Laxman R R, IM
event in both the Indian and International Karthik Venkataraman and Candidate Mas-
calendars, where some of the top Grand- ter Gukesh D respectively. All three of them
masters from India as well as other countries where from India. The advent of the sixth
participate. round saw a plethora of players in the lead-
ing position with 4.5 points. Chennai Open
The opening ceremony got underway at the 2018 Champion GM Laxman R R snatched
KIIT International Chess Hall on May 25,2018 his half point against higher rated third seed
at 9 a.m. where Professor Hrushikesha Mo- GM Rozum Ivan of Russia in the top board.
(Second from left) A.F.Rex, Secretary, KDCA, IA&FI S.Paul Arokiaraj, Chief Arbiter Avinash Ramesh hanty, Vice-Chancellor, KIIT University inau- Sharing the lead with Laxman and Rozum
(U17 Open Winner) Dr.S.Sella Durai, Director of Sports, Anna University, Jyothsna L (U17 Girls gurated the event by making the first move. were Deviatkin Andrei( Russia), Amonatov
Winner), Dr.T.V.S Pillai, Dean, University college of Engineering, Mr.A.Kulathooran Pillai, President Also present on the dias, were IM Sekhar Farrukh (Tajikistan), Debasish Das, Diptayan
KDCA, M.Ephrame, Joint Secretary, TNSCA Ghosh, Karthik Venkataraman, Sayantan Das
Sahoo ,Vice-President of AICF, President
of AOCA; K.K.Sharma, secretary of AOCA and Gukesh D ( all from India). Top seed GM
and Chief Arbiter Debasish Barua. At the Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine) remained half a
SBI All India FIDE Rated for visually challenged, Hyderabad point behind the leaders at 4 points. The 6th
colourful opening ceremony, Professor Hru-
shikesha Mohanty welcomed all participants round ended with GM Rozum Ivan of Russia
and expressed hope that they would have a and Diptayan Ghosh of India sharing the
memorable stay in Bhubaneswar. lead with 5.5 points. Half a point behind the
leaders at 5.0 points were 13 players includ-
The tournament was divided into 3 catego- ing top seed Kravtsiv Martyn, Adam Tukhaev
ries- Category A (with FIDE rating 2000 and (both Ukraine), Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam),
above) had a prize money of 12lakhs, Cat- Amonatov Farrukh (Tajikistan) and local
egory B (with FIDE rating 1900 and below) star Debashis Das among others. Top seed-
and Category C (with FIDE rating 1600 and ed Grandmaster Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine)
below) had a prize money of 5 lakhs each. joined the leader-board at 6.0 points after the
Category A:- seventh round . Kravtsiv, playing with black
The category had a total player of 293 from pieces, scored over Bangladesh GM Ziaur
13 countries among which 19 grandmas- Rahman in the second board. The top board
ters,23 International masters were compet- game between leaders Rozum Ivan (Russia)
ing for the title. In the first round, Sradhanjali and Diptayan Ghosh (India) ended in a draw.
Jena from Odisha held Russian grandmaster
Vladimir Burmakin to a draw. GM Farrukh Sharing the lead with Kravtsiv Martyn at 6.0
(L-R) S Manikandan General Manager SBI, B Venkatesham IAS Secretary Telangana State, Amonatov of Tajikistan also shed half a point points were Rozum Ivan (Russia), Diptayan
Marimuthu K (Winner), Dr. A. Saibaba Goud, Shri Deepak Bhattacharya, in the second board against Indian junior Sibi Ghosh, Debashis Das and Karthik Venkata-
4
AICF CHRONICLE
5
JUNE 2018
raman (all India) respectively. Top seeded Vijay Shreeram P emerged the champion with Final Ranking: Category A 44 Aaryan Varshney 6.5
Grandmaster Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine) and 9 points and was awarded with Rs. 60,000 Rk. title Name Pts 45 GM Manik Mikulas 6.5
International Master Karthik Venkataraman and a trophy. Prashant Katiyar and Mushini 1 IM Karthik Venkataraman 9 46 IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy 6.5
(India) shared the lead with 7.0 points after Ajay both scored 8 and half points. The for- 2 GM Rozum Ivan 8 47 FM Rahman Md. Taibur 6.5
the eighth round .Kravtsiv, playing with white mer bagged the second position by better tie 3 GM Amonatov Farrukh 8 48 Shelke Sankarsha 6.5
pieces, stunned GM Rozum Ivan (Russia) in and received Rs. 45,000 and a trophy and 4 GM Kravtsiv Martyn 8 49 WCM Mrudul Dehankar 6.5
a Caro Kann game that lasted 26 moves. the latter in the third position received Rs. 5 GM Ghosh Diptayan 7.5 50 Senthil Maran K 6.5
Sharing the lead with Kravtsiv Martyn at 35,000 along with a trophy. 6 GM Tran Tuan Minh 7.5 51 Manish Anto Cristiano F 6.5
7.0 points was International Master Karthik 7 GM Debashis Das 7.5 52 FM Rajdeep Sarkar 6
8 GM Laxman R.R 7.5 53 IM Das Sayantan 6
Venkataraman (India) who accounted for Category C-
9 IM Nitin S 7.5 54 IM Akash Pc Iyer 6
Grandmaster Tukhaev Adam (Ukraine) in the Total participants in this category was 503
10 GM Mozharov Mikhail 7.5 55 IM Ravi Teja S. 6
third board. from 2 different countries. The tournament
11 GM Deviatkin Andrei 7.5 56 Pranav V 6
was in 9 rounds under the Swiss League.
12 IM Khusenkhojaev Md 7.5 57 FM Rathanvel V S 6
In the crucial final round, Karthik showed Sai Raj Gopal K was the champion with 9
13 GM Neelotpal Das 7.5 58 Sahoo Utkal Ranjan 6
greater nerves to overcome the sturdy Vi- points and Rs. 50,000 and a trophy as prize.
