Thej catching up with DVP; kids shine!

In the latest FIDE Ranking list to be released
on January 1st 2008, Grandmaster norm holder
M.S. Thejkumar will be within striking distance
of over taking International Master D.V. Prasad
at the top of the Karnataka rankings.

The former National Under 25 champion will be
gaining 27 points from a sterling display in the
Chakradharpur, Jharkhand Open tournament
to go upto 2382 whereas the former National Champion
and veteran IM will remain at 2409. This distance
will be still less once the Commonwealth ratings
are taken into account.

Some of the youngsters are also gaining impressively
in the list. Among them is Belgaum lad Niranjan
Navalgund who will be gaining 53 points courtesy an
excellent effort in the SPIC tourney in Tuticorin. Also,
G.A. Stany will be adding 58 points after a superb
display in the National Junior Championship in
Aurangabad. With a spectacular display in the National
Subjunior Championships, the largest gainer will be Antonio Viani
D'Cunha whose rating will shoot up a whopping 73 points
in the January list. The kids stand to gain even further after
the National Under 13 performances are taken into
account in the April 2008 list!

Some important ratings are

IM D.V. Prasad 2409
M.S. Thejkumar 2382 (+27)
N. Sanjay 2354
Arvind Shastry 2275
G.A. Stany 2155 (+58)
FM Girish A. Kaushik 2102 (+16)
Niranjan Navalgund 2068 (+53)
Antonio Viani D'Cunha 2061 (+73)
M.G. Gahan 2007 (+2)
R. Hanumantha 1963
Sushrutha Reddy 1957 (-22)
Vijay Bharat 1931
Shrishti J. Shetty 1923 (+7)
Arjun Bharat 1811 (-14)

5 Karnataka kids in top 20, all gaining ELO!

(Photo - Girish Kaushik receiving his prize from
Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi with Asian Women's
Champion Tania Sachdev and AICF Treasurer Bharat
Singh Chauhan also present)

Karnataka lads did well in the Parsvanath
National Under 13 Chess tournament which
concluded at the Bapu Samaj Seva Kendra,
New Delhi. In fact, three of the kids finished
in the top 10 and there were 5 in the top 20
which reflects the ever increasing strength of the
coaching prowess in the State led by the veteran
IM D.V. Prasad, State Secretary Hanumantha,
Arvind Shastry, N. Sanjay, M.S. Thejkumar
and the other mentors.

Niranjan Navalgund, of Belgaum, finished 6th. The
lad is surely going places. Having beaten strong IM S.P.
Sethuraman and eventual winner in the National Subjunior,
he consolidated his presence in his own age group with a fine showing
here. He finished with 8.5 points and will gain 4 ELO points
from this event.

M.G. Gahan of Mangalore and FIDE Master Girish Kaushik
of Mysore finished with 8 points and were awarded 7th and 8th place
respectively. Gahan, who is largely self taught, will be gaining
a whopping 56 points, whereas Girish who learns from his
father Arun Kaushik will be benefiting by 5 ELO.

D. Yashas will another significant gainer with 27 ELO points and
13th place. He notched 8 points as well. Antonio Viani D' Cunha,
also of Mangalore, was the fifth kid in the top 20 with 7.5 points
and 18th place. He will be gaining 7 ELO points for his efforts.

The Karnataka contingent will be happy to know that AICF has
decided to hold the 2008 version of the National Subjunior in
their home state. Perhaps with favourable conditions, one of them
can make it to the National squad and represent the country in
the World and Asian Youth Championships in 2009.

Karnataka bags 2 silver and a GM norm!

Karnataka players struck it rich in the
Commonwealth Chess Championships
which concluded in New Delhi with its
players bagging two silver medals and a
Grandmaster norm in the tournament.

