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National Challengers 2017 kicks off with Parthiv Patel as the chief guest

by Gopakumar Sudhakaran - 13/08/2017

One of the most important tournaments in the Indian circuit National Challengers 2017 is about to begin from 13th of August 2017. On 12th August former Indian test cricketer Parthiv Patel attended the opening ceremony and made the inaugural moves against WIM Dhyani Dave. Round one begins at 3 p.m. on 13th. Top seed is GM Aravindh Chithambaram followed by  S.L. Narayanan, Lalith Babu and ten other grandmasters and seventeen International Masters. Pictures from the opening ceremony.

Aravindh gets top billing at the National Challengers

Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamilnadu starts as the top seed at the 55th National Challengers Chess Championship formerly known as National B Chess Championship that gets underway at Karnavati Club, Ahmedabad from Sunday.

 

The event will see 13 grandmasters and 17 International Masters in action in a field of more than 250 players from 27 states and 10 Institutional teams. Grandmasters S L Narayanan of Kerala and MR Lalith Babu of PSPB are the second and third seed respectively in this thirteen round Swiss system tournament.

Starting rank (players above 2200)

No.   Name ID FideID FED Rtg sex Club/City
1 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 0 5072786 IND 2579   TN
2 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 0 5058422 IND 2564   KER
3 GM Lalith Babu M R 0 5024595 IND 2529   PSPB
4 GM Narayanan Srinath 0 5018420 IND 2524   AI
5 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 0 5019184 IND 2516   RSPB
6 GM Himanshu Sharma 0 5007836 IND 2514   RSPB
7 GM Kunte Abhijit 0 5002265 IND 2505   PSPB
8 GM Debashis Das 0 5024854 IND 2493   ODI
9 IM Thejkumar M. S. 0 5009154 IND 2481   RSPB
10 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. 0 5011132 IND 2466   RSPB
11 GM Bakre Tejas 0 5004195 IND 2464   AI
12 IM Swayams Mishra 0 5028183 IND 2455   AI
13 IM Shyaamnikhil P 0 5024218 IND 2447   RSPB
14 IM Nitin S. 0 5018277 IND 2421   RSPB
15 IM Das Arghyadip 0 5003610 IND 2419   RSPB
16 IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 0 5004306 IND 2410   AI
17 GM Laxman R.R. 0 5005361 IND 2397   RSPB
18 IM Krishna C R G 0 5018625 IND 2387   RSPB
19 IM Ravi Teja S. 0 5017220 IND 2383   RSPB
20 GM Sriram Jha 0 5001668 IND 2375   LIC
21   Hemant Sharma (del) 0 5025842 IND 2371   RSPB
22 IM Rathnakaran K. 0 5005507 IND 2354   RSPB
23 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 0 5013623 IND 2344 w PSPB
24 FM Erigaisi Arjun 0 35009192 IND 2342   TEL
25   Navalgund Niranjan 0 5030854 IND 2335   TN
26 IM Padmini Rout 0 5029295 IND 2327 w PSPB
27 AGM Fenil Shah 0 5019850 IND 2326   GUJ
28 FM Mitrabha Guha 0 5057000 IND 2323   WB
29 GM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi 0 5002974 IND 2317   RSPB
30   Akash Pc Iyer 0 5006775 IND 2304   TN
31   Audi Ameya 0 25034430 IND 2287   GOA
32 IM Sharma Dinesh K. 0 5004110 IND 2279   LIC
33 IM Chakravarthi Reddy M 0 25009532 IND 2277   TEL
34   Sammed Jaykumar Shete 0 5073421 IND 2277   MAH
35 IM Kathmale Sameer 0 5024498 IND 2275   MAH
36 IM Shashikant Kutwal 0 5006520 IND 2268   RSPB
37 FM Gajwa Ankit 0 5077834 IND 2267   MP
38   Sankalp Gupta 0 5097010 IND 2254   MAH
39   Tiwari Arjun 0 5011337 IND 2251   MP
40   Kaustuv Kundu 0 5056900 IND 2240   WB
41   Wagh Suyog 0 25071688 IND 2234   MAH
42   Rathore S.K. 0 5000750 IND 2230   MP
43   Ram S. Krishnan 0 5010519 IND 2214   BSNL
44   Nayak Rajesh 0 35017152 IND 2211   ODI
45 IM Shetty Rahul 0 5000513 IND 2207   AI
46   Dhananjay S 0 5092892 IND 2206   CHAT
47   Lokesh N. 0 5025044 IND 2205   TN

Complete starting list

The total prize fund of the event is Rupees 5 Lakhs out of which Rs. 1.5 Lakhs is reserved for the winner. India's latest grandmasters N. Srinath of Air India, Himanshu Sharma of Railways and former National Champion Abhijit Kunte of PSPB will be eying the winner’s purse.

Parthiv Patel at the Opening ceremony:

In a colourful opening ceremony on Saturday evening, Test Cricketer Parthiv Patel formally inaugurated the event by making customary first move against Gujarat’s first Women International Master Dhyani Dave

Parthiv knows his chess 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3!
Gujarat State Chess Association Secretary Bhavesh Patel welcomes Parthiv Patel
Did you know, Parthiv debuted in the year 2002 against England at Trent Bridge at 17 years and 153 days to become Test Cricket's youngest wicketkeeper.

Round one begins from 13th of August at 3 p.m. Top nine players from the tournament qualify for the National Premier.

About the author:

Gopakumar became an A-grade International Arbiter during the FIDE Arbiter's Commission meeting. He is only the fifth Indian to achieve this feat. He was the chief arbiter at two 2600+ double round robin events, Asian Youth Chief Arbiter at South Korea, Deputy chief arbiter at Asian Youth and Asian Junior at New Delhi. He dedicates his success to the Air Force background that he comes from.