Sailesh R clinches 1st Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 Rating Tournament 2023

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/06/2023

Sailesh R (TN) scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 1st Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 Rating Tournament 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the field. Four players - Sriram Adarsh Uppala (TEL), Nikhil M (AP), Umashankar A (PUD) and Arnav Mahesh Koli (MAH) scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed second to fifth respectively according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹1000000. The top three prizes were ₹110000, ₹95000 and ₹85000 along with a trophy each respectively. This is Sailesh's fifth tournament triumph of the year, first open rating tournament victory of his career. The only other rating tournament he won was a Below 1600 event on 1st January 2020. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Four kids among top ten

Sailesh R had a sole lead 7.5/8 heading into the final round. He drew his game against 13-year-old Sriram Adarsh Uppala, the only person who could overtake him, to become a clear champion. Sriram Adarsh was placed second. Three more players ended up having the same score as him 7.5/9. Third seeded Nikhil M secured third place according to tie-breaks. The Asian Youth Under-10 Open 2022 triple Gold medalist, Madhvendra Pratap Sharma (MP) scored 7/9 to finish eighth.

Champion - Sailesh R 8/9

Runner-up - Sriram Adarsh Uppala 7.5/9

"I got introduced to chess from a ludo box and suddenly fell in love with it" - Sriram Adarsh Uppala | Video: ChessBase India

Second Runner-up - Nikhil M 7.5/9

My best game of the tournament went for almost 150 moves - Nikhil M | Video: ChessBase India

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd Sriram Adarsh Uppala 7.5/9, 1st Sailesh R 8/9 and 3rd Nikhil M 7.5/9

Sailesh R scored an unbeaten 8/9 and increased his Elo rating by 132.8 points

4th Umashankar A 7.5/9

5th Arnav Mahesh Koli 7.5/9

6th Viresh Sharnarthi 7/9

7th Om Nagnath Lamkane 7/9

8th Madhvendra Pratap Sharma 7/9

9th Sudarshan Malga 7/9

10th Bishal Basak 7/9

The beautiful trophies for the prize winners

The tournament hall at Naivedhyam Northstar in Nagpur, Maharashtra

1st Maharashtra Chess Festival Below 2000 rating tournament was part of Maharashtra Chess Festival 2023

For more photos, please click here.

A total of 274 players took part from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and USA in this four-day nine-round Swiss league Rating tournament which was organized by Maharashtra Chess Association at Naivedhyam Northstar in Nagpur, Maharashtra from 1st to 4th June 2023. The time control for the tournament was 60 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	36	Sailesh, R			IND	1697	TN	8	48	52,5	46,00	0	7
2	28	Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	U13		IND	1743	TEL	7,5	52,5	57	47,00	0	7
3	3	Nikhil, M			IND	1888	AP	7,5	48	52	43,50	0	7
4	2	Umashankar, A			IND	1891	PON	7,5	44,5	49	41,00	0	7
5	58	Arnav, Mahesh Koli	U13		IND	1628	MAH	7,5	44,5	48	40,50	0	7
6	17	Sharnarthi, Viresh	U13		IND	1781	MAH	7	49	54	40,25	0	6
7	12	Om, Nagnath Lamkane			IND	1840	MAH	7	47,5	52,5	39,50	0	6
8	20	Madhvendra, Pratap Sharma	U11		IND	1766	MP	7	47	50	38,00	0	5
9	4	Sudarshan, Malga			IND	1881	MP	7	46,5	51	37,25	0	6
10	16	Basak, Bishal			IND	1788	WB	7	46,5	50,5	37,50	0	6
11	9	Chandan, Mandal			IND	1858	DEL	6,5	53	57	38,25	0	6
12	38	Sham, R			IND	1686	TN	6,5	49,5	54	36,50	0	5
13	7	Mithun, Anand V			IND	1871	TN	6,5	49	53,5	37,25	0	5
14	37	Mrityunjay, Kumar			IND	1690	BIH	6,5	47	51,5	34,00	0	6
15	11	Jai, Sankar Subramanian			IND	1847	TN	6,5	45,5	50	34,25	0	5
16	13	Patil, Priyanshu			IND	1831	MAH-V	6,5	45,5	49,5	35,00	0	5
17	65	Samal, Ansuman			IND	1609	ODI	6,5	45,5	49,5	32,75	0	6
18	83	Soni, Sangharsh			IND	1567	MP	6,5	45,5	49	32,75	0	6
19	29	Bhoir, Paras Dilip	U15		IND	1727	MAH	6,5	45	49	33,00	0	5
20	64	Sai, Mahati A		w	IND	1609	TEL	6,5	44,5	48,5	31,75	0	6