Kolkata (07 Feb 19) :- 39th National Team Chess Championship and 17th National Team Chess Championship for Women got off to a rousing start here at Indian Council for Cultural Relations on Wednesday.
A total number of 44 teams in Open and 15 in Women are taking part in this five days long prestigious championship which has eighteen grandmasters and fourteen International Masters in action in open while three International Masters, seven each Women Grandmasters and Women International Masters in women section.
With all Grandmasters in their lineup, defending champions Petroleum Sports Promotion Board started as top seed in the Open followed by Airports Authority of India and Railways ‘A’. In women section also Petroleum Sports Promotion Board got the top billing while Air India and Airports Authority of India started as second and third seed respectively.
As expected, the seeded teams had an easier outing in the opening round as top seeded Petroleum Sports Promotion Board defeated Services Sports Control Board while Airport Authority of India outwitted Chess Dragons Kolkata. But Railways ‘A’ struggled to beat Bihar ‘C’ with a margin of 3 – 1 as Grandmasters Swapnil Dhopade and Thej Kumar forced to sign the peace treaty with their lower rated Bihar players Rupesh Ranjan and Vikash Kumar Dwivedi in Board number two and four. Fourth seed Air India had an easy day as they overcame Maharasthra ‘C’ without much struggle.
In women section, PSPB defeated Rising Bengal while Air India and Airports Authority of India got better off Uttar Pradesh and TCF Kolkata respectively in their opening encounter with an identical margin of 4 – 0.
Team pairings: Open
| Round 1 on 2019/02/07 at 10.00 AM | |||||||||||
| No. | SNo | Team | Pts. | MP | Res. | : | Res. | MP | Pts. | Team | SNo |
| 1 | 1 | PSPB | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | Services SCB | 23 |
| 2 | 24 | Chess Dragons, Kolkata | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Airport Authority of India | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | Railways SPB – A | 0 | 0 | 3 | : | 1 | 0 | 0 | All Bihar CA – C | 25 |
| 4 | 26 | All Marathi CA – C | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Air India | 4 |
| 5 | 5 | Railways SPB – B | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | City Chess Forum, Kolkata | 27 |
| 6 | 28 | DCA – Paschim Midnapore | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Bengal Red | 6 |
| 7 | 7 | Alekhine Chess Club – A – | 0 | 0 | 3 | : | 1 | 0 | 0 | Andhra Prasesh CA | 29 |
| 8 | 30 | All Jharkhand CA | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | All Orissa CA | 8 |
| 9 | 9 | L I C | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | Haryana CA | 31 |
| 10 | 32 | All Bihar CA – D | 0 | 0 | 1 | : | 3 | 0 | 0 | Bengal Blue | 10 |
| 11 | 11 | Telangana SCA | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | United Chess Academy | 33 |
| 12 | 34 | All Marathi CA – B | 0 | 0 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 0 | 0 | All Marathi CA – A | 12 |
| 13 | 13 | Tamil Nadu SCA | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | Virudhunagar DCA | 35 |
| 14 | 36 | All Jharkhand CA – A | 0 | 0 | 1 | : | 3 | 0 | 0 | Alekhine Chess Club – B | 14 |
| 15 | 15 | Madhya Pradhesh CA | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | Reserve Bank of India | 37 |
| 16 | 38 | Ernakulam Distrct | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Pioneer Chess School, Kolkata | 16 |
| 17 | 17 | All Bihar CA – B | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | Himachal Pradesh CA – A | 39 |
| 18 | 40 | Himachal Padesh CA | 0 | 0 | 1 | : | 3 | 0 | 0 | TCF Seniors Kolkata | 18 |
| 19 | 19 | All Bihar CA – A | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | P Morphy CA | 41 |
| 20 | 42 | TCF Juniors | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Andhra Pradesh SA – B | 20 |
| 21 | 21 | Osmania University | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | University of Allahabad | 43 |
| 22 | 44 | Ranga Reddy District Sub Junior | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Uttar Pradesh CSA | 22 |
Team pairings: Women
| Round 1 on 2019/02/07 at 10.00 AM | |||||||||||
| No. | SNo | Team | Pts. | MP | Res. | : | Res. | MP | Pts. | Team | SNo |
| 1 | 8 | Rising Bengal | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | PSPB | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | Air India | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | U P CSA | 9 |
| 3 | 10 | TCF, Kolkata | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Airport Authority of India | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | Bengal Tigresses | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | All Marathi CA | 11 |
| 5 | 12 | Ranga Reddy District | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | Tamil Nadu | 5 |
| 6 | 6 | L I C | 0 | 0 | 4 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | Himachal Pradesh CA | 13 |
| 7 | 14 | Himachal Pradesh CA – A | 0 | 0 | 0 | : | 4 | 0 | 0 | All Bihar CA | 7 |
| 8 | 15 | Ranga Redy DIstrict Juniors | 0 | 0 | 2 | : | 0 | 0 | 0 | bye | -1 |
Report and Photos by I.A Gopakumar S
