IM Neelash Saha and Samriddhaa Ghosh win 30th National under-17 2019
Second seed IM Neelash Saha started the tournament in a strong way by scoring six consecutive wins and gained a lead by a full point. Then he made three consecutive draws and tied with Arjun Gupta of Delhi. However he won the last two rounds and finished with 9.5/11 to clinch the title. In the girls section, Samriddhaa started with a loss in the opening round. Then she made a strong comeback and played some inspired chess in the last two rounds to finish at 8.5/11, half point ahead of the runner-up WFM Saina Salonika. Photo: M Ephrame
West Bengal dominates 30th National under-17
Neelash started out strong with six consecutive wins, then he made three draws before winning the final two rounds. Speaking with the author of this article, Neelash was unhappy with a couple of draws and he wanted to finish with 10.0/11 instead of his score 9.5/11.
Neelash's best win was against Aditya P Melani (1871) of Gujarat in the final round of the tournament.
Samriddhaa has come close to a podium finish countless times in National championships but unfortunately she always missed the mark. Speaking with the author of this article, Samriddha exclaimed that she did not expect to win it and she was absolutely delighted to win it. A separate article with both champions' interviews will be published soon.
Samriddhaa played brilliantly in the last two rounds, making the most out of two Whites and she was in a must win situation in the final round to become the champion. Here is her final round game against Kalyani B (1692) of Andhra Pradesh.
Photo Gallery:
Total 89 players in open and 55 girls participated in 30th National under-17 open and girls championships from 29th June to 7th July 2019. The tournament was organized by 4 Queens Chess Club, Ernakulam at Oberon Mall, Ernakulam. The Closing Ceremony was attended by Joji John, Center Manager of Oberon Mall, distributed the prizes to the winners. Rajesh Nattakom, Secretary, Chess Association Kerala presided over the meeting. Rintu Marketing Manager Oberon Mall and Arun Bose, Secretary, Ernakulam Chess Association Felicitated the event. Subha Rakesh, President of Ernakulam Chess Association delivered the vote of thanks.
Final Standings in open
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 2 | Neelash Saha | IND | 2315 | West Bengal | 9,5 | 0,0 | 74,0 | 80,0 | 68,00 | 8 | |
| 2 | 1 | CM | Aronyak Ghosh | IND | 2349 | West Bengal | 9,0 | 0,0 | 75,0 | 80,5 | 63,50 | 7 |
| 3 | 4 | Utsab Chatterjee | IND | 2067 | West Bengal | 8,0 | 1,0 | 72,0 | 77,5 | 53,25 | 7 | |
| 4 | 16 | Arjun Gupta | IND | 1851 | Delhi | 8,0 | 0,0 | 73,0 | 77,5 | 51,75 | 7 | |
| 5 | 18 | Nawin J J | IND | 1831 | Tamil Nadu | 7,5 | 0,0 | 71,5 | 75,5 | 47,75 | 5 | |
| 6 | 12 | Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki | IND | 1893 | Tamil Nadu | 7,5 | 0,0 | 70,5 | 75,0 | 47,50 | 5 | |
| 7 | 11 | Vrandesh Parekh | IND | 1915 | Gujarat | 7,5 | 0,0 | 64,0 | 68,5 | 46,25 | 5 | |
| 8 | 24 | Genish Prakash J | IND | 1797 | Tamil Nadu | 7,5 | 0,0 | 60,0 | 62,0 | 40,00 | 6 | |