In the Girls Under 14 section, Shristi Shetty
won the silver medal ahead of National Subjunior
Champion Shalmali Gagare of Maharashtra who had
incidentally just come back after bagging the bronze
in the World Youth Chess Championships in the
same section in Antalya, Turkey. Shristi's performance
is the first outstanding performance by a Karnataka lass
in a long time and we hope that she will build on it.

Last year's World Under 10 Boys Champion Girish Kaushik
finished second in the same section in the Commonwealth.
This is his second silver this year, the first coming in the
Asian Youth in Al Ain, U.A.E.

The best performance though was from none other than
M.S. Thejkumar who bagged a Grandmaster norm for his
efforts. This former National Under 25 Champion had incidentally
never made an IM Norm so this will really boost his morale. He also
finished 15th in the overall standings. All in all, it was a rich booty
for the Karnataka contingent and credit goes to Mr. Hanumantha and
his team in the UKCA for spurring on the players!

Thejkumar continues to impress

After drawing with two Grandmasters earlier,
former Under 25 National Champion
M.S. Thejkumar (ELO 2355) of Karnataka kept his
hopes alive for an International Master Norm when he
drew with 15th seed Grandmaster elect Abhijeet Gupta (ELO 2470)
of Bharat Petroleum in the sixth round of the Commonwealth
Chess Championships being played in New Delhi.

Abhijeet needed a win to get to 2500 ELO and thus
become India's 17th Grandmaster. Thejkumar had other ideas
and effectively paried all his threats to garner half a point
after 29 moves of the Queen's Gambit Declined opening.
Considered one of the upcoming youngsters of
Karnataka, Thejkumar had equality throughout the game
and when down to their final minutes on the clock,
both the players agreed for a truce in a Rook and
pawn ending. Both Thejkumar and Gupta are on 4.5 points,
just one point behind the leaders.

Antonio Viani D'Cunha (ELO 1988) of Mangalore was not
so lucky when he went down fighting to IM K. Rathnakaran
(ELO 2433) in 43 moves of a King's Indian Attack. The Keralite
International Master, who had won the Ranjit Patkar tournament
in Karwar, used his spatial advantage on the Queenside well to
gradually wear out the youngster. Earlier, in the fourth and fifth rounds,
the 12 year old had beaten Aditya Udeshi (ELO 2355) and Sohan
Phadke (ELO 2259) both of Maharashtra in exciting games.
Antonio has justification to be elated as he will be gaining
tremendous number of valuable ELO points
from this tournament if he continues in this vein.

In other important results, M.G.Gahan (ELO 2005) defeated
P. Phoobalan (ELO 2250) and G.A. Stany held P. Karthikeyan
(ELO 2340) to a draw. Veteran IM D.V. Prasad also had no
difficulty in putting it across Laisram Imocha (ELO 2272).

Thejkumar leads the charge for Karnataka

After drawing with 5th seed Grandmaster Abdulla
Al Rakib (ELO 2506) of Bangladesh in the third
round, former Under 25 National Champion
M.S. Thejkumar (ELO 2355) of Karnataka kept himself in the
hunt for an International Master Norm when he
drew with another Grandmaster - Deepan
Chakravarty (ELO 2492) of Madurai - in the fourth round
of the Commonwealth Chess Championships
being played in New Delhi.

Thejkumar is one of the promising youngsters of
Karnataka. Today he showed that by holding his
fancied opponent to a draw in a Queen's Indian Defence
Opening after 19 moves. 6th seeded Deepan's Kingside position
had weakened a bit and and Thejkumar had control
of the open 'C' file when the peace treaty was signed so
the Grandmaster has to consider himself to be a trifle
lucky to salvage a half point from this encounter.

G. A. Stany (ELO 2097) also did well to hold Pakistani
Tanvir Gilani (ELO 2300) to a draw in the third round.
Finally Antonio Viani D'Cunha (ELO 1988) upset the
applecart of Gujarati Praful Mehta (ELO 2207) by beating
him in a nice game to notch his second point in three
encounters.