Torch of 44th Chess Olympiad reaches Patna

Patna, July 6, 2022: The Chess Olympiad torch for 44th Chess Olympiad arrived in Patna on Wednesday. The chess lovers and other sports aficionados accord grand welcome to the torch relay team. The torch arrived at Patna airport by a special plane from Gwalior. Office-bearers of All Bihar Chess Association and officials of sports department welcomed the torch.

From the airport, the torch reached Gyan Bhavan in an open four-wheeler where Sport Development Authority of Bihar DG Raveendran Sankaran welcomed the torch.

At a function organised at Gyan Bhavan, Grand Master Praveen Thipsy handed over the torch to Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan, who handed over the torch to art, culture and youth department minister Alok Ranjan Jha. Later, the torch headed towards Nalnada and Rajgir by road.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Aniket, Swarnika emerge champs in Bihar School Chess

Patna, June 29, 2022: Aniket Ranjan of Begusarai won the AICF-Bihar School Chess Championships title with 8 points in the boys section while Ryan Mohammad of Patna, Devraj and Nirav Vishal of Bhojpur finished second, third and fourth respectively in the decision on the basis of tie-break points between the three players who were with the same 7.5 points.

The tournament that was organized under the aegis of All Bihar Chess Association concluded at the Indoor Stadium of Patliputra Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

At the same time, the decision for the first position in the girls' category also had to be done on the basis of tie-break marks. The tie between Adiba Ulla and Swarnika Thakur of Patna with 7.5 points was declared on the basis of Buchholz’s points where Swarnika was declared the winner and Adiba was declared the runner-up. The three players with 7 points were also decided on the basis of tie break points in which Sweta Kumari of Purnia, Aadya Shree of Muzaffarpur and Pari Sinha of Gaya got 3rd, 4th and 5th position respectively.

Bandana Preyshi, secretary, Department of Arts, Culture and Youth, was the chief guest in the prize distribution ceremony.  Raveendra Sankaran, Director General of Sports Development Authority of Bihar and Vinod Singh Gunjiyal, director of Art, Culture and Youth affairs department and the Sports Development Authority of Bihar director, Pankaj Kumar gave away the prizes to top 25 players of each category. On this occasion All Bihar Chess Association president Diljit Khanna, secretary Dharmendra Kumar, senior vice president Rajendra Kumar, Patna District Chess Association Adhoc Committee's convenor Ajit Kumar Singh, Chief arbiter Arvind Kumar Singh, deputy chief arbiter Suraj Gupta, All Bihar Chess Association vice president Jai Prakash Sinha, treasurer Manish Kumar, joint secretary Vipal Subhashi, Himanshu Kumar, Shashi Nandkumar and many other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Aniket, Ryan , Adiba surge to top in Bihar School Chess

DG Sports Development Authority of Bihar, Raveendran Sankaran, inaugurated the Bihar School Chess Championships in Patna on June 28, 2022. 

Patna, June 28: A two -day AICF-Bihar School Chess Championships  began at the Indoor Stadium of Patliputra Sports Complex here under the aegis of All Bihar Chess Association . A total of more than 200 players from all over Bihar are participating in this competition. The tournament is being organised separately for boys and girls categories. Six players selected on the basis of this competition will represent Bihar in the 44th Chess Olympiad to be held in Chennai . A total of 9 rounds are to be played in the competition and today a total of five rounds were played on the first day. 

After the end of 5 rounds , Aniket Ranjan of Begusarai and Ryan Mohammad of Patna were jointly on top with 5 points in the boys category . In the fifth round, Aniket defeated Kaifullah of Patna on the top board while Ryan outplayed Akshit Jha  on the number two board.

In the girls' category, Adiba Ulla of Patna was leading alone with 5 points. Adiba defeated Kritika Ranjan of Patna in the fifth round. Swarnika Thakur is in second place with 4.5 points. Swarnika defeated the rising player of Muzaffarpur Vandana Preyshi.

Tomorrow, four more rounds will be played in both the sections, after which the players will be selected.

The competition was inaugurated by the director general of Sports Development Authority of Bihar DG Raveendran Sankaran by lighting the lamp and playing a trick on the chessboard along with young player Partha Raj. On this occasion, the Director of the authority and the special guest  Pankaj Kumar, president of All Bihar Chess Association Diljit Khanna, secretary Dharmendra Kumar, senior vice president Rajendra Kumar, convener of Patna District Chess Association Ad-hoc Committee, Ajit Kumar Singh were present on the occasion. 

Many dignitaries including Arvind Kumar Singh, deputy chief arbiter Suraj Gupta, vice president of All Bihar Chess Association Jai Prakash Sinha, treasurer Manish Kumar, joint secretary Viparl Subhashi , Himanshu Kumar and Shashi Nandkumar were present.