14 IM Nguyen Van Huy 7.5 59 IM Raghunandan K S 6
etnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh in a Grunfeld Murarilal Kori, Sham R, Soumen Mondal all 15 Ram S. Krishnan 7.5 60 IM Tran Minh Thang 6
game that lasted 38 moves. Facing five scored 8 points. But in the better tie, Murarilal 16 IM Viani Antonio Dcunha 7 61 FM Vinoth Kumar M. 6
Grandmasters in the last five rounds, Karthik Kori came second and received Rs. 40,000 17 GM Sandipan Chanda 7 62 CM Aditya Mittal 6
came up with a whopping 4.5/5 in the home with a trophy. Sham R, in the third position, 18 GM Rahman Ziaur 7 63 Sri Sai Baswanth P 6
run, that put him a clear point ahead of cel- received Rs. 30,000 and a trophy while Sou- 19 IM Visakh N R 7 64 Nayak Rajesh 6
ebrated rest. Karthik receives the winner's men Mondal in the foruth position received 20 Dixit Nikhil 7 65 FM Ramakrishna J. 6
cheque of Rupees Two lakhs out of total prize Rs. 21,000 only. 21 GM Burmakin Vladimir 7 66 Das Susobhit 6
money of Rupees 12 lakhs. 22 GM Tukhaev Adam 7 67 IM Hegde Ravi Gopal 6
The prize distribution ceremony was held on 23 IM Sidhant Mohapatra 7 68 Panda Sambit 6
Grandmaster R R Laxman winning the Chen- June 1, 2018 at 4.30 p.m. where Dr Achuta 24 Koustav Chatterjee 7 69 Sreeshwan M 6
nai Open 2018 set the trend, as GM Srinath Samanta , founder KIIT and KISS was the 25 FM Mitrabha Guha 7 70 Mahindrakar Indrajeet 6
Narayanan followed it up clinching the Kolk- Chief Guest. Also present were IM Sekhar 26 GM Neverov Valeriy 7 71 Rajarshi Dutta 6
ata Open 2018, with Karthik Venkataraman Sahoo , President of AOCA and Vice-President 27 IM Iniyan P 7 72 Dileep Kumar R 6
completing the hat-trick of GM tournament of AICF, Shri Abdul Ghani, Greenman Of India 28 GM Ziatdinov Raset 7 73 Kumar Gaurav 6
wins for Indians at KIIT Chess Festival, Bhu- and Shri Debasish Barua, Chief Arbiter. 29 WFM Divya Deshmukh 7 74 Baivab Mishra 6
baneswar.Sharing the second spot with 8.0 Dr Achuta Samanta , founder KIIT and KISS 30 WFM Varshini V 6.5 75 Barath Kalyan M 6
points were GMs Rozum Ivan (Russia),Amon- and the visionary behind this mega event 31 IM Rathnakaran K. 6.5 76 CM Gukesh D 5.5
atovFarrukh (Tajikistan) and top seed Kravt- lauded the efforts of AOCA and it's team led 32 Wagh Suyog 6.5 77 Saurabh Anand 5.5
siv Martyn (Ukraine) in that order. Further by IM Sekhar Sahoo . And Mr. K.K.Sharma 33 CM Aronyak Ghosh 6.5 78 Navalgund Niranjan 5.5
underlining the success of this tournament, proposed the vote of thanks. 34 Surendran N 6.5 79 IM Shyaamnikhil P 5.5
is the achievement of two more Norms viz., 35 Raahul V S 6.5 80 CM Mendonca Leon Luke 5.5
36 Patil Pratik 6.5 81 Srikrishnan P 5.5
WGM Norm for Varshini V and WIM Norm for The players and the guardians were all
37 Kaustuv Kundu 6.5 82 Jayakumaar S 5.5
Arpita Mukherjee. pleased with the excellent boarding, air-con-
38 AGM Srihari L R 6.5 83 Utsab Chatterjee 5.5
ditioned lodging arrangements, and delicious
39 GM Pruijssers Roeland 6.5 84 Nagare Akhilesh 5.5
Category B- food provided by KIIT. The tournament was
40 Sammed Jaykumar Shete 6.5 85 CM Rohith Krishna S 5.5
Total number of participants was 477 and held in two A/c halls where tea and drinking
41 Ashutosh Kumar 6.5 86 WFM Salonika Saina 5.5
players from 2 different countries was seen. It water was made available to all.
42 WFM Arpita Mukherjee 6.5 87 WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 5.5
was in 10 rounds following the Swiss League. 43 Gaurav Rajesh Zagade 6.5 88 Pruthu Deshpande 5.5
S Vikramjit Singh of South Central Railway Chamundeshwari Nath, Vice President Tel-
won the Malka Lakshmi Memorial All India angana Batminton Association, Pujya Mada-
Fide Rating Chess Tournament Organized by van Ji, Founder Aware Group, M Komaraiah,
Pallavi Chess Academy and held at Pallavi Sponsor of the event and Chairman Pallavi
International School, Gandipeta Campus, & DPS Group of Schools, Mrs.Arogya, Prin-
Hyderabad from 10th to 14th May, 2018.In cipal,Pallavi Int School,Gandipet, Major
the final round he defeated M Vinodh Kumar K A Siva Prasad, Vice President,TSCA; K
of Tamil Nadu. Vikrakmjit got 8 points from S Prasad, Secretary,TSCA gave away the
9 rounds. V Varun , J Sai Agni Jeevitesh, cash awards and trophies.The chief arbiter
J Ramakrishna all got 7.5points each and is FA S Subba Raju and deputies are FA K A
placed 2nd to 4th in that order by tie break Shiva Prasad and FA Vijay Kumar Agarwal Velammal school team has won Gold Medal at the 49th edition of Russian scholastic chess
score.The winner got Rs. 50,000/- ; 2nd and NA Sampath B. team event “Belaya Ladya” in Sochi on Friday. The Indian team comprising – D Gukesh
placed Rs. 30,000/- and 3rd placed received Final anking (Captain), Leon Mendonca, Rakshitta Ravi and Savitha Shri defeated all their rivals in 9
Rs. 20,000/- Total Rs. 4,05,000/- amount Rk title Name Pts rounds to score 33.5 points.
is distributed among 55 winners. 1 Singh S. Vikramjit 8
2 Varun V 7½ This year, 100 teams – 79 Russian from 78 regions of Russia and also from Armenia,
The event attracted 174 participants 3 FM Sai Agni Jeevitesh J 7½ Belarus, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Ka-
(including 114 Fide Rated ) Telangana, 4 FM Ramakrishna J. 7½ zakhstan, Kenia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldavia, Mongolia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, 5 Saranya Y 7 Sweden, and Turkmenistan were taking part in the competition.
Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajastan and Harya- 6 Bharat Kumar Reddy P 7
The winners are entitled to participate in the Aeroflot Open 2019.
na States and a few from S C Railway and 7 Nanditha V 7
Andhra Bank. 8 Ravi Kumar K 7
Final standings:1 India 33.5;2 Sverdlovsk region 25.5;3 St. Petersburg 24.0
9 Mushini Ajay 6½
4 Armenia 22.5; 5 The Republic of Buryatia 22.5
The tournament was inaugurated by lighting 10 Vijay Anand M. 6½
of the lamp by Sri G. Vivekanand, Adviser 11 Sai Krishna S. 6½
Altibox Norway Chess Blitz
to Govt. of Telangana and Sri M. Komari- 12 Karthik Rajaa 6½
ah, Chairman Pallavi Group of Schools. Sri 13 FM Vinoth Kumar M. 6½ Anand tied for second place
Srikanth, Director Operations, Mrs. Aro- 14 Khan S 6½ The 6th edition of Altibox Norway Chess kicked off with
gya, Prinicipal, Pallavi Int School and Sri 15 Dave Kantilal 6½ traditional Blitz Opener . GM Wesley So (U.S.A) emerged
K S Prasad, Secretary,TSCA also present. 16 Amitpal Singh 6½ as winner with impressive 6.0/9 points. Whereas, GM
Sri G Vivekananda, Adviser Government of 17 Madkar Atharva 6 Hikaru Nakamura (U.S.A) and GM Viswanathan Anand tied
Telangana State and President-Hyderabad 18 Leeladhar Kachroo 6 for second place at 5.5/9 points respectively.
Cricket Association made first move against 19 Hemanth Sankar Reddy 6
Sri Malka Komaraiah, Chairman, Pallavi 20 Seshu P.V.V. 6 Final standings:1,GM Wesley So 6/9;2.GM Hikaru Naka-
Group of Schools 21 Rohith Yadav B R 6 mura 5.5/9;3.GM Viswanathan Anand 5.5/9;4.GM Magnus
22 Senthil Kumaran T.H. 6 Carlsen 5/9;5.GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 4.5/9;6.GM
In the prize distribution ceremony Chief 23 Anil M 6 Maxime Vachier Lagrave 4.5/9;7.GM Fabiano Caruana
Guest Sri Venkateswara Reddy Chairman, 24 Sai Raj Gopal K 6 4.5/9;8.GM Sergey Karjakin 3.5/9;9.GM Levon Aronian
Sports Authority of Telangana State , Sri 25 Anurag Kuruvada 6 3/9;10.GM Ding Liren 3/9
Cont.on p.26 23
AICF CHRONICLE
22
JUNE 2018
Nasir Ali (1934-2018) At the 1982 Bhilwara Tournament in Delhi he drew with Soviet GM Mark Taimanov and
A tribute by IM Manuel Aaron
English IM William Hartston. He played on 4th Board for India at the 1983 Asian Team
Syed Nasir Ali, born 26 June 1934, died 29 May Championship in Delhi where India was third behind China and the Philippines.
2018 in Kanpur, was one of the greatest Indian
chess players from the second half of the 20th Cen- He played a lot of International Chess in 1983, in the British Championship in Southport,
tury.He and I were contemporaries and considered The Benedictine Open in Manchester and the Lloyds Bank Open in London - in all of
the leaders of Indian chess for about 25 years. which he had creditable victories. In the British Championship he drew GM Ian Rogers
He was a year and a half older than me. Both of and beat IM Paul Littlewood. In the Lloyds Bank Open he fought back and drew a losing
us were loners without close friends among chess rook endgame against GM Raymond Keene.
players and over the board we were fierce rivals.
Nasir’s early chess life was based on chess played
with Indian rules as most of the best players of Why Nasir did not become an IM
Kanpur in the 1950s played chess only with Indian I think that the main reason he did not rise still higher in the chess world was his incli-
Rules. Nasir was moulded by fellow Kanpur master, Ramdas Gupta (1917-1985), who nation to accept any sacrifice that was offered, knowing fully well that it was dangerous.
represented India at the 1956 Moscow Olympiad and became National Champion in 1957 He had a supreme belief in his ability to safely digest any sacrifice and emerge winner.
in Poona. Ramdas himself had been taught the important aspects of the game by an He also seemed to lack ambition. He was content with what he had achieved and never
even older Kanpur resident, Munshi Abdul Aziz, who emigrated to Pakistan. thought of getting the IM title which was his, if he had only tried. Opportunities did not
come his way and he did not clamour for them as did his contemporaries from Mahar-
In 1967 the format of our National Championship was changed from one large Swiss to ashtra and Tamil Nadu.
a Swiss qualifier, known as the National “B” and then a Round Robin final known as the
National “A”. Nasir Ali had the distinction of winning both the very first National “B” and Another possible reason could be that the U.P. Chess administration during Nasir’s heydays
its “A” in Poona, 1967. This feat of winning both the qualifier “B” and the final “A” in the was not really progressive and did not have a dream for the future of U.P. Chess. They
same year was only repeated in Tripura, 1982, by Dibyendu Barua. should have had a vision for Nasir’s future, just as S.K.Narasimhan (1918-1982) who
was AICF Secretary during 1958-62 had a vision for the top players of those times. In
Nasir Ali played in all the National Championships from Bombay 1963 (where he was the formative years of the AICF, Narasimhan pioneered, under great handicaps, National
4th) till Ahmedabad 1984. His last National “A” appearance in 1984 happened to be the Individual and Team Championships besides the National Students’ Championships (which
first National “A” appearance of V.Anand who finished 4th. has been replaced by the current National Junior) and organized the Zonal Tournament
which gave me the opportunity to become India’s first IM in 1961.
After his 1967 victory in the Nationals, Nasir’s best was second place, behind me, in the
National “A” at Bangalore (1969) and Rourkela, 1975, though he almost always finished Unfortunately for Nasir, at his peak the Uttar Pradesh Chess Association (UPCA) Sec-
in the prize list. retary was a fellow National “A” player, Kamal Kant Shukla (1922-2000) who was also
Vice President and Treasurer of the AICF for some time. A good friend of mine, Shuk-
A prolific prize winner at Open Tournaments all over the country, he was first at the laji was also from Kanpur and organized both the 1982 National “B” and “A” in Kanpur.
S.P.Singh Memorial Open in Jalandhar, with Indian chess rules in 1965, and with Inter- Shuklaji who represented India at the 1962 Tel Aviv Olympiad was a true chess lover
national rules in 1973. He was first at the Punjab State Open with native Indian Rules and an endgame artist. I feel that he was more interested in playing top level chess (he
in Jalandhar, 1970.Nasir beat me in the Final of the Emesor Chess Challenge Invitation played seven times in the National Championship Finals of 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965,
in Madras 1971 which was an 8-game Match. Remarkably, he won the Sri Mappillai 1967, 1969 and 1974) and in remaining the President of the UPCA for Life (!) than in
Vinayagar Open in Madurai three times, in 1977, 1978 and 1986. His other significant trying to advance the prospects of his star player, Nasir Ali and other talents. And Nasir
tournament victories were, the All India Open in Vijayawada, 1972, the 1st Bhilwara never grumbled, never complained. Unlike me and other top players in our youth, he
Tournament in Delhi, 1974, the Kidsons Trophy in Calicut, 1975, the Northern States never rebelled.
Quadrangular Open, Jalandhar, 1980, the Piloo Mody Open in Kanpur, 1980 and the Sometimes in tense moments, Nasir had a unique way of making a move. He would
Pundit T.N.Mishra Memorial, in Gorakhpur 2004. hoist his piece, about a foot over the board, pause for several seconds (maybe 20 to 30
seconds) and then lower the piece down in slow motion! But as it neared the destination
24 25
Cont.from p.22
square he quickened the motion of the piece but always landed it softly, without a bang. 26 Velpula Sarayu 6 69 Chaitanya V. 5
Om Prakash Kakra, a family friend of Nasir for 50 years from Kanpur, says Nasir Ali was 27 Unnikrishnan M A 6 70 Himesh Empally 5
always ready to give his great chess knowledge to each and everyone who approached 28 Hruthik Lokesh P 6 71 Sanketh Reddi K R K K 5
him. “Nasir Sir often looked at other games, even those played by unknown players. He 29 Stanley Samson P. 6 72 Siddarth Sankeerth S 5
was such a great human being that if he noticed that either player in a game had missed 30 Vidya Sagar J.B.M. 6 73 Domala Bharath Kumar 5
some tactic or technical point, he would voluntarily explain the points.” 31 WCM Chinnam Vyshnavi 6 74 Ravi Madduru 5
32 Srujan Keerthan Solletti 6 75 AFM D hanush Reddy A 5
When Kakra trained 12-year old Swapnil Dhopade in Amravati, Maharashtra, he rec- 33 Aditya Varun Gampa 6 76 Dhanala Abhinav 5
ommended to the Dhopade family that they get Nasir Ali to come personally to train 34 Bipin Raj S 6 77 Pritam Panda 4½
Swapnil for two weeks. Nasir agreed and came. The training was so successful that the 35 AIM Kandi Ravi 6 78 Suhrud Sudheer A K 4½
two weeks stretched to a month and the trainee was greatly benefitted. 36 Vinay R Jumani 5½ 79 Srikanth Myakala 4½
Dhopade narrates: Our main way of working on chess was to play a lot of practice 37 Duvvala Suresh 5½ 80 Viswa Teja G 4½
games and then analyze them. He would often give me positions in which I would have 38 Rithvik Raja M 5½ 81 Anirudh M 4½
a positional advantage or material superiority. Many times he would be completely lost, 39 AIM Kalur Nikhil 5½ 82 Sri Chandana G 4½
but defended tenaciously with all his might. I would not be able to breakthrough and 40 Sai Kiran Y 5½ 83 Sreenandan Babu J 4½
win and used to get really frustrated. In all of this I learnt two very important lessons: 41 Chakravarthi S.V.C. 5½ 84 AFM R aivath Mallela 4½
1. How to analyze a game and, 2. Never give up! I think these two qualities are seen in 42 Theju K V 5½ 85 Ankur Roy 4½
me in ample measure as a chess player. He had a strong intuition and used to play fast.” 43 Praveen Saki 5½ 86 Mythri Maddisetty 4½
44 Shaik Fayaz 5½ 87 Jahnavi Sri Lalita Mareddy 4½
During 1982 to 1986, he was in the CRPF Camp in Mount Abu thanks to his stint with 45 Anandha Venkatesan 5½ 88 Abhinav Sattaru 4½
the CRPF under B.Varma (1929-2013) a chess lover. Varmaji was the boss of the Inter- 46 Adithya A Chullikkad 5½ 89 Shaileshwar V 4½
nal Security Academy in Mount Abu and it turned into a chess camp with a large chess 47 Gokul Ravichandran 5½ 90 Komarajula Sai Anirudh 4½
library and training facilities. Like Varmaji who was a fitness freak, Nasir regularly did 48 Muppiri Nirmal Reddy 5½ 91 A Kovidh Kushal Reddy 4½
yoga, walked, jogged and performed simple stretching exercises. However, Nasir’s ultra 49 Rachita Sabbathi 5½ 92 Pranay Reddy B 4½
slow-motion jogging was a curious sight! Nasir’s acquisition of chess theory was also 50 Srinivasa Raju S 5½ 93 Prashanth Kumar T 4½
from his CRPF days as the CRPF Library had every available chess literature. 51 Meghanshram B V 5 94 Srishanthi G 4½
52 Subuddhi Ramesh Kumar 5 95 Vignesh Ramaswamy 4½
Nasir Ali’s most successful student has been Delhi based GM Sriram Jha. When Sriram 53 Divya Teja P 5 96 Subhash Kumar M 4
