Sahil Sanjay Shejal convincingly clinches Velammal Hospital 3rd Athens of the East Below 1600 Rating 2023

by R Anantharam - 09/01/2024

Sahil Sanjay Shejal scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win Velammal Hospital presents 3rd Athens of the East GM Category C Below 1600 Rating Tournament 2023. Sahil finished a half point ahead of the field. Five players - Mohammed Muzammil A, Shashveen A K, Srinivasan Subramaniam, Kavinkumar G and Rishi R scored 8/9 each. They were placed second to sixth respectively according to tie-breaks. . The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹4000000 + trophies + 100 bicycles and eight electric scooty, ₹1000000 for Category C. The top three prizes were ₹100000 + bike, ₹60000 and ₹40000 along with a trophy each. The winner's trophy Chairman MVM trophy was a lifelike human sized, just like it was for the GM and Category B section. Sahil has won quite a few tournaments. However, this was his first rating tournament triumph of his career. Photos: IA R Anantharam

Sahil's second podium finish in a week

Sahil Sanjay Shejal is the outright winner of the C category Velammal Hospital – Athens of the East 3rd international GM tournament, organised by Ananthi Chess Academy at Velammal College of Engineering & Technology, Madurai. He scored 8.5 points from ten games, half a point ahead of Mohammed Muzammil A, Shashveen A K, Srinivasan Subramanian, Kavin Kumar G and Rishi R - all from Tamil Nadu. The tournament attracted 939 players, a record number of entries in Tamil Nadu. The combined strength of the three categories was more than 1900.

Sahil Sanjay Shejal of Maharashtra is the champion in the C category of the Velammal Hospital- Athens of the East GM tournament 2023. Dr. Suresh Kumar, Principal VCET distributed the prizes. Next to his right is P Pragadesh, the Tournament Director and Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association

In the Pirc Defence game between Sahil and Prawin of Madurai, the latter had to sacrifice his bishop to stop the pawn promotion by Sahil. The firmly rooted bishop outpost helped to pocket the point and win the title for Sahil. Besides one lac rupees as the first prize, he had also earlier won ₹60000 in the B category.

Shahil Sanjay Shejal emerged champion by beating K Prawin of Madurai in the final round. Prawin was pushed to the ninth place

752nd seeded unrated A Mohammed Muzammil of TN sprang a surprise by claiming the runner-up spot scoring eight points. The seventh round long-drawn tussle of 94 moves, with the top seed Mohd. Tabseer Alam gave confidence to Muzammil to win two more games and ₹60000

The top seed Mohd. Tabseer was held to a draw by Mohammed Muzammil (right) who is the runner-up

A Shashveen of TN, the second runner-up, cleverly snatched a bishop from the fifth seeded B U Siddhesh of TN in a Grunfeld defence in the sixth round. After exchanging the queen and the rook, it was a cakewalk for Shashveen to win the game.

11-year-old A Shashveen (left) is the second runner-up

Though Srinivasan Subramaniam of TN lost to M Sanjeev of TN in the fifth round, four consecutive wins put him in the fourth rank. Srinivasan was awarded ₹60000 for his best performance among the 1301 to 1450 rating category players.

Four consecutive wins after a debacle in a fifth round against put Srinivasan (right) in the fourth place

G Kavin Kumar of TN clinched the fifth place by finishing off Abhinav Anand of Karnataka in style in a short game of the final round.

Kavin Kumar (left) finished fifth by beating Abhinav in the final round

R Rishi defeated Gowrishankar Jayaraj in the ninth round to get the sixth place.

R Rishi (left) is ranked sixth

Vishwanath Kannam of Telangana defeated the fourth seed Dhiman Mitra of West Bengal in the seventh round, which helped him to finish seventh. Dhiman Mitra was placed next to him in the rank list.

Vishwanath Kannam (left) obtained the seventh rank and Dhiman Mitra the eighth

K Prawin’s final round loss to the eventual winner Sahil pushed him to the ninth place. He was sharing the lead for most part of the tournament.

