Lucknow, seedJune Top23: and reigning state u13 champion Prithvvi Singh (1669) won the CCBW (Chess Club Black and White) Junior Rapid Chess Championship 2019 on tie-break at a city hotel on Sunday.
In Tanishq vs Harshit, Tanishq playing white opened with the Zukertort variation of the Colle system.
The game was somewhat complicated in the middlegame and then harshit went for a pawn sacrifice,vwhich if accepted by Tanishq would have allow Harshit to gain material with a piece superiorposition.Tanishq eventually accepted the sacrifice and lost.
(From left) Tanishq Gupta, Prithvvi Singh, Harshit Amarnani, Himmika Amarnani, Myra Agarwal. (More photos on Facebook)
This was Lucknow's strongest-ever u20 chess championship as it also included current state U15 and U17 champion Tanishq Gupta (1660) as second seed and third strongest rated Lucknow junior Harshit Amarnani (1522) as third seed.
Complete media coverage collated on Facebook.
Complete media coverage collated on Facebook.
The three-way tie of six points each occured after a very interesting series of results: Harshit beat Tanishq in round 4, Prithvvi beat Harshit in round 5 and Tanishq beat Prithvvi in round 6!
Prithvvi grabbed an early centre pawn in a 1.d4 game then followed it up with excellent technique for his win over Harshit.
In the top clash, Tanishq vs Prithvvi, Tanishq played Colle system of Queen pawn opening. In the middle game, Tanishq grabbed a pawn and steered the game into a minor piece ending with pawn majority scoring the crucial win.
The game was somewhat complicated in the middlegame and then harshit went for a pawn sacrifice,vwhich if accepted by Tanishq would have allow Harshit to gain material with a piece superiorposition.Tanishq eventually accepted the sacrifice and lost.
The seven-round, 15 0 time control tournament witnessed an even closer finish in the girls' section.
Top-seed Himmika Amarnani (1181) could win best girl prize only on tiebreak. Also a state-level tennis player, Himmika used her attacking 1.e4 games for successive wins.
The four-way tie for first saw unrated Myra Agarwal perform way above her strength to claim second. Simran Sadhwani continued her steady play to score ahead of second seed Jusfica Lilium Lobo (1032) for third place. Simran, is also a state-level player, who has improved considerably over the last year winning district championships in girls. All four scored 4 points each.
Six-year-old Pranav Rastogi surprised everyone by coming first in the u7 category on tiebreak ahead of state level player Aryan Sadhwani and district U7 champion Devaagyh Dixit who stood third. Aryan showed amazing calm to climb back from his losses to nearly snatch first place. Aryan will be representing UP in the Nationals in his section.
The tournament had players come in from Banda and Kanpur as well.
Former state champion, senior international player, Dr Junaid Ahmad was tournament director and senior international player Pawan Batham was the chief arbiter. Participants said they always find chess tournaments organised by those who are players themselves as far better in facilities and fairness of conduct of play as compared to other tournaments.
Chief guest renowned orthopaedic and diet expert Dr Gopal Goel (also felicitated by state government for welfare work in aiding and rehabilitatiom of physically challenged) spoke about nutrition specifically to suit chess players For improving brain power, he suggested daily intake of at four walnuts twice a day, handful of almonds once (soaked overnight) and curd twice a day along with regular exercise and yogasans like dandawat pranaam for brain power.
He warneda indiscriminate eating of bread, packaged chips and even milk. He mentioned the importance of taking vitamins as required without assuming that "vitamins" are only for senior people.
He warneda indiscriminate eating of bread, packaged chips and even milk. He mentioned the importance of taking vitamins as required without assuming that "vitamins" are only for senior people.
*Results*
Open Section 1-6th: Prithvi Singh, Tanishq Gupta, Harshit Amarnani (all 6 points), Anupam Dutta, Meetansh Dixit, Atharva Rastogi (all 5 points).
Girls section 1-6th: Himmika Amarnani, Myra Agarwal, Simran Sadhwani, Jusfica Lilium Lobo (all 4 points), Vartika R. Verma 3, Saanvi Mehrotra 2.
U7 1-3: Pranav Rastogi, Aryan Sadhwani 2, Devaagyh Dixit 1.5
U10 1-3: Akshin Srivastava, Vyom Ahuja, 3 points, Arsh Hussain Naqvi 1.5
U13 1-3: Sarthak Singh Basera 3.5, Shaan Garg, Enaith Singh Habibullah 3 points
U15 1-3: Nikhar Saxena 4.5, Adarsh Pal, Aman Goel 4 points
U20 1-3: Anubhav Singh 4.5, Shaishav Srivastava, Tanmay Mishra 4 points
Consolation: Aditi Mohan, Akshat Abhinav, Priyam Khandelwal, Vasav Rastogi, Aniket Mohan, Utkarsh Dixit, ADSV Prasad.