 

Bharathkoti, Mahalakshmi are national junior chess champs

Pradeep Modak

PATNA: International master Harsh Bharathkoti of Telangana won the 47h National Junior Chess Championships title with 9.5 points at the end of the 11^th and final round of the play at the Patliputra Sports Complex hall here on Monday.

Women international master M Mahalakashmi of Tamil Nadu wore the 32^nd National Junior Women Chess Championships crown bagging a total of 9 points at the end of 11^th round.

There was a tie for the top spot in the boys’ section as both Bharathkoti and FIDE master Karthik Venkatram (2347) of Andhra Pradesh collected 9.5 points to finish the tournament. Buchholz system was introduced to decide the winner and Bharathkoti edged past his rival Karthik (76-73) to become the new junior national champion. Karthik had to be satisfied with the runner-up slot.

The final day saw some nerve-wreaking matches as on the top board Harsh Bharathkoit (2394) was pitted against S Jai Kumar Shetty of Maharashtra. Harsh began with Kings Indian defence while Jai Kumar attacked the Harsh’s King side but could not penetrate the rival’s defence. Both the players were agreed for draw to split the point. Jai Kumar ended his campaign with 8 points. 

On board two, Karthik and Sailesh Dravid (2314) of Maharashtra too played a draw. Sailesh too finished the campaign with 8 points. International master Krishna Teja of Andhra Pradesh (2359) and K Muthiah of Tamil Nadu also played draw in the final round on the board No. 3. Krishna Teja along with four other players rounded up his campaign with 8 points to his credit.

On the top board of the girls’ section, Samyukta of Tamil Nadu and Isha Sharma of Tamil Nadu were agreed for a draw on the 45^th move in game of Kings Indian defence. Both of them garnered 8 points at the end of the final round. On board two, M Mahalakshmi tamed Rutuja in 31 moves. With this win, Mahalakshmi took his tally to 9 points and became eventual champion.

The Buchholz system came into the fore to decide the top 18 rankings in the tournament after having tied scores in the final round.

Boys (ranking): 1. Harsh Bharathkoit; 2. Karthik Venkatraman; 3.Krishna Teja; 4. Pranav Nanda (Andhra Pradesh); 5. Raja Ritwik (Telangana);  6. S Jai Kumar Shetty (Maharashtra); 7. Sailesh Dravid (Maharashtra); 8. S Jaikumar (Tamil Nadu); 9. S Dhananjay (Chhattishgarh); 10. K Sai Agni Jeetivesh (Telangana); 11. K Muthaih (Tamil Nadu); 12. Md Nubershah Seikh (Maharashtra); 13. Harshal Shahi (Delhi); 14. Mitrava Guha (West Bengal); 15. Sidhant Mahapatra (Odisha); 16. Hemant Ram (Tamil Ndu); 17. Kaustuv Kundu (West Bengal) and 18; Kushagra Mohan (Telangana).

Girls: 1. M Mahalakshmi (Tamil Nadu); 2. Sakshi Chitlange (Maharashtra); 3. Isha Sharma (Karnataka); 4. Suniyuka CMN (Tamil Nadu); 5. Harshita Gudnati (Andhra Pradesh); 6. Priyanka (Tamil Nadu); 7. Tarini Goyal (Chandigarh); 8. Meenal Gupta (J and K); Bkashi Rutuja (Maharashtra); 10. Varshnai (Tamil Nadu); 11. Tejashwani Sagar (Gujarat); 12. Smaraki Mohanty (Odisha); Lakshmi (Tamil Ndu); 14. Aditi Patel (Maharashtra); 15. S Sathpathi (Odisha); 16. Priyambada (Andhra Pradesh); 17. Abhirami (Andhra Pradesh) and 18. Divya Lakshmi (Tamil Nadu).

Bhar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was the chief guest at the closing function, gave away the prizes.

Free chess training camp for children under 8 years

Patna, April 13, 2017: All Bihar Chess Association (ABCA) will organize chess training camp for children below 8 years at Bihar Chess Training Centre at the Moinul Haq Stadium here from April 16.

ABCA secretary Arvind Kumar Sinha said the camp would be held on April 16, 22, 23, 29 and 30.

Interested players may contact Bihar Chess Training Centre on April 15 from 5 pm to 6 pm for entry and other details.

Krishna Teja maintains lead in National Youth Chess

Uma Maheswaran P vs Krishna Teja (right) match in progress

October 17, 2015: Krishna Teja of Andhra Pradesh maintained his sole lead with 6.5 points after the end of the 7th round play in the National Youth Chess Championships at the Patliputra Sports Complex hall here on Saturday. On the top board, Teja beat Uma Maheswaran (5) of Tamil Nadu in the sixth round.