K Prawin (right) had to be content with ninth place

Danvanth defeated the top seed in the final round to get the tenth place

A view of the huge tournament hall, where more than 1200 players played at the same time

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	29		Shejal, Sahil Sanjay			IND	1475	8,5	49,5	53,5	50,50	8
2	752		Mohammed, Muzammil A			IND	0	8	51,5	57,5	51,25	7
3	20		Shashveen, A K	U11		IND	1500	8	51,5	56	49,00	8
4	93	ACM	Srinivasan, Subramaniam			IND	1388	8	51	55,5	48,00	8
5	22		Kavinkumar, G			IND	1499	8	48	52	45,75	7
6	69		Rishi, R			IND	1417	8	44,5	48,5	43,50	7
7	35		Vishwanath, Kannam			IND	1461	7,5	53	57	45,75	7
8	4		Dhiman, Mitra			IND	1580	7,5	50	54	43,25	7
9	6		Prawin, K			IND	1558	7,5	50	54	43,00	7
10	62		Danvanth, R	U13		IND	1425	7,5	49,5	54,5	44,50	6
11	19		Sanjeev, M			IND	1502	7,5	49	52,5	42,00	7
12	26		Ravi, Palsule			IND	1490	7,5	48,5	53	42,25	7
13	53		Suman, Maity			IND	1441	7,5	48	52,5	43,25	7
14	107		Paresh, S	U13		IND	1371	7,5	45,5	48,5	38,75	7
15	86		Abhinav, Anand	U09		IND	1394	7	53	58	42,50	7
16	8		Aniket, Ranjan			IND	1556	7	52,5	57,5	43,25	6
17	5		Siddhesh, B U			IND	1579	7	52,5	56,5	41,25	6
18	36		Manikandan, Tayalan			IND	1459	7	51,5	55,5	41,00	6
19	66		Arush, A	U11		IND	1421	7	50,5	55	41,25	6
20	87		Arun, R			IND	1394	7	50,5	55	40,00	7
21	64		Kishore, Dev S			IND	1423	7	50	54	39,50	6
22	11		Gowrishankar, Jayaraj	U15		IND	1529	7	49,5	54,5	40,00	6
23	24		Logesh, Kumar R	U15		IND	1494	7	49,5	53,5	40,50	5
24	55		Gowsalyan, S			SRI	1438	7	49	53	38,75	6
25	25		Ajay, Kumar Vemuluri			IND	1490	7	49	52,5	38,00	6
26	110	AFM	Yuvanesh, A	U11		IND	1369	7	49	51	36,75	6
27	67	AFM	Shanmathi, Sree S	F13	w	IND	1420	7	48	51,5	37,00	7
28	122		Shanmugasundaram, G.			IND	1360	7	47,5	50,5	36,75	6
29	56		Prajeesh, B U	U13		IND	1438	7	47	50,5	37,50	6
30	199		Preneesh Kumar, C. S.			IND	1294	7	46,5	50,5	36,50	7
31	71		Srinish, Udhayan M	U15		IND	1416	7	46	50	37,00	5
32	139		Rohan, Kumar			IND	1345	7	45,5	49,5	37,50	6
33	242		Suhaib, Ahmad			IND	1257	7	45,5	47,5	35,00	6
34	130		Pavithra, R V	F11	w	IND	1355	7	45,5	47,5	34,50	7
35	144		Eshwar, Veerappan Aiyappan	U11		IND	1341	7	45	49,5	38,00	6
36	90		Sovna, Sonali Jena		w	IND	1393	7	44,5	48,5	37,50	6
37	50		Gopinath, P			IND	1443	7	44,5	48	36,50	7
38	143		Vishweswaran, N	U15		IND	1342	7	44	47,5	34,50	6
39	58		Ramteke, Sumedh			IND	1435	7	43,5	47,5	35,00	7
40	105		Hariharan, Gandhi			IND	1372	7	43,5	46	35,00	7

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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