Aarav A and Pavithra R V are 36th Tamil Nadu State Under-11 Open and Girls 2024 Champions

by S Ramanathan - 26/09/2024

CM Aarav A scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 36th Tamil Nadu State Under-11 Open Rating Championship 2024. He edged past Nijesh R on tie-breaks to become the champion, Nijesh had to settle for second place. Vishruth B was placed third due to better tie-break score. Aarav drew with both of them. In the Girls event, Pavithra R V scored a perfect 9/9 to dominate the field. She finished a full point ahead of the field. Deepthaashri Ravi Ganesh scored 8/9 to secure second place. Her sole loss was against the eventual champion. Pooja Shree R scored 7.5/9 to finish third. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹50000. The top three prizes were ₹5000 + trophy, ₹3500 + trophy and ₹3000 each. The five-day nine round rating tournament was organized by Salem District Chess Association, co-sponsored by Young Indians at R P Sarathy Institute of Technology in Salem, Tamil Nadu from 28th 18th August to 1st September 2024. Check out the report written by a passionate chess enthusiast - S Ramanathan. Photos: S Ramanathan

Top seeds clinch the championships

The top seeds of the tournament, A Aarav and Pavithra R V became Tamil Nadu State Under-11 Open and Girls 2024 champions. Aarav scored an unbeaten 8/9, along with Nijesh R who also scored 8/9 with two draws each. Aarav won the tournament due to a better tie-break score and they both finished a half point ahead of five players – Vishruth, Dharsh, Niroshan Thanikachalam, Ashva Shanmugam and Lishanth B. They secured from third to seventh place respectively. In the Girls event, Pavithra remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and scored a perfect 9/9. She finished a full point ahead of the field. Deepathaashri Ravi Ganesh won second prize with a score of 8/9 and Pooja Shree R was placed third scoring of 7.5/9. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹50000 with ₹25000 for each event. The top three prizes were ₹5000 + trophy, ₹3500 + trophy and ₹3000 each. The five-day rating tournament was organized by Salem District Chess Association to celebrate their Golden Jubliee year and co-sponsored by Young Indians at RP Sarathy Institute of Technology Poosaripatti, Kadayampatty Taluk, Salem from 28th August to 1st September 2024.

Champion in Open - Aarav A (Chennai) 8/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

The under-11 state champion of Tamil Nadu - Aarav wants to be a GM in 2025 | Video: ChessBase India

This is Aarav’s second Tamil Nadu State Championship victory after he won the 33rd Tamil Nadu State Under-9 Open Championship at Dharmapuri at the age of 7 in 2020. He was not a FIDE rated player in that tournament four years ago and now he is rated 2229 – goes to show how much he has improved over the past years.

Champion in Girls - Pavithra R V (Tiruchirapally) 9/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Pavithra R V from Tiruchirappali received the Tamil Nadu State Under-11 Girls champion trophy from GM Venkatesh M R, SDCA, Rotary members and office bearers of R P Sarathy Institute of Technology with a score of 9/9, she received a cash prize of ₹5000.

Runner-up in Open - Nijesh R 8/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Runner-up in Girls - Deepthashri Ravi Ganesh 8/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Second Runner-up in Open - Vishruth B 7.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Second Runner-up in Girls - Pooja Shree R 7.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Top two in Girls and Open (L to R): 2nd Deepthashri Ravi Ganesh 8/9, 1st Pavithra R V 9/9, 1st Aarav A 8/9 and 2nd Nijesh R 8/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Originally the Tamil Nadu State U-11 Open and Girls championship was scheduled to be held at Theni in May 2024, it was later transferred at the last minute to Salem. The venue R P Sarathy Institute of Technology was located 25 km from Salem main city. Parents were given an auditorium to occupy during the rounds. It was opposite to canteen and food was available at all times. R P Sarathy Institute arranged for pick up of players and parents during all working days from Poosaripatti bus stand which was 1 km from the venue. The venue was quite spacious and it had the capacity to accommodate 500 players and their families.

R P Sarathy Institute of Technology | Photo: S Ramanathan

Salem weather was mostly hot in the day but during the evening and night it rained, below is a photograph taken inside the R P Sarathy Institute while dark clouds were hovering above us and waiting for downpour and aftermath of rain.

The sky in Salem during one of the days of the tournament

Before the prize distribution ceremony the organizers arranged for an awareness program about traffic signals by Young Indians & Rotary Club of Salem East during which the children were asked to evaluate and give marks in the rank card for their parents driving skills, the objective is to ensure that all of us follow traffic rules and avoid accidents, the children showed interest and actively participated in this event.

Children holding rank card for their parents' driving skills | Photo: S Ramanathan

Mr. Arun, Secretary, Salem District Chess Association, addressed the players and parents during the prize distribution ceremony and felicitated IM S Nitin and GM M R Venkatesh.

Mr. Arun, Secretary, Salem District Chess Association, addressing the gathering at the prize distribution ceremony | Photo: S Ramanathan

IM Nitin S and GM Venkatesh M R got felicitated | Photo: S Ramanathan

4th in Open - Dharsh M (Coimbatore) 7.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

5th Niroshan Thanikachalam (Chengalpattu) 7.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

6th R Ashva Shanmugam (Chennai) 7.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

7th Lishanth B (Chengalpattu) 7.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

8th Brijesh Poola (Chengalpattu) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

9th Deepak Raj Hari (Tiruvallur) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

10th Gurubaran Raghuraman (Tiruchirapalli) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

11th Yaalvendhan Vellaichamy (Virudhunagar) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

12th Hem Harsanth B S (Namakkal) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

4th in Girls - Dheekshika G 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

5th Ayushi Dinesh (Chennai) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

6th Aligi Amrutha Hemal (Chengalpattu) 7/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

7th Meha Arin A (Chengalpattu) 6.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

8th Srinika S (Chengalpattu) 6.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

9th Vaishnavi Anand 6.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

10th Thashvi M (Chengalpattu) 6.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

11th Sana G (Salem) 6.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

12th Laksna Sri R (Karur) 6.5/9 | Photo: S Ramanathan

Aarav A, Vishruth B and Dharsh M in deep analysis after the final round | Photo: S Ramanathan

A total of 357 players in the Open and 152 in the Girls took part from various districts across the state of Tamil Nadu in this five-day nine round Rating tournament. It was organized by Salem District Chess Association at R P Sarathy Institute of Technology in Salem, Tamil Nadu from 28th August to 1st September 2024. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Final standings in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	1	CM	Aarav, A	U11	2726CHE2024	IND	2229	CHE	8	54,5	57,5	49,75	40	-14,4
2	2		Nijesh, R	U11	2902CHE2024	IND	1782	CHE	8	51	55,5	48,25	40	61,6
3	6		Vishruth, B	U11	3020CHE2024	IND	1708	CHE	7,5	54	59	47,75	40	66,4
4	5		Dharsh, M	U11	3875CBE2024	IND	1714	CBE	7,5	52	55,5	43,75	40	66,8
5	3		Niroshan, Thanikachalam	U11	1304CGL2024	IND	1717	CGL	7,5	48,5	52,5	43,00	40	19,6
6	10		Ashva, Shanmugam	U11	2348CHE2024	IND	1661	CHE	7,5	48,5	51,5	40,75	40	57,2
7	25		Lishanth, B	U09	1336CGL2024	IND	1576	CGL	7,5	45,5	49	38,25	40	52
8	8		Brijesh, Poola	U11	1295CGL2024	IND	1664	CGL	7	52,5	57,5	41,50	40	50,4
9	11		Deepak, Raj Hari	U11	7931TLR2024	IND	1649	TVLR	7	52	56	42,00	40	47,6
10	13		Gurubaran, Raghuraman	U11	9803TRY2024	IND	1625	TRY	7	51,5	55,5	41,75	40	50,8

Details

Final standings in Girls

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	1	Pavithra, R V	F11	9796TRY2024	IND	1878	TRY	9	52	56	56,00	40	31,2
2	4	Deepthaashri, Ravi Ganesh	F11	9644MDU2024	IND	1603	MDU	8	51,5	55,5	46,50	40	65,6
3	2	Pooja, Shree R	F11	2917CHE2024	IND	1653	CHE	7,5	50	55	44,75	40	19,6
4	7	Dheekshika, G	F11	9667KGI2024	IND	1524	KGI	7	51,5	54,5	37,50	40	47,6
5	25	Ayushi, Dinesh	F11	2899CHE2024	IND	1439	CHE	7	48	51,5	37,00	40	-2,8
6	10	Aligi, Amrutha Hemal	F11	2381CGL2024	IND	1505	CGL	7	47,5	51,5	37,00	40	18,8
7	21	Meha, Arin A	F11	1548CGL2024	IND	1443	CGL	6,5	53	57,5	37,25	40	39,6
8	5	Srinika, S	F11	2311CGL2024	IND	1599	CGL	6,5	51	54	34,75	40	-10,8
9	16	Vaishnavi, Anand	F11	7906TLR2024	IND	1461	TVLR	6,5	49,5	53,5	35,25	40	15,2
10	11	Thashvi, M	F11	1280CGL2024	IND	1499	CGL	6,5	48,5	53	36,25	40	21,6

Details

Links

Official site

About the Author

S Ramanathan works at a private company in Chennai, really passionate about chess and to write/read/speak about the latest happenings in the chess universe. He taught his 10-year-old son chess at the age of five who is now a rated player and chess has now become an integral part of their life.