IM Neelash Saha and Samriddhaa Ghosh win 30th National under-17 2019

by Shahid Ahmed - 09/07/2019

Second seed IM Neelash Saha started the tournament in a strong way by scoring six consecutive wins and gained a lead by a full point. Then he made three consecutive draws and tied with Arjun Gupta of Delhi. However he won the last two rounds and finished with 9.5/11 to clinch the title. In the girls section, Samriddhaa started with a loss in the opening round. Then she made a strong comeback and played some inspired chess in the last two rounds to finish at 8.5/11, half point ahead of the runner-up WFM Saina Salonika. Photo: M Ephrame

West Bengal dominates 30th National under-17

Samriddhaa Ghosh (left) and IM Neelash Saha (right) won 30th National under-17 in girls and open respectively | Photo: M Ephrame

Neelash started out strong with six consecutive wins, then he made three draws before winning the final two rounds. Speaking with the author of this article, Neelash was unhappy with a couple of draws and he wanted to finish with 10.0/11 instead of his score 9.5/11.

IM Neelash Saha receives Champion's Trophy and ₹25000 cash | Photo: M Ephrame

Neelash's unbeaten run of 9.5/11

Neelash's best win was against Aditya P Melani (1871) of Gujarat in the final round of the tournament.

Samriddhaa has come close to a podium finish countless times in National championships but unfortunately she always missed the mark. Speaking with the author of this article, Samriddha exclaimed that she did not expect to win it and she was absolutely delighted to win it. A separate article with both champions' interviews will be published soon.

Samriddhaa receives her maiden National title, a beautiful trophy and ₹25000 cash | Photo: M Ephrame

Samriddhaa started out with a loss but then made jubilant comeback to win the tournament

Samriddhaa played brilliantly in the last two rounds, making the most out of two Whites and she was in a must win situation in the final round to become the champion. Here is her final round game against Kalyani B (1692) of Andhra Pradesh.

Newly crowned West Bengal State under-25 champion CM Aronyak Ghosh scored 9.0/10 and secured runner-up position. He received a trophy and won ₹18000 cash | Photo: M Ephrame

Reigning National Sub-Junior runner-up, Utsab Chatterjee scored 8.0/9 and he was placed 3rd. He bagged home a trophy and ₹15000 cash | Photo: M Ephrame

After making her second WIM-norm at Goa GM Open, top seed WFM Salonika Saina did not have the best tournament as she scored 8.0/11 and finished 2nd according to tie-breaks. She received a trophy and ₹18000 cash | Photo: M Ephrame

B Kalyani (1692) of Andhra Pradesh also scored 8.0/11. She was placed 3rd and received ₹15000 cash | Photo: M Ephrame

Photo Gallery:

West Bengal showed their dominance as the entire top 3 in open and champion in girls was claimed by players of West Bengal | Photo: M Ephrame

The tournament was inaugurated with the lighting of the lamp | Photo: 4 Queens Chess Club

The Secretary of AICF Bharat Singh Chauhan makes the inaugural move | Photo: 4 Queens Chess Club

The shining new glittering trophies | Photo: 4 Queens Chess Club

The organizers made a highlights of the Prize Distribution Ceremony | Video: East Venice Chess Solutions/4 Queens Chess Club

Total 89 players in open and 55 girls participated in 30th National under-17 open and girls championships from 29th June to 7th July 2019. The tournament was organized by 4 Queens Chess Club, Ernakulam at Oberon Mall, Ernakulam. The Closing Ceremony was attended by Joji John, Center Manager of Oberon Mall, distributed the prizes to the winners. Rajesh Nattakom, Secretary, Chess Association Kerala presided over the meeting. Rintu Marketing Manager Oberon Mall and Arun Bose, Secretary, Ernakulam Chess Association Felicitated the event. Subha Rakesh, President of Ernakulam Chess Association delivered the vote of thanks.

Final Standings in open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2		Neelash Saha	IND	2315	West Bengal	9,5	0,0	74,0	80,0	68,00	8
2	1	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2349	West Bengal	9,0	0,0	75,0	80,5	63,50	7
3	4		Utsab Chatterjee	IND	2067	West Bengal	8,0	1,0	72,0	77,5	53,25	7
4	16		Arjun Gupta	IND	1851	Delhi	8,0	0,0	73,0	77,5	51,75	7
5	18		Nawin J J	IND	1831	Tamil Nadu	7,5	0,0	71,5	75,5	47,75	5
6	12		Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki	IND	1893	Tamil Nadu	7,5	0,0	70,5	75,0	47,50	5
7	11		Vrandesh Parekh	IND	1915	Gujarat	7,5	0,0	64,0	68,5	46,25	5
8	24		Genish Prakash J	IND	1797	Tamil Nadu	7,5	0,0	60,0	62,0	40,00	6
9	6		Sibi Visal R	IND	2000	Tamil Nadu	7,0	0,0	72,5	78,0	46,50	6
10	20		Mohamed Anees M	IND	1819	Tamil Nadu	7,0	0,0	68,0	72,5	41,75	6
11	8		Rakshith Srinivasan	IND	1935	Karnataka	7,0	0,0	67,0	72,0	43,00	6
12	9		Vaibhav Jayant Raut	IND	1922	Maharashtra	7,0	0,0	66,5	71,0	42,00	5
13	5		Ayush Sharma	IND	2011	Madhya Pradesh	7,0	0,0	64,5	69,0	42,00	5
14	13		Aditya P Melani	IND	1871	Gujarat	7,0	0,0	62,5	67,0	41,00	6
15	47		Rohith S	IND	1556	Tamil Nadu	7,0	0,0	58,0	61,5	35,00	6
16	43		Dhoot Vinit	IND	1591	Maharashtra	7,0	0,0	56,0	59,5	34,50	7
17	3	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2183	Jharkand	6,5	0,0	71,5	78,0	44,75	4
18	27		Wairagade Khush	IND	1731	Maharashtra	6,5	0,0	68,5	73,0	39,50	5
19	25		Wankhede Avishkar	IND	1747	Maharashtra	6,5	0,0	68,5	73,0	38,25	6
20	31		Ananthapadmanabh D V	IND	1715	Kerala	6,5	0,0	66,0	70,5	37,75	5

Complete standings

Final Standings in girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	4		Ghosh Samriddhaa	IND	1913	West Bengal	8,5	0,0	64,5	69,0	54,00	7
2	1	WFM	Salonika Saina	IND	2123	Orissa	8,0	1,5	70,5	76,0	54,75	5
3	9		Kalyani B	IND	1692	Andhra Pradesh	8,0	1,0	68,0	72,5	51,00	6
4	3	WCM	Jyothsna L	IND	1985	Tamil Nadu	8,0	0,5	69,5	75,0	51,00	7
5	26		Bharathakoti Sneha	IND	1422	Telangana	7,5	0,5	68,5	70,0	44,25	6
6	7		Divyabharathi Masanam	IND	1730	Tamil Nadu	7,5	0,5	60,5	65,5	44,50	4
7	12		Kaur Palkin	IND	1680	Delhi	7,0	0,0	63,5	66,5	38,75	5
8	13		Benasir M	IND	1678	Tamilnadu	7,0	0,0	62,5	67,0	42,50	3
9	15		Kiruthika B	IND	1574	Tamil Nadu	7,0	0,0	62,5	66,5	40,00	6
10	38		Anupam M Sreekumar	IND	1245	Kerala	7,0	0,0	58,5	60,0	34,50	7
11	11		Poorna Sri M.K	IND	1681	Tamil Nadu	7,0	0,0	57,0	61,0	35,75	6
12	27		Swara Lakshmi S Nair	IND	1418	Karnataka	6,5	0,0	67,5	71,0	38,00	5
13	5		Diya Chowdhury	IND	1750	West Bengal	6,5	0,0	67,0	72,5	39,75	5
14	28		Shah Vrushti	IND	1415	Gujarat	6,5	0,0	64,5	69,0	37,25	5
15	2		Shanya Mishra	IND	1994	Delhi	6,5	0,0	64,0	69,0	39,25	4
16	14	WCM	Kriti Mayur Patel	IND	1587	Maharashtra	6,5	0,0	62,0	67,0	37,50	5
17	37		Riddhi Shah	IND	1267	Gujarat	6,5	0,0	53,5	56,5	28,25	6
18	20		Annapurni S	IND	1489	Tamil Nadu	6,0	0,0	69,0	71,5	36,50	4
19	8		Garima Gaurav	IND	1713	Bihar	6,0	0,0	67,5	72,5	35,25	5
20	10		Nanditha V	IND	1687	Telangana	6,0	0,0	65,5	70,5	36,25	5