Sanjib Mali wins DCA Below 1600

2ND DCA BELOW 1600 FIDE RATED CHESS TOURNAMENT-2017

Report by IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

The Delhi Chess Association FIDE Rated Chess Tournament for Below 1600 rated players was held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi from 12-14 Nov 2017. A total number of 563 players which includes 399 International rated players from different parts of India participated in the event which was spread over 3 days with a time control of 60 minutes and 30 seconds increment from move 1. The total prize fund of the event was Rs. 17,70,000.

The Tournament was played under Swiss System with nine rounds and had Vishwas P R of Maharashtra with 1599 rating as the top seed. With Round one starting on time without any formal inauguration and the players went into their business mode from the start itself.

The tournament progressed on expected lines with a lot of twists and turns. In the penultimate round, Sanjib defeated Vishwanath Kannam of Andhra Pradesh to take sole lead and a draw in the final round against Arun Kumar of Punjab took his point tally to 8 points. Ranjith Kalaiyarasan of Puducherry, Vishwanath Kannam of Andhra Pradesh and Harshit Pawar of Delhi joined Sanjib at top of point table after hard-fought victories over their final round rivals. But better tie break score helped Sanjib to clinch the title along with cash prize of 1,51,000/-. Ranjith satisfied with the first runner-up position to secure cash award of Rs. 1,25,000/- while Vishwanath Kannam of Andhra Pradesh finished as the second runner-up and become richer by one lakh rupees. Harshit Pawar settled for the fourth position to secure Rs. 80,000/- cash award.

Manabi Chouhan of West Bengal was adjudged the best female player while Rohit Dhall of Delhi become best among unrated players. Sahib Singh of Delhi, Sahik Sumer Arsh of Andhra Pradesh, Saumya Srivastava of Bihar, Shahi Raj Saxena of Delhi finished best among Under-9, Under-12, Under-15 and Veteran respectively. Siddharth Yadav and Khuanna Kapoor become Best Delhi player and Best Delhi girl player respectively.

In the closing ceremony, Shri. Bharat Singh, Secretary All India Chess Federation and Shri. Bharat Gauba of Shoobh Group gave away the cash prizes and trophies to the winners along with Shri. D Srihari, Secretary The Andhra Pradesh Chess Association and Shri. AK Verma, Hony Secretary Delhi Chess Association.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds