Ayush Sharma dominates UICC Indore Rapid Rating Open 2024

by Shahid Ahmed - 22/01/2024

IM Ayush Sharma scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win UICC Rapid Rating Open 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. Reigning Commonwealth Gold medalist, IM P Shyam Nikhil scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. Five players - Mrittika Mallick, Pushkar Dere, IM D V Prasad, IM Anup Deshmukh and Anupam Nema scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third to seventh according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹300000. The top three prizes were ₹30000, ₹25000 and ₹20000 along with a trophy each. This was the first tournament Ayush took part in 2024 and he won it in a dominant fashion. Photos: IA NI Sunil Soni / Unite Indore Chess Club

Ayush starts 2024 with a tournament triumph

IM Ayush Sharma made a blazing start by winning his first eight games. He had a full point lead heading into the final round. IM P Shyam Nikhil, Badrinath S, IM D V Prasad and IM Anup Deshmukh were in pursuit at 7/8 each. Ayush drew against Anup as it was enough for him to become champion. Shyam defeated Badrinath and Mrittika Mallick won against Manoj Sanghavi to finish second and third respectively. This was fantastic performance by Mrittika after winning 39th National Sub-Junior Under-15 Girls 2023.

Champion - IM Ayush Sharma 8.5/9

Runner-up - IM P Shyam Nikhil 8/9

Second Runner-up - Mrittika Mallick 7.5/9

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd IM P Shyam Nikhil 8/9, 1st IM Ayush Sharma 8.5/9 and 3rd Mrittika Mallick 7.5/9

The newly crowned National Sub-Junior Girls champion Mrittika Mallick drew against IM D V Prasad in the sixth round

IM Ayush Sharma scored an unbeaten 8.5/9, finished a half point ahead of the field and gained 12 Elo rating points

Opening Ceremony

Inaugural first move

All four IMs getting felicitated at the inauguration ceremony

The tournament was inaugurated by Mr. Vinay Chhajlani, Founder and Group President of Webdunia. On this occasion, the well-known chess tournament organizer IA NI Vikas Sahu of Chess in Lakecity, top seeded IM P Shyam Nikhil, Arjuna Awardee IM D V Prasad, IM Anup Deshmukh, Madhya Pradesh's superstar IM Ayush Sharma, all four International Masters, Chief Arbiter IA Yashpal Arora along with Mr. Anil Fatehchandani and Mr. Rakesh Soni of MP Chess Ad hoc Committee were present on the stage.

"Inauguration of the second round, the chess players of Peepal Chowk (my teachers of 20-25 years ago with whom I used to play sitting on the Chaupal in the village - Respected Dr. Satyanarayan, Mr. Bose Ba, Mr. Narayan Paliwal and Mr. Nayak) made moves on the board." - IA Sunil Soni writes.

Indore Municipal Corporation Additional Commissioner - 84th seeded Siddharth Jain scored an impressive 7/9, gained 60.8 Elo rating points, finished 13th overall and won the first prize in Rating 1000-1200 category

Indore Police Commissioner - Makrand Deouskar managed to play three rounds from his busy schedule

Players in action

The prize distribution ceremony was conducted in presence of Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association Vice President - Mr. Om Soni, Madhya Pradesh Chess Ad hoc Committee Chairman - Mr. Gurmeet Singh, MIC member - Mr. Rajesh Udawat and International Arbiter Kapil Saxena. On this occasion, Chief Arbiter Mr. Yashpal Arora, Mr. Vikas Sahu of Chess in Lakecity, Social worker - Mr. Jitendra Soni of Khajrana, Mrs. Sonia Soni, Mr. Girish Dhoot and Mr. Piyush Zamindar were also present.

The tournament hall at Suruchi Garden in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Thanks to IA NI Sunil Soni, Organizing Secretary of the tournament, for sharing the photos and info about the tournament.

A total of 360 players including 4 IMs took part from various states across the country. The two-day nine round Rapid Rating Open tournament was organized by Unite Indore Chess Club at Suruchi Garden in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 6th and 7th January 2024. The time control of the event was 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	3	FM	Ayush, Sharma			IND	2172	MP	8,5	52	55	51,75	8
2	1	IM	Shyaamnikhil, P			IND	2346	ICF	8	53,5	55	47,50	7
3	9		Mrittika, Mallick		w	IND	1869	West Bengal	7,5	53	58	46,25	7
4	6		Dere, Pushkar			IND	1963	Maharashtra	7,5	53	57	44,50	7
5	4	IM	Prasad, Devaki V	S60		IND	2019	Karnataka	7,5	52,5	56,5	45,25	6
6	2	IM	Deshmukh, Anup			IND	2199	Maharashtra	7,5	50,5	55	44,25	7
7	16		Nema, Anupam			IND	1659	Indore-MP	7,5	45,5	48,5	39,25	7
8	13		Badrinath, S.			IND	1805	Puducherry	7	53	56	40,00	7
9	34		Harshit, Dawar			IND	1395	Indore-MP	7	51,5	55,5	41,00	6
10	11		Singh, Sukhpal			IND	1850	Indore-MP	7	50,5	54,5	40,75	5
11	10	AFM	Choubey, Saurabh			IND	1866	MP	7	50,5	54	39,00	6
12	5		Kant, Rupesh			IND	2009	MP	7	49	54	40,50	6
13	84		Siddharth, Jain			IND	1143	Indore-MP	7	48	52	38,50	7
14	22		Gabbar,			IND	1530	Uttar Pradesh	7	48	51	38,00	7
15	26		Rajendra, Gupta	S60		IND	1480	Uttar Pradesh	7	48	50,5	37,50	7
16	32		Kanish, Kumar			IND	1423	Haryana	7	47,5	52,5	40,50	6
17	20		Vedant, Bhardwaj			IND	1599	MP	7	47,5	51,5	38,25	6
18	19		Todwal, Sudeep			IND	1617	Indore-MP	7	47	51,5	38,25	6
19	7		Singh, Nishit			IND	1934	Indore-MP	7	47	49,5	37,50	6
20	31		Joshi, Vinod	S60		IND	1423	MP	7	45,5	49,5	37,00	6