Simultaneous Chess Exhibition with Grandmaster S L Narayanan
On Sunday 16th April, Eight Times Eight Chess Academy in association with Club FM 94.3, organized Chessathon 2023 where GM S L Narayanan played a simultaneous exhibition match at LuLu Mall in Kochi, Kerala. From age of five to 60 years, players varied in different range of age groups faced the second GM of Kerala. 12-year-old Joseph Tom was the sole player to beat the 41st GM of India. 17-year-old Hari R Chandran managed to share the point with Narayanan. The final score was 33.5-1.5 in favor of the Grandmaster. Check out the article written by Abhijith M, CEO of Eight Times Eight Chess Academy. All photos in this article: Abhijith M/Eight Times Eight Chess Academy
Eight Times Eight Chess Academy in association with Club FM 94.3 and with the support of Chess Association Kerala conducted Chessathon 2023 where one of India’s finest chess players and Commonwealth Silver Medalist Grandmaster S L Narayanan played against 35 players simultaneously at the beautiful atrium of one of the biggest shopping malls in India- LuLu Mall Kochi, Kerala on 16th April 2023.
The event was conducted as a part of the dream that Eight Times Eight Chess academy is pursuing which is popularising the game of chess. There were various chess activities held at LULU mall from morning 10 AM like chess quiz, open chess challenge to the public, problem solving contest etc which generated a lot of curiosity among people. There was also a Q&A session with the Grand Master where chess lovers used the opportunity to ask anything and everything related to chess. The event generated a lot of media attention as well as this was the first such at this scale happening in Kerala in a very long time.
The simultaneous exhibition started at 5 p.m. and lasted for nearly 3.5 hours. Kochi City Police Commissioner, Mr. K Sethu Raman, IPS inaugurated the event. The inaugural function was also attended by Mr. Sunil P, Treasurer, Chess Association Kerala, Mr. Abhijith, CEO, Eight Times Eight Chess Academy, Mr. Swaraj from LULU Mall team and Mr. Naveen Srinivasan, Head, Media solutions, Mathrubhumi.
Out of the 35 games, GM SL Narayanan won 33 of them, drew 1 and lost 1. The event had a diverse set of opponents from 5 year to 60-year-olds
12-year-old Joseph Tom rated 1464 was able to beat the Grandmaster when the latter blundered in a clearly equal position. 17-year-old Hari R Chandran rated 1752 drew with the Grandmaster.
Narayanan - Joseph
In this position, Black played 50...Qg6. Without realising that his king is on f2, Narayanan blundered with 51.Rf8?? and resigned after Black played Rxf8+.
Narayanan - Hari
In this position, Black decided to go for a safe option and chose to draw the game via perpetual check 53...Rd1+ 54.Kc5 Rc1+ 55.Kd5
Final score: 33.5-1.5 (33 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw) in favor the Grandmaster.
About Eight Times Eight Chess Academy
Eight Times Eight Chess Academy was founded by 6 youngsters Abhijith, Adesh, Athul,Arijith, Manu and Chandar as a passion project. All 6 of them have been playing chess for the last 15 years, and have participated in various events like commonwealth, World Junior etc. They have been state champions in various categories and chandar was the Kerala State Senior Chess Champion in 2022. All of them had the common desire to give back to the game that has given them so much in life and that’s how they joined together to put in efforts to popularise the game of chess under the banner of Eight Times Eight
Links
Eight Times Eight Chess Academy: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, lichess, linkedin
About the Author
Abhijith M is 25 years old and is the CEO of Eight Times Eight Chess Academy. He is a graduate of Shri Ram College of Commerce Delhi and Delhi Law School and has also interned at the United Nations at Geneva, Switzerland. He is an ardent chess lover with a peak fide rating of 2126 and closely follows developments in the game very religiously and with so much enthusiasm.
