Nandish and Shanmathi are Tamil Nadu State Under-17 2024 Champions

by R Anantharam - 21/05/2024

V S Nandish and Shanmathi Sree S became Tamil Nadu State Under-17 Open and Girls 2024 Champions. Nandish scored an unbeaten 8/9 and finished a half point ahead of the field. S Gokul Krishna, S Haridev and N R Jaidambareesh scored 7.5/9 each. They secured second to fourth place respectively. In the Girls event, Shanmathi scored sole 7.5/9 to become the champion. Six girls - S Kanishka, S Padmini, Theephigaa K P, K Sindhusree, R Charudharshini and P Janani scored 7/9 each. They were placed second to seventh according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹50000, ₹25000 for each event. The top three prizes were ₹5000 + trophy, ₹4000 + trophy and ₹3500 each. The five-day rating tournament was organized by Sivakasi Chess Club and Sethu Institute of Technology at Sethu Institute of Technology in Kariapatti, Tamil Nadu from 1st to 5th May 2024. This is Nandish's first rating and third overall tournament triumph of the year. For Shanmathi, it is her third overall and second rating tournament victory after she won National Amateur Below 2300 Women earlier this year. Photos: R Anantharam

Two clear champions

V S Nandish of Coimbatore and S Shanmathi Sree of Chennai annexed the Tamil Nadu State Under-17 Chess Championship titles for Open and Girls categories respectively. The tournaments were organised by Sivakasi Chess Club and Sethu Institute of Technology, Kariapatti. Both Nandish and Shanmathi became undisputed champions scoring eight and 7.5 points, half a point ahead of the nearest field.

VS Nandish receives the champion trophy from Ms. Nilofer Fathima, the President of Madurai District Chess Association and also Director of Sethu Institute of Technology

Shanmathi Sree is the winner in the Girls’ category

S Gokul Krishna of Tirupur, S Haridev of Chennai and N R Jaidambareesh of Nagercoil scored 7.5 points each and finished second to fourth respectively.

S Gokul Krishna of Tirupur had a superior tiebreak to secure the second spot

S Haridev of Chennai won the third place

N R Jaidambareesh of Nagercoil was declared fourth, based on the tiebreak score

Among the girls, seven players collected six points each to tie for the second to seventh places. S Kanishka of Salem and S Padmini of Chengalpattu pipped others with better tiebreak data to clinch the second and third places respectively.

S Kanishka of Salem had the best Buchholz Cut 1 score to get the runner-up spot among the girls

S Padmini of Chengalpattu, one of the six players to score seven points got the third place

The top two finishers in both categories will represent Tamil Nadu in the National championship.

Winner and runner-up in both categories

The runner up of the 2023 edition S Jaisankar of Virudhunagar drew with Kavin Vijayakumar of Madurai in the final round and had to be content with the fifth place. Kavin collected the eighth rank.

2023 runner-up S Jai Sankar of Virudhunagar (left) had to be content with the fifth place by splitting the point with Kavin of Madurai

National Schools Under-17 champion - R Shadhurshhaan also of Virudhunagar district lost his podium chances, when he was shocked by Dharshan Saastha in the seventh round. Dharshan was placed sixth.

National Schools Under-17 champion, R Shadhurshhaan of the host district (left) was shocked by Dharshan Saastha in the seventh round. Dharshan was placed sixth

After seven consecutive wins Nandish settled for two draws against S Rohith and the second placed Gokul in the final two rounds to make sure of his title.

Seven wins in the first seven rounds and two draws in the remaining two rounds fetched the title for Nandish (right)

The speciality of the girls’ section was that both top two seeds Keerti and Shanmathi lost in the fourth round. After three more wins, Keerthi drew and lost in the final two rounds to get the eighth rank. But Shanmathi had four wins and a draw against Kanishka in the remaining five games to run away with the title.

Shanmathi Sree had a fantastic performance of four wins and a draw in the last five rounds to win the title

Theephigaa KP drew with Kanishka and achieved the fourth rank

Fourth seeded K Sindhusree of Chengalpattu (left) upset the top seed Keerti Shree Reddy also of Chennai to move to fifth rank

R Charudharshini of Madurai (left) defeated J Janani to reach the sixth place

Ms. Nilofer Fathima, Preisdent Madurai DCA and Seeni Mohamed Aliar Maraikkayar, JCEO of Sethu Institute of Technology inaugurated the tournament in the presence of P Pragadesh, Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

Ms. Nilofer Fathima, President of Madurai District Chess Association and Director SIT and Seeni Mohamed Aliar Maraikkayar, JCEO of Sethu Institute inaugurated the tournament in the presence of P. Pragadesh, Joint Secretary Tamil Nadu State CA

Sethu Institute of Technology, situated about 15 km from Madurai airport is a constant supporter of chess. Two years back, it organised the Tamil Nadu State Under-15 Chess Championships successfully. The whole family of management evinces interest in chess.

The chairman of SIT S Mohamed Jaleel is a chess lover and instrumental in organising a plethora of chess activities in the college campus. His outstanding service to the rural people has crowned him with many awards like Communal Harmony Award, Best Administrator Award and Maamanithar Award etc.

S. Mohamed Jaleel, Chairman, SIT

CEO SM Seeni Mohaideen MBA is a great sports lover and he was also the president of Tamil Nadu State Football Association for several years. His Sethu football club is a professional team for women.

Seeni Mohaideen, the CEO of the college is a fan of chess and sports

Ms. S M Nilofer Fathima MBA (PhD), Director of SIT, is an inspiration for chess levers in and around Madurai. After she became the president of Madurai District Chess Association in 2023, many innovations and incentives have been brought into Madurai district chess activities.

Some of the incentives announced by the district association are: 1) State champions from the Madurai district will be given airfare to participate in the National Championships 2) state champions from Madurai district will get a cash incentive of Rs.10000, national champions - Rs. 25000, IMs - Rs.75000 and GMs - Rs. 100000.

SM Seeni Mohamed Aliar Maraikkayar MBA possesses excellent problem-solving skills and astute leadership qualities, maybe because of the influence of chess.

Dr. S M Nazia Fathima, M.E., Ph.D., the Director (R & D) is a prominent scholar, having a vision to fortify the institution. She shows a lot of interest in the chess activities of the institution.

Dr. Nazia Fathima evinces keen interest in chess

A total of 221 in the Open and 94 in the Girls participated from various districts across Tamil Nadu in this five-day nine round Under-17 Rating Open and Girls tournaments. It was organized by Sivakasi Chess Club and Sethu Institute of Technology at Sethu Institute of Technology in Kariapatti, Tamil Nadu from 1st to 5th May 2024. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings in Open

Rk.	SNo	Name	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	7	Nandish, V S	3898CBE2024	IND	1900	Coimbatore	8	52,5	56,5	49,50	7
2	11	Gokul, Krishna S	7618TPR2024	IND	1882	Tiruppur	7,5	53	57	46,00	6
3	6	Haridev, S	3718CHE2024	IND	1929	Chennai	7,5	49,5	54	42,25	7
4	12	Jaidambareesh, N R	5039KKI2024	IND	1862	Kanyakumari	7,5	49	52	41,50	7
5	2	Jai, Sankar Subramanian	9131VNR2024	IND	1983	Virudhunagar	7	52,5	57	42,25	6
6	24	Darshan, Sasthaa M	7891TLR2024	IND	1737	Tiruvallur	7	49,5	53,5	38,50	6
7	35	Stanley, Blessing J V	9693TUT2024	IND	1682	Thoothukudi	7	47,5	50	37,25	6
8	3	Kavin, Vijayakumar	5550MDU2024	IND	1982	Madurai	7	47	51	39,00	6
9	14	Rohith, S	6780SIV2024	IND	1857	Sivagangai	6,5	51	55,5	37,25	5
10	19	Goutham, Ramesh	2399CHE2024	IND	1777	Chennai	6,5	50	53,5	36,50	5

Details

Final standings in Girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	2	AFM	Shanmathi, Sree S	24410CHE2024	IND	1848	Chennai	7,5	49,5	54,5	44,50	7
2	3		Kanishka, S	6612SLM2024	IND	1842	Salem	7	52	55,5	41,50	5
3	6		Padmini, S	1313CGL2024	IND	1798	Chengalpattu	7	51,5	55	40,50	6
4	9	AFM	Theephigaa, K P	2735CHE2024	IND	1745	Chennai	7	49	51	37,00	6
5	4		Sindhusree, K	2310CGL2024	IND	1825	Chengalpattu	7	48,5	52,5	38,50	7
6	18		Charudharshini, R	5560MDU2024	IND	1593	Madurai	7	47	51	37,50	7
7	23		Janani, P	9132VNR2024	IND	1559	Virudhunagar	7	45,5	47,5	34,50	7
8	1	WFM	Keerti, Shree Reddy	23961CGL2024	IND	1932	Chengalpattu	6,5	50,5	54,5	37,00	6
9	5	ACM	Nivedita, V C	2390CHE2024	IND	1804	Chennai	6,5	49	54	37,25	6
10	15		Pranavasri, S	11122CHE2024	IND	1608	Chennai	6,5	42,5	43,5	28,75	6

Details

Links

Sethu Institute of Technology

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed