Visakh Wins Mumbai Mayor’s Cup

Visakh Wins Mumbai Mayor’s Cup
By Arvind Aaron

Seed No.19 Visakh N.R. of Chennai won the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup event that concluded in the financial capital of India on June 9, 2016.

Visakh remained undefeated and won on higher tie-break score after tying for first place along with two other Indians. Sixth seed Diptayan Ghosh also remained undefeated and took second place. Seed 14 Gusain Himal of Chandigarh took the third place. For both Visakh and Gusain Himal it was a dream event to score 8/10.

A total of 15 GMs and 15 IMs took part in this 10-round Swiss contest. Players from 12-nations participated. India had the most (170) entries followed by Bangladesh (13), Nepal, Russia (5 each) etc.

Tarini Goyal gained 191.20 Elo from this single event scoring 6.5 from the last seven games. In the last two games, she beat IMs Ramnath Bhuvanesh and Ravi S Teja in the last two games.

The event was organised by Venus Chess Academy from June 2-9, 2016 at Mount Litera School, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), in Mumbai. The prize fund was Rs.27 lakhs. Group A had Rs.11 lakhs prize fund with a first prize of Rs.3 lakhs. Group B and C had identical funds of Rs.8 lakhs each. The winner got Rs.1 lakh in B and Rs.1.25 lakh in C. It pays to play chess!

Mumbai Mayor, Sports Authority of India were the sponsors and they were co-sponsored by LIC and Ankit Gems and supported by Mount Litera School, the venue and knowledge partners. The tournament director was R.M. Dongre.

The Group B (Elo 1999 and less) also featured a three-way tie for first place: 1-3. Varun Bhatt, Soram Rahul Singh, Siddhant Gaikwad 8.5/10…333 players. Group C (Elo 1599 and less) was won by P Lokesh Hruthik 9/10…385 players. A total of nearly one thousand players took part in this ninth edition.

Final placings: 1-3. IM N.R. Visakh (TN), GM Diptayan Ghosh (WB), Gusain Himal (Chn-Ind) 8/10 each; 4-11. GM Boris Grachev (Rus), GM Farrukh Amonatov (Tjk), GM Evgeny Gleizerov (Rus), GM Swapnil Dhopade (Rly), GM Sandipan Chanda (WB), IM C.R.G. Krishna (AP), IM Girish Koushik (Kar), WFM Tarini Goyal (Chn-Ind) 7.5 each…198 players.