was 12 his father took him to Nasir Ali who, at that time, was posted as a Pharmacist 54 Prasad N 5 97 Kumaran Charan 4
in the CRPF camp in Delhi.In an interview to ChessBase India, Jha said of Nasir: “He 55 AFM A dvaita Sharma K 5 98 Harshavardhan G 4
was the most passionate chess player that I have ever known. He was most gentle and 56 Syed Tarannum 5 99 Vishvas Reddy K 4
soft-spoken at all times. I have never seen him talking in a high pitched voice. He had 57 Aji Kumar A 5 100 Dalipartihi S B 4
the most ideal temperament for a great chess player, almost like a Saint. He will never 58 Sanjay Srinivasan R 5 101 Ashmita Reddy N 4
ever bang his pieces or clock and played his moves in the calmest manner. If you offer 59 Goutham D 5 102 Pranav Sai K 4
him a pawn he will always take it and will defend his position with all his might. He was 60 Saketh Kumar Reddy C 5 103 Mahith Greesham Goud M 4
playing very actively till the very last days of his life. I lost to him quite recently in a 61 Krishna Kalyan 5 104 Dutt B.S. 4
FIDE Rated tournament in Allahabad in 2013 without getting any chance throughout 62 Murali Mohan Y 5 105 Kapavarapu Varun 4
the game!” 63 Jaswanth Prasanna V 5 106 Srinivas Gopal Reddy K 4
64 Karishma T 5 107 Sahejdeep Kaur 4
Nasir is known only as a great player, not as a Trainer. Probably he is the only player in 65 AFM H ima Surya K 5 108 Shruthik Sarvagni P 4
India who has coached two boys at different times from different places when they were 66 Saypuri Srithan 5 109 Jeswanth Sai Niketh C H 4
only 12 years old, who both turned out to be Grandmasters, and who acknowledge his 67 Sai Mahati A 5 110 Jayasree Tarini Priya T 4
contribution to their chess careers. 68 Ojas Mehetre 5 111 Vishnu Karthikeya D 4
India has lost a real chess Warrior.
26
AICF CHRONICLE
27
JUNE 2018
Kasparov below 1600 Fide Rated Chess Tournament, Thrissur 28 Varun Rajesh Nandanam 6½ 75 Naveen Ramdas 6
29 Harshiv Adhithya P V 6½ 76 Benny P C 6
Prasath wins title at Thrissur 30 Syam Peter 6½ 77 Jegadeesh G 6
by Peter Joseph M,Chief Arbiter 31 John Veny Akkarakaran 6½ 78 Rahul Ravikumar 6
32 Nykaj A K 6½ 79 Hari K Mohanan 6
Thrissur chess academy and the Kasparov felt thanks to Sri. Bharath Singh Secretary, 33 Rahan Ramesh 6½ 80 Shrishanth S Rao 6
chess academy jointly organized the first AICF, IAs Sri. Gopakumar, Sri. Srivatsan, Sri. 34 Amarnath Gupta 6½ 81 Safar Hussain 6
Kasparov below 1600 Fide Rated Chess Tour- Vijayaraghavan for their support towards the 35 Neeraj Kumar 6½ 82 Antony Simethy 6
nament from 12/05/2018 to 14/05/2018 at tournament. Chess association Kerala and 36 Dhanush Ram M 6½ 83 Sidharth Rajeev 6
Paremakavu Devaswam school. The tourna- chess association thrissur were helped us 37 Jyothika U R 6½ 84 Raveendran T. 6
ment was inaugurated by Sri. Vincent Kat- and we are thankful to them. We are always 38 Imran Hussain 6½ 85 Denny P K 5½
tookaran, President, Sports Council, Thrissur. remember the presence and advice of Sri. T 39 Swaha V S 6½ 86 Nakshathra Karthikeyan 5½
Sri. Sasidharan, Secretary, Chess Association J Sureshkumar who is our patron. The arbi- 40 Anjitha Krishnakumar 6½ 87 Sreenidhi C V 5½
41 Hrishikesh A J 6½ 88 Bhagyashree G Patil 5½
Thrissur, Sri. Jayamohan, President Thris- ter team and volunteers done a wonderful
42 Chinnadurai S. 6½ 89 Mithun Raj A 5½
sur chess academy, Sri. Vijayan, Executive job which ensured smooth run of the event
43 Shiva Chethan Halamane 6½ 90 Kaavyadharsini S 5½
member, Paremakavu Devaswam, Sri. Peter without any issues. 44 Aryan Anand 6½ 91 Gavandi Sandesh 5½
Joseph, Fide Arbiter, attended the inaugural 45 Mohammed Sudheer P P 6½ 92 Jeyasurya Umashankar R 5½
function. Final ranking 46 Arun D 6 93 Adithya Sekar 5½
Rk Name Pts 47 Paulson Frenchy 6 94 Jojo P John 5½
Master Amal Roozi was the top seed with an 1 Prasath K R 8 48 Sameer C 6 95 Raman Trikazhipuram 5½
elo rating of 1585 and as usual tournament 2 Nithyan S 8 49 Radhakrishnan.K.S 6 96 Abel Saju Chazhoor 5½
witnessed many upsets and thrilling games. 3 Sudeepan K S 8 50 S. Jeevanandam 6 97 Vinod K Kuttappan 5½
There were 320 fide rated players out of 4 Jagatheeswaran G 7½ 51 Kesavan G 6 98 Ssathyan S R 5½
5 Amal Roozi 7½ 52 Rockson S Parayil 6 99 Benson Baby 5½
432 players who participated in the three
6 Shanmugasundaram G. 7½ 53 Rakesh N 6 100 Ravendran KK 5½
day nine round tournament
7 Eldho Skaria 7½ 54 Biju Kumar 6 101 S atheesh Arukety 5½
8 Sumesh Kabeer 7½ 55 Emmanuel Thomas 6 102 P riyesh M J 5½
The eighth round sole leader was Sri. Jagad- 9 Joju K V 7 56 Jolly V P 6 103 Rohan Nachnani 5½
heeswaran with7.5 points. In the final round 10 Abdallah M Nisthar 7 57 Mahesh K 6 104 Rohith C 5½
Sri. K R Prasath of Tamil Nadu beat the leader 11 Sidharth A Kumar 7 58 Gagan Bharadwaj K 6 105 B enny Thomas 5½
and captured the winner trophy 12 Vishnu Ram M 7 59 Prawin K 6 106 S unny Varghese 5½
and a prize amount of Rs 30,000/- with eight 13 Azeef C A 7 60 Rajeevan Puthiya Kunnummal 6 107 D harsan Venkatachalam 5½
points from 9 rounds. Master Nithyan.S from 14 Ashkar M M 7 61 Vinod S 6 108 V ijayakumar S 5½
Kerala and Mr. Sudeepan from Thrissur/Ker- 15 Santhosh V R 7 62 Kishore U R 6 109 T harshan M K 5½
ala also got eight points but were placed sec- 16 Gopinath P 7 63 Devanand B 6 110 A nantha Krishna Nayak M 5½
ond and third spot respectively. Sri, Sethu, 17 Gowri Shankar A 7 64 Aswin Biju 6 111 Raghuraj V.N. 5½
Circle Inspector of Police, Thrissur were gave 18 Sai Krishnan R 7 65 Sudheesh M A 6 112 Yahya Favaz C Abdulla 5½
19 Lakshmi Raja Perumal K 7 66 Shanoj T Syed Alavi 6 113 M anoj N 5½
away the prizes, Sri. T J SureshKumar, Sri.
20 Satheesh M 7 67 Sanjay Robin 6 114 U nnikrishnan Sasthamkunnel 5½
Babu MM, Sri Safarhussain, Sri Hameed, Sri
21 Samson D Cruz J 7 68 Arif A 6 115 A binesh T 5½
Noushad K U attended the prize distribution 22 Bala Ganeshan 6½ 69 Justin Joseph 6 116 V iswajith P Gopinathan 5½
ceremony. 23 Thomas Valiyaprambil 6½ 70 Dhineshwar R S 6 117 V ipin Vijayan 5½
24 Priyanka Bhatt 6½ 71 Nayan Megha K A 6 118 S reerag Padman 5½
Organizers ensured that all the players re- 25 Gabriel B M 6½ 72 Kamali B 6 119 A hammed Lal P A 5½
turned from Thrissur with good memories of 26 Gowrichander U 6½ 73 Sibin Paul 6 120 B harath M 5
this tournament. I wish to extend my heart- 27 Sayu P S 6½ 74 Raghavan R 6 121 D ennis Moothedath 5
1 2
Black to play and win White to play and win 1. 2.
3 4 3. 4.
Black to play and win Black to play and win
Vitaly Halberstadt 1954 Josef Moravec 1955
5. 6.
5 6
White to play and win Black to play and win White to play and win in all the six endings above
(Solutions on page 47)
(solutions on p.47)
Born in St. Petersburg, Ragozin's chess career first came to the fore with a se-
ries of excellent results in the 1930s. In the earliest of these, he defeated the
respected master Ilyin-Zhenevsky in a 1930 match and was himself awarded
the title of Soviet master. At Moscow 1935, he won the best game prize for his
victory against Lilienthal. At the very strong Moscow tournament of 1936, he beat Flohr and
Lasker and came very close to defeating Capablanca. There followed a victory at the Leningrad
championship of 1936 and second place shared with Konstantinopolsky(behind Levenfish) at
the Soviet Championship of 1937.
Success continued into the 1940s with first prize at Sverdlovsk in 1942 and a repeat triumph
at the Leningrad Championship of 1945. In 1946, he finished outright first at Helsinki and beat
Bondarevsky in a match. His greatest achievement in over-the-board chess then followed at Prize Distribution Photo Left to Right : Mr. Bhushan Shriwas, Organizing Chairman, Mr. Dilip
the Chigorin Memorial (Moscow) tournament of 1947, where he placed second, a half-point Kamdar,President, NDCA, Mr. Jaiprakash Gupta, Mr. Girish Vyas, MLC, Mr. Amit Gandhare,
behind Botvinnik, but notably ahead of such luminaries as Smyslov, Boleslavsky and Keres. His Raisoni Group, Mr. Pravin Pantawane, Chief Arbiter and Mr. Sushant Jumde, Organizing Secretary.
best result came at the 1956 Marianske-Lazne Steinitz Memorial tournament, where he finished Winners Standing Right to Left :Ku. SeeyaThakare, Spandan Seth, Priyanshu Patil, Vaibhav Jayant
second behind Filip, ahead of Flohr, Pachman, Stahlberg and a young Wolfgang Uhlmann. Raut, Jayant Katdare, Kaustav Kundu, Winner, Ayush Jugele, Pawan Dodeja, Ambarish Sharma,
Neel Shintre
For his over-the-board play, he became a grandmaster in 1950 and in 1951 he obtained the title
of international arbiter. From 1956–1958, his main focus switched to correspondence chess,
Malka Lakshmi Mem. Open Fide Rating Tournament,Hyderabad
where he showed that he was also an expert analyst and theoretician by becoming the second
ICCF World Correspondence Chess Champion in 1959 (winning 9 games, drawing 4 games,
and losing 1 game). His correspondence chess grandmaster title was awarded the same year.
With Ragozin's achievements coupled with his creative playing style, he attracted the attention
of then world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. They played many secret training matches, as Bot-
vinnik prepared for important world championship encounters. Accordingly, many historians
attribute Ragozin's contribution as a significant factor in Botvinnik's success.
From 1946 to 1955, Ragozin edited the magazine publication Shakhmaty v SSSR as well as
maintaining a career as a civil engineer. He was Vice-President of FIDE from 1950 through
1961.He died in Moscow while putting together a collection of his best games, which his friends
completed for publication in 1964, under the title Izbrannye Partii Ragozina (Ragozin's Selected
Games). It contains 74 games spanning his career.
