1st Rapid and Blitz tournament 2012

With the introduction of rating for Rapid and Blitz tournaments by FIDE, Sivakasi Chess Club has taken the lead in organising these two tournaments together for the first time in India. The two lakhs and ten thousand rupees prize money tournament for three days from 12th to 14th March attracted 208 players from ten different states. The star studded list included three grandmasters and thirteen IMs for the rapid tournament and four GMS and 13 IMs for the blitz event. Former world under 16 champion SP Sethuraman of Petroleum Sports promotion Board had the honour of being the top seed in both events.

The rapid game was of 25 minutes duration, with an increment of 5 seconds for each move and blitz tournament had a time control of 3 minutes plus two seconds per move. Eight players led with a perfect score 4 out of 4 and the lead reduced to three, after the fifth round, the leaders being former Asian Junior champion IM P. Karthikeyan of Chennai, former national blitz champion GM RR Laxman of ICF and IM S. Nitin, a second year student of SSN Engineering College, Chennai. Grandmasters Sethuraman and Sriram Jha of LIC joined the lead after 6 rounds. Sethuraman emerged sole leader with 6.5 points at the end of the seventh round, followed by nine others including Laxman and P. Maheswaran, a former state junior champion from Sivakasi. The lead was short lived, as former under 17 national champion P. Shyam Nikil defeated Sethuraman, to join hands with CRG Krishna of AP, Laxman and Mahesaran who stunned Sriram Jha. 

Shyam Nikil lost to Laxman and Maheswaran beat Krishna to stay at the top after nine rounds. They continued to lead in the tenth and penultimate round. In the final round, Laxman defeated Rathnakaran and Maheswaran had to be content with a draw against Asian Junior champion M. Shyam Sundar of Chennai. Thus, Laxman won the title and became richer by thirty thousand rupees. Krishna sprang a surprise by beating Sethuraman to finish on par with Maheswaran (8.5 points). Better tiebreak helped Mahesh to gain the runner up spot. 

Things were different in the blitz event, as all the top players met with disaster in one or two rounds. Sethuraman lost in the third round to P. Lokesh of Chennai, GM Deepan Chakravarthy of Madurai losing to IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh in the fourth round and FM VInoth Kumar of Chennai outwitting Shyam Nikil. IM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways, Kunal of Trichy and NR Visakh of Chennai led with 5 points from 5 rounds. But, Swapnil lost to Nitin and Maheswaran again defeated Krishna to join at the lead with Visakh and Kunal who drew the game between them. Nitin outplayed Kunal and Visakh dealt a blow to the local hope, Maheswaran in the seventh round. Sethuraman came back into reckoning with a win over Rathnakaran, joining Nitin, Visakh, Thej Kumar and Swapnil on cloud nine. 

R.R. Laxman 

In the ninth and final round, Sethuraman stumbled at the post at the hands of Swapnil. Nitin and Themj Kumar also recorded comfortable victories to make a three way tie for the first place. When Buchholz tiebreak was applied, Nitin was declared winner, followed by Swapnil and Thejkumar.

IM S. Nitin

Veteran chess player S. Rengarajan of Madurai presided over the prize distribution function and Mrs. Brinda Raghavan, Director, Renganayagi Varatharaj College of Engineering, Sivakasi distributed the prizes. 

Final Ranking - Rapid

Rank Name Rtg Club Pts BH. B
1 GM Laxman R R 2415 ICF 9½ 78½                            
2 FM Maheswaran P 2297 VNR 9 80½
3 Krishna C R G 2326 AP 9 73½
4 IM Nitin S 2420 SLM 8½ 81
5 IM Thejkumar M S 2446 Rly 8½ 77½
6 GM Sriram Jha 2406 LIC 8½ 75½
7 Visakh Nr 2096 CHE 8½ 72
8 IM Shyam Sundar M 2474 CHE 8½ 71½
9 GM Sethuraman S P 2546 PSPB 8 77
10 IM Rathnakaran K 2410 Rly 8 74½
11 IM Karthikeyan P 2414 CHE 8 73½
12 Gireman Ja 2132 CBE 8 72½
13 IM Himanshu Sharma 2407 HAR 8 72½
14 Lokesh P 2231 CHE 8 70½
15 Karthik V Ap 2015 AP 8 69
16 Shankar A 2197 Rly 8 68
17 Sa Kannan 1972 SIV 8 67½
18 IM Shyam Nikil P 2490 CHE 7½ 79
19 IM Murali Krishnan B T 2337 Rly 7½ 74
20 Kunal M 2265 TRY 7½ 73

Final Ranking – Blitz
Rank Name Rtg Club Pts BH. B                                    
1 IM Nitin S 2420 SLM 8 53½
2 IM Swapnil S Dhopade 2426 Rly 8 51
3 IM Thejkumar M S 2446 Rly 8 49½
4 Kunal M 2265 TRY 7½ 49½
5 Visakh Nr 2096 CHE 7 53                          
6 GM Sethuraman S P 2546 PSPB 7 48
7 IM Rathnakaran K 2410 Rly 7 48
8 Ram S Krishnan 2287 BSNL 7 48
9 FM Rajesh V A V 2364 CHE 7 47½
10 IM Karthikeyan P 2414 CHE 7 44½
11 Krishna C R G 2326 AP 6½ 50
12 Praveen Prasad P 2248 AP 6½ 49½
13 IM Himanshu Sharma 2407 HAR 6½ 49
14 GM Laxman R R 2415 ICF 6½ 49
15 FM Maheswaran P 2297 VNR 6½ 48
16 Syed Anwar Shazuli 2278 ICF 6½ 48
17 Anilkumar O T 2227 KER 6½ 45½
18 Akash Pc Iyer 2190 CHE 6½ 45
19 Gunasekaran K 2178 ICF 6½ 44
20 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2461 MDU 6½ 43½

Source: Tamilchess.com