33rd VMRDA National Under-13 Open & Girls chess championship flagged off at Visakhapatinam

by IA S.PAUL AROKIA RAJ , Chief Arbiter

            The threat posed by the cyclonic storm FANI did not deter 392 players from all over India in reaching Visakhapatinam on time to throw their lot in the ongoing 33^rd  VMRDA national under 13 Open & Girls chess championship organized by Visakha district chess Association. Realising  the gravity of the situation due to rescheduling of flights and trains the All India Chess Federation postponed the commencement of first round by three hours to help all the players to report for the first round without any hiccup. In all, 245 boys and 147 girls representing 26 states and union territories have entered the fray in this eleven round swiss event which will conclude on May 12.   Earlier in a glittering ceremony Shri.K,Bhaskar, I.A.S.,district collector, Visakhapatinam formally inaugurated the event by moving the king pawn in the chess board.

            As expected the top seeds in both open and the girls category did not face any difficulty in taming their respective opponents in the first round. Commonwealth Silver medalist in the under 12 category FM M.Pranesh (Tamil Nadu)  the top seed in the open category outwitted Rithik Gandikota of Telengana in an enterprising game involving caro kann defense in 38 moves with white pieces. The second seed V.Pranav also from Tamil Nadu handling black side in Ruy Lopez opening scored a full point over Rewansh Vaidhya of Madhya Pradesh.

           In the girls category the national under 11 runner up and the top seed of the championship Velpula Sarayu (Telengana) came over the stiff resistance offered by Nungshithoi Ngairanbam (Manipu) after a prolonged battle of 60 moves. Playing black Boramanikar Tanisha (Maharastra) outmaneuvered Dhiriti Murgod  (Karnataka)   in an theoretical variaition in Sicilian defense.

GIRLS