King’s Indian Kicks Off on Thursdays – Gurudatta Donthu Steals the Show at Ballantyne Blitz

Five minutes is all the players got per game at the CHESS KLUB Ballantyne this Sunday August 6th. Evidently, that is all Gurudatta Donthu needed to take the first place with a score of 5.5 points out of seven games. Saanvi Kasera was all set to win first with 6 out of 7, but five minutes were just not quite enough to win her last game and claim and clinch the prize. As Saanvi’s last second ticked away, her last round opponent, Tanuj Ranga, had just a pawn left.

A pawn, however, is just enough to constitute possible checkmating material and he was awarded the win. Tanuj tied with Aman Sreshta and Karthik Srinivasan for the third place. Aman triumphed over Tanuj and Karthik to secure the third place trophy.

Conclusion

Gurudatta Donthu won August 6th’s Ballantyne Blitz at the CHESS KLUB Ballantyne.

The Ballantyne CHESS KLUB will hold Quads every Saturday at 5 pm. At the end of the month, a trophy will be awarded to the player who scores the most game points in the month. Another trophy will be earned by the player who raises their USCF rating the most for the month.

August 5th’s edition of the Ballantyne Quads produced two quads and two undefeated winners. In quad A, 1553 rated Harshil Jagga triumphed. The B quad was won by the as yet unrated Aadeesh Sunkesula.

Harshil and Aadeesh lead the point standings for the month with 3 each. Jethin Bastin and Karthik Srinivasan have 1.5 points each. Three more players have 1 point.

Conclusion

Two Quads were run on August 5th at the Ballantyne CHESS KLUB. There is still time to score points for the month of August by participating in other Saturday Quads!

The King’s Indian is a new, one-game-per-week tournament that will occupy Thursday evenings (7 pm for the first four Thursdays each month) at the Ballantyne CHESS KLUB. The idea for the event is to give everyone a chance to play a serious, USCF rated game each week. These games help our students put what they’ve learned from their lessons into practice. The tournament is also open to the general public – including players of any age – as long as each entrant has an active USCF membership

This Thursday’s debut round featured an excellent showing of twenty-two players of all levels. The top rated seed, by one rating point, was Aman Sreshta with a 1083 rating. Winners in round 1 included Aman, Aneesh Jahagirdar, Murali Kongot, Aadhav Ramkumar, Aayansh Baktu, Aadeesh Sunkesula, Rishav Kunwor, Akshay Karthik, Abhinav Rajasekaran, Saanvi Kasera and Veera Mutturu.

Please consider joining us for any round you can fit into your schedule. The more players are present, the more fun it is for everyone. Rounds you miss will