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Likhit Chilukuri becomes the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Champion

by Hinduja Reddy - 07/10/2019

Nine rounds of closely contested chess battles at the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Championship came to a successful end on Sunday. Out of the hard-fought competition, it was 21-year-old Likhit Chilukuri who emerged as the clear champion with 8.5/9 points. Prachura P.P. and Parthasarathy R. followed him closely just half a point behind with 8.0/9 each, finishing second and third respectively. WIM Isha Sharma suffered a shock defeat in the penultimate round in the hands of Jagadish P and ended up finishing fourteenth. Thus, the event didn't turn out to be a memorable one for the top seed. In this final article our author Hinduja Reddy brings you the highlights of all the important moments from the last day of the tournament.

Likhit, Prachura, Parthasarathy, and Keshav to represent Karnataka in the National Premier Chess Championship

The Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Open Chess Championship came to conclusion here at Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education, Bengaluru on Sunday. 21-year-old Likhit Chilukuri clinched the title with a whopping 8.5 points out of possible nine after defeating his final round opponent Rakshith Srinivasan. Pocketing Rs. 40,000 as cash prize and a glittering trophy, Likhit employed the Tarrasch Variation of the French defense against Rakshith in the opening with the white pieces. He got his chances early in the game and converted the advantage into a winning opposite coloured bishop ending which went on for seventy moves until Black resigned.

Likhit Chilukuri is the unbeaten winner of this year's Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Championship and is one of the four players who would be representing the state in the upcoming National premier | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Likhit won all his games except the one against Arnav Muralidhar in round five. He gained 24.8 Elo points from the event.

With eight points in the kitty, the second seeded Prachura P Padakannaya finished as first runner-up after scoring a point against Raghavendra V in the final round. Parthasarathy R climbed up the leaderboard beating Manasa K. and even matched Prachura's score but had to be satisfied with the second runner-up position on the basis of tie breaks. Prachura became richer by Rs. 35,000 while Parthasarathy R went back home with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000.

Prachura P.P. suffered an upset in the third round against lower rated Prasiddhi Bhat but recovered well to finish second in the event | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Prachura (right) in action against Raghavendra in the last round | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Parthasarathy R lost to Devi Das Suresh Pai in round four but registered five victories in a row thereafter to ensure a strong finish | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Parthasarathy and Manasa fighting it out in the last round | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Keshav Kothari defeated Sushrutha Reddy in the last round and finished fourth | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Likhit Chilukuri, Prachura P.P, Parthasarathy R and Keshav Kothari will represent Karnataka in the upcoming National Premier Chess Championship which is set to take place in December 2019.

Rakshith Srinivasan lost to Likhit in the last round but finished sixth with a commendable score of 7.5/9. Check out his game against Ajith Chandy Jose below from round eight | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Jagadish P stunned WIM Isha Sharma in round eight and drew against Varma Shabdik in the final round to finish seventh with 7.5/9 points. His encounter against Isha from the penultimate round is given below | Photo: Akshayakalpa

In the glittering closing ceremony Sri Hanumantha R, President of UKCA, gave away the trophies and cash prizes to the winners in presence of Shri. Anand Yadwad, Marketing Head of Akshayakalpa Organic Dairy.

Check out all photos of the colourful prize distribution in the Facebook album below:

Priyadarshan Banjan who has been the manager of Nihal Sarin since the last 4-5 years answered questions of parents/players on various aspects of developing a chess career. This was a particularly interesting and enlightening session for everyone.

Young players and chess parents were eager to learn a lot of things from Priyadarshan | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Video gallery

Hear Mrs Sujatha speak about her daughter's love for chess and what they enjoy about Akshayakalpa tournaments!

Akshayakalpa's young customer tells why he loves playing chess!

Another young customer has a very unique reason for why he plays chess. Listen to him!

Mr Pradeep has been Akshayakalpa's customer for some months and talks about how Akshayakalpa is building a chess culture in Bangalore and why his kids love Akshayakalpa Organic Milk products.

A customer and chess parent tells that she is happy Akshayakalpa delivers what it promises.

Mr Makrand says his son was very excited to play the tournament. He adds that after tasting the sample, he is definitely going to subscribe to Akshayakalpa Organic Milk.

Results of round eight

Bo.No.NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtgNo.
117AIMKaushik G Iyer 1788 0 - 1 Likhit Chilukuri 19268
29Rakshith Srinivasan 1899 1 - 0 Ajith Chandy Jose 0248
314Jagadish P 18296 1 - 06 WCMSharma Isha 21821
415Sudarshan Bhat 18156 0 - 16 Prachura P.P. 21302
55Parthasarathy R 19846 1 - 06 Chincholimath Halsagar 181216
641Devi Das Suresh Pai 16156 0 - 16 Varma Shabdhik 19476
77Santoshkashyap Hg 19316 ½ - ½6 Anantharam R U 176323
810Sharan Rao 18946 ½ - ½6 Keshav Kothari 177520
912Raghavendra V. 18656 1 - 06 Arnav Muralidhar 173926
1013Manasa K. 18306 1 - 06 Bachikar Girish 169829

Results of round nine

Bo.No.NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtgNo.
18Likhit Chilukuri 1926 1 - 0 Rakshith Srinivasan 18999
22Prachura P.P. 21307 1 - 07 Raghavendra V. 186512
313Manasa K. 18307 0 - 17 Parthasarathy R 19845
46Varma Shabdhik 19477 ½ - ½7 Jagadish P 182914
524Shiva S 1756 ½ - ½ Santoshkashyap Hg 19317
632Vaibhav Kalpaka 1675 0 - 1 Sharan Rao 189410
7248Ajith Chandy Jose 0 0 - 1 AIMKaushik G Iyer 178817
834ACMAnil Thungesh 1665 ½ - ½ Teja Kirthi 178518
989Ruthvik R 1324 0 - 1 Gavi Siddayya 178319
1020Keshav Kothari 1775 1 - 0 AIMSushrutha Reddy 161740

Standings and crosstable

Rk.NameRtg1.Rd2.Rd3.Rd4.Rd5.Rd6.Rd7.Rd8.Rd9.RdPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
1Likhit Chilukuri1926184w1121b1 70w1 22b1 17w½ 58b1 10w1 5b1 6w18,50,051,559,0
2Prachura P.P.2130283w1128b1 43w0193b1102w1 57b1 24w1 49b1 23w18,00,045,553,0
3Parthasarathy R1984469b+147b1140w1 13b0 40w1136w1 33b1 59w1 21b18,00,044,551,5
4Keshav Kothari1775118w1238b1 61w1 57b1 56w1 14b½ 12w½ 9b½ 31w17,50,048,555,5
5AIMKaushik G Iyer1788173b1117w1 36b1 52w1 92b½ 91w1 18b1 1w0 30b17,50,047,556,0
6Rakshith Srinivasan1899369b1157w1 44b1 31w1 35b1 18w½ 32b1 30w1 1b07,50,047,055,5
7Jagadish P1829206w1257b1 80w1 8b0 46w1 56b1137w1 14w1 11b½7,50,046,554,0
8Amith A1525253b1205w1158b1 7w1 15b½ 32w0 76b1 91w1 34b17,50,045,553,0
9Sharan Rao1894470w+350w1116b1 60w1 91b½ 51w1 17b½ 4w½ 35b17,50,045,052,5
10Gavi Siddayya1783276b1151w1 38b1 62w1136b½ 92w1 1b0 51w1 36b17,50,044,052,5

Complete results and standings

About the author

The entire coverage of the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Chess Championship 2019 was brought to you by Hinduja Reddy, who was present in the venue of the event. We hope you enjoyed reading her articles. 

Hinduja is a 24-year-old Chess Entrepreneur who lives in Bengaluru. She is a former National Women's B bronze medalist, chess writer, coach and co-founder of ChessMine events.



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