His contributions to opening theory mainly concerned the development of systems by which
Black could achieve equality in the Queen's Gambit and Nimzo-Indian complexes.The QGD L to R : Mrs. Arogya, Principal,Pallavi Int School-Gandipet, Pujya Madavan Ji Founder Aware
Ragozin Defence, typically arrived at via the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 (or Group, Sri M Komaraiah, Sponsor of the event and Chairman Pallavi & DPS Group of Schools,
by transposition) offering Black active play from the start, has enjoyed a resurgence in recent Chief Guest Sri Venkateswara Reddy Chairman, Sports Authority of Telangana State, Major K A
times. Siva Prasad, Vice President,TSCA, K S Prasad, Secretary,TSCA. Front Row : Vikramjit Singh, Winner,
Courtesy:Wikepedia V Varun,Runner up, J Sai Agni Jeevitesh,Third prize
45
AICF CHRONICLE
44
JUNE 2018
Solutions to ‘Tactics from master games’ 27.Bxd1 Rxa7–+] 0–1
1st IGMSA All India Open Fide Rating Chess Tournament, Hyderabad 5. Kratochvil,Vit1 (2239) Vorisek,Jakub
on page 42
1. Alekseev,Evgeny (2617) Mamedov,Rauf (2083) [B35]
(2709) [B06] Pobeskydi Open 2018 Frydek Mistek CZE (8),
Batumi GEO Batumi GEO (11.14), 28.03.2018 01.04.2018
Black to play. 36...Nxh3+! [36...Nxh3+ 37.gxh3 White to play. 22.Bd4! [%cal Gh2h8][22.Bd4
(37.Kh1 Qxf1#) 37...Bh2+ 38.Kxh2 (38.Kh1 Bxd4 (22...f6 23.Rxg6; 22...e5 23.dxe6 fxe6
Qxf1+ 39.Kxh2 Qg2#) 38...Qxf2+ 39.Kh1 Qxf1+ 24.Rxg6 Wins) 23.Qh7#] 1–0
40.Kh2 Qg2#] 0–1 6. Iniyan,P (2466) - Zubov,Alexander
2. Shirov,Alexei (2651) Gulatz,Maurice (2606) [D70]
(2145) [D17] 20th Dubai Open 2018 Dubai UAE (3.11),
GRENKE Chess Open 2018 Karlsruhe GER (1.8), 04.04.2018
29.03.2018 Black to play 28...Qc2!! [28...Qa5!; 28...Qb4]
White to play. 23.Re6! Rae8 [Lesser evil is 23... 29.Qxc2 [29.Rc1 Rb1+ 30.Rxb1 Qxc3+–+] 29...
Ne8 24.Bh6 Qh5 25.Bxf8 Qxe2 26.Rxe2 Bxf8; e4+ 30.Qb2 Bxb2+ 31.Kb1 e3 [31...Bd4+!–+;
23...fxe6 24.Bxe6++-] 24.Rxf6 [24.Rxf6 Rxe2 31...e3 32.Bh4 (32.Bb3 exf2–+) 32...Bf5+
25.Rxf5 Rxb2 (25...Rc2 26.Bd3 Rxb2 27.Rf3+-) 33.Bd3 Bxd3#] 0–1
26.Rf3+-] 1–0 Solution to ‘Test your endgame’on page 43
K S Prasad, Secretary,TSCA,K N Gopal, Secretary,APCA, Vikramjith Singh (S C Rly) 3rd prize, Major K.A.Shiva 3. Papp,Gabor1 (2604) - Engel,Luis (2389) 1.Dr.Alois Wotawa Schachzeitung 1952
Prasad,Vice President,TSCA, J.Malleswara Rao(Telangana), 2nd Prize, IM V A V Rajesh,Winner, Chief Guest Sri [B96] 1.Ba3 Bxa3 2.a7 Rh6+ 3.Kb5 Rh5+ 4.Ka4 Rh4+
G Parthipan Princpal, DAV Public School,Safilguda, M Anjayya, Treasurer,TSCA, P Kameswar Rao, Organizing GRENKE Chess Open 2018 Karlsruhe GER (3.11), 5.Kb3 Rh3+ 6.Kc2 Rh2+ 7.Kd1 Rh1+ 8.Ke2
Secretary of the tournament and Director IGMSA Rh2+ 9.Kf3 Rf2+ 10.Kg3 wins
30.03.2018
2nd IGMSA Fide Below 1500 Rating Chess Tournament, Hyderabad Black to play 39...Qd5 40.Bxd5 [40.Be4 Rc1 2.G.Kasparyan I Pr, SVTVS 1953
41.Qc3+ (41.Qxc1 Qxe4+ 42.Rg2 Qxg2#; 1.e5 Nd3 2.Rb8 Bd7 3.b6 Nxe5 4.Rg8+ Kh4
41.Rxc1 Rxe4 42.Qc3+ f6 43.Qg3+ Rg4++-) ] 5.b7 Nc6 6.Kg7 Kg5 7.Kf7+ Kf5 8.Rf8 Nb8
40...Bxd5+ 41.Rg2 Rcxg2 42.Qe5+ f6 43.Qe7+ 9.Ke7+ Ke5 10.Rc8 Ba4 11.Rc5+ Kd4 12.Kd6
[43.Qxd5 Rg1#] 43...Kg6 44.Qe8+ Bf7 45.Qe3 Bb3 13.Ra5 wins
Rg1+ [45...Rg1+ 46.Qxg1 Bd5+ 47.Qg2 Rxg2+- 3.Jaroslov Pospisil ,Prace 1954
] 0–1 1.e4 dxe4 2.Kb2 f5 3.e3 Kd7 4.Kc3 Kd6 5.Kd4
4. Bluebaum,Matthias (2631) Vitiugov,Niki- Ke6 6.c3 Kf6 7.c4 Ke6 8.c5 Kf6 9.c6 Ke6 10.Kc5
ta (2735) [D12] wins
GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe GER 4.Dr Jindrich Fritz, II c,SVTVS 1954
(1.5), 31.03.2018 1.Rb1 Ra8 2.Kf3 Ka4 3.Ke4 Ka5 4.Ke5 Kxa6
Black to play 24...Ne4+ 25.Kg1 [25.Bxe4 Rc7! 5.Kd6 Kxa7 6.Kc7 wins
26.Qa8 White has to stop both 26... Qf6+ as 5.Vitaly Halberstadt, 3 Pr, Rinck Mem.Ty,
well as 26...Qd4 + (26.Qb6 Rc2+–+) 26... 1954
Rc8 27.Qxc8! a) 27.Qb7 Qd4+ 28.Kg3 (28.Ke2 1.f4 g5 2.f5 Kd7 3.Kg2 e4 4.Kf1 Kc6 5.Ke1 Kc5
Re8–+) 28...Rc3+ 29.Bf3 Rc4–+ Threatens mate 6.Kd1 Kc6 7.Kc2 Kc5 8.Kb3 Kd6 9.Kb4 Kd5
with 30...Qh4 ch 30.Qb8+ (30.Qe7 Qxa1–+) 10.Kc3 Ke5 11.Kc4 wins
L to R : Back Row :P Kameswar Rao, Organizing Secretary of the tournament and Director IGMSA,K 6.Josef Moravec Svobodne slovo 1955
S Prasad, Secretary,TSCA, Special invitee Madhu Salini, Film Actress, Major K A Shiva Prasad, Vice 30...Kh7 31.h3 Qxa1–+; b) 27.Qd5 Qf6+–+;
Presdent,TSCA and Karthik Reddy of Chess Plug.Front Row: 2nd prize Y Sai Nikhil, Winner K 27...Qxc8–+] 25...Ra3! [25...Ra3 26.Rd1 (26. 1.Kc1 Ke7 2.Kb2 Kd7 3.Ka3 Kc7 4.Kb3 Kb6 5.Kc3
Balakrishna,3rd Prize K Gopichand Qxa3 Qd4+ 27.Kh1 Qxa1+ wins) 26...Qxd1+ Ka5 6.Kd2 Ka4 7.Ke3 Kb4 8.Kd3 wins
46
AICF CHRONICLE
47
JUNE 2018
AICF Calendar June 2018 11th KIIT International Chess Festival 2018, Bubaneshwar
Chess in Lakecity FIDE Rating Rapid 23 Jun - 24 Jun Udaipur,RJ
Maharashtra State Under 15 Boys and Girls 24 Jun -28 Jun Satara, MH
Commonwealth Chess Championship 2018 25 Jun - 04 Jul Delhi-32
State level Women Ty for Bengal players 27 Jun- 01 Jul Kolkata
National FIDE Rating for visually challenged 27 Jun -30 Jun Wardha, MH
29th Cusat FIDE Rating 28 Jun - 01 Jul Kochi ,Kerala
Aditya Birla Mem.Jharkand State Senior 28 Jun -01 Jul Jharkand
1st WB State Under 17 Open & Girls 08 Jul-13 Jul Jalpaiguri,WB
4 Queens 1st below 1500 FIDE Chess Tmt 13 Jul - 15 Jul Ernakulam,
All India Below 1500 FIDE Rating 14 Jul - 16 Jul Hyderabad
National Under - 7 ( Open & Girls ) 2018 16 Jul - 24 Jul Mandya, Karnataka
National Under - 15( Sub Junior Open & Girls ) 17 Jul - 25 Jul Kolkata
1st Gnana Vidhya Open FIDE Rated 26 Jul - 29 Jul Chennai - 95
32nd National Under - 11 ( Open & Girls ) 2018 28 Jul - 05 Aug Karaikudi, TN
National Cities - 2018 01 Aug - 05 Aug Siliguri. Darjeeling
Women Round Robin 2018 08 Aug - 18 Aug Hyderabad
2nd Sri Raghavendra Open FIDE Rated 09 Aug - 12 Aug Chennai
Samreddyagi Reddy Cent.Celebrations Open 19 Aug - 23 Aug Hyderabad
National Under - 25 ( Open & Girls ) 21 Aug - 30 Aug ……..
Samreddyagi Reddy below 1500 FIDE 24 Aug - 26 Aug Hyderabad Debasish Barua, Chief Arbiter,IM Sekhar Sahoo, IM Karthik Venkataraman,Champion,Professor
ARCA State Under 19 Boys and Girls Rated 01 Sep - 03 Sep Udaipur Achyuta Samanta,K K Sharma and Shri Abdul Ghani, Greenman of India
National Under - 17 ( Open & Girls ) - 2018 03 Sep - 11 Sep ………
Olympiad Coaching Camp III Men & Women 13 Sep - 20 Sep Chennai, Hyderabad
National Under - 9 ( Open & Girls ) - 2018 15 Sep - 24 Sep ………..
13th KCM Open FIDE Rated 29 Sep - 02 Oct Coimbatore ,TN
1st Gujarat International GM Open 05 Oct - 12 Oct Ahmedabad
All India Open FIDE Rated Tournament 10 Oct - 14 Oct Delhi Public School, Hyderabad
4th Master Mind Open FIDE Rated 11 Oct - 14 Oct Chennai
Goa International GM Open 2018 13 Oct - 20 Oct Taleigao, Goa
All India below 1500 FIDE Rating 15 Oct - 17 Oct Delhi Public School, Hyderabad
Solution to ‘puzzle of the month’ on page 11: Black’s promoted B is from h2xg1=B if we as-
sume Wh. may castle. Hence the Bl. pawns require the captures (e.g. with bxa, cxd, exfxgxhxg1,
fxg) of the seven missing Wh. units (not counting the two Wh. Bishops captured at home). So
that Black’s last move could not have been a capture and White last move just before must have Prashant Katiyar, Second place, Vijay Shreeram P, Champion Category B and Munshini Ajay, Third
been with his K or R: the O-O-O is not legal. place along with the other guests
49
AICF CHRONICLE
48
JUNE 2018
National Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2018, Ahmedabad
GM M.R.Lalith Babu,Winner, National Rapid title, receiving the prize from the Chief Guest Ajay
Patel (President GSCA) Others in the photo from (R-L) Rathinam Anantharam (Chief Arbiter), Viral
Patel (Director, Karnavati Club) Bhavesh Patel (Secretary, GSCA), GM Tejas Bakre (Vice President,
GSCA) Jayesh Modi (Vice President, GSCA) Samir Shah (Treasurer, GSCA)
IM Dinesh Sharma, Winner, National Blitz event receiving the prize from Ajay Patel (President,GSCA)
Others in the photo from left to right: GM Tejas Bakre, Bavesh Patel (Secretary, GSCA) Viral Patel
(Director, Karnavati Club)and Prof.R.Anantharam (Chief Arbiter)