| 9 | 6 | Sibi Visal R | IND | 2000 | Tamil Nadu | 7,0 | 0,0 | 72,5 | 78,0 | 46,50 | 6 | |
| 10 | 20 | Mohamed Anees M | IND | 1819 | Tamil Nadu | 7,0 | 0,0 | 68,0 | 72,5 | 41,75 | 6 | |
| 11 | 8 | Rakshith Srinivasan | IND | 1935 | Karnataka | 7,0 | 0,0 | 67,0 | 72,0 | 43,00 | 6 | |
| 12 | 9 | Vaibhav Jayant Raut | IND | 1922 | Maharashtra | 7,0 | 0,0 | 66,5 | 71,0 | 42,00 | 5 | |
| 13 | 5 | Ayush Sharma | IND | 2011 | Madhya Pradesh | 7,0 | 0,0 | 64,5 | 69,0 | 42,00 | 5 | |
| 14 | 13 | Aditya P Melani | IND | 1871 | Gujarat | 7,0 | 0,0 | 62,5 | 67,0 | 41,00 | 6 | |
| 15 | 47 | Rohith S | IND | 1556 | Tamil Nadu | 7,0 | 0,0 | 58,0 | 61,5 | 35,00 | 6 | |
| 16 | 43 | Dhoot Vinit | IND | 1591 | Maharashtra | 7,0 | 0,0 | 56,0 | 59,5 | 34,50 | 7 | |
| 17 | 3 | FM | Vatsal Singhania | IND | 2183 | Jharkand | 6,5 | 0,0 | 71,5 | 78,0 | 44,75 | 4 |
| 18 | 27 | Wairagade Khush | IND | 1731 | Maharashtra | 6,5 | 0,0 | 68,5 | 73,0 | 39,50 | 5 | |
| 19 | 25 | Wankhede Avishkar | IND | 1747 | Maharashtra | 6,5 | 0,0 | 68,5 | 73,0 | 38,25 | 6 | |
| 20 | 31 | Ananthapadmanabh D V | IND | 1715 | Kerala | 6,5 | 0,0 | 66,0 | 70,5 | 37,75 | 5 |
Final Standings in girls
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 4 | Ghosh Samriddhaa | IND | 1913 | West Bengal | 8,5 | 0,0 | 64,5 | 69,0 | 54,00 | 7 | |
| 2 | 1 | WFM | Salonika Saina | IND | 2123 | Orissa | 8,0 | 1,5 | 70,5 | 76,0 | 54,75 | 5 |
| 3 | 9 | Kalyani B | IND | 1692 | Andhra Pradesh | 8,0 | 1,0 | 68,0 | 72,5 | 51,00 | 6 | |
| 4 | 3 | WCM | Jyothsna L | IND | 1985 | Tamil Nadu | 8,0 | 0,5 | 69,5 | 75,0 | 51,00 | 7 |
| 5 | 26 | Bharathakoti Sneha | IND | 1422 | Telangana | 7,5 | 0,5 | 68,5 | 70,0 | 44,25 | 6 | |
| 6 | 7 | Divyabharathi Masanam | IND | 1730 | Tamil Nadu | 7,5 | 0,5 | 60,5 | 65,5 | 44,50 | 4 | |
| 7 | 12 | Kaur Palkin | IND | 1680 | Delhi | 7,0 | 0,0 | 63,5 | 66,5 | 38,75 | 5 | |
| 8 | 13 | Benasir M | IND | 1678 | Tamilnadu | 7,0 | 0,0 | 62,5 | 67,0 | 42,50 | 3 | |
| 9 | 15 | Kiruthika B | IND | 1574 | Tamil Nadu | 7,0 | 0,0 | 62,5 | 66,5 | 40,00 | 6 | |
| 10 | 38 | Anupam M Sreekumar | IND | 1245 | Kerala | 7,0 | 0,0 | 58,5 | 60,0 | 34,50 | 7 | |
| 11 | 11 | Poorna Sri M.K | IND | 1681 | Tamil Nadu | 7,0 | 0,0 | 57,0 | 61,0 | 35,75 | 6 | |
| 12 | 27 | Swara Lakshmi S Nair | IND | 1418 | Karnataka | 6,5 | 0,0 | 67,5 | 71,0 | 38,00 | 5 | |
| 13 | 5 | Diya Chowdhury | IND | 1750 | West Bengal | 6,5 | 0,0 | 67,0 | 72,5 | 39,75 | 5 | |
| 14 | 28 | Shah Vrushti | IND | 1415 | Gujarat | 6,5 | 0,0 | 64,5 | 69,0 | 37,25 | 5 | |
| 15 | 2 | Shanya Mishra | IND | 1994 | Delhi | 6,5 | 0,0 | 64,0 | 69,0 | 39,25 | 4 | |
| 16 | 14 | WCM | Kriti Mayur Patel | IND | 1587 | Maharashtra | 6,5 | 0,0 | 62,0 | 67,0 | 37,50 | 5 |
| 17 | 37 | Riddhi Shah | IND | 1267 | Gujarat | 6,5 | 0,0 | 53,5 | 56,5 | 28,25 | 6 | |
| 18 | 20 | Annapurni S | IND | 1489 | Tamil Nadu | 6,0 | 0,0 | 69,0 | 71,5 | 36,50 | 4 | |
| 19 | 8 | Garima Gaurav | IND | 1713 | Bihar | 6,0 | 0,0 | 67,5 | 72,5 | 35,25 | 5 | |
| 20 | 10 | Nanditha V | IND | 1687 | Telangana | 6,0 | 0,0 | 65,5 | 70,5 | 36,25 | 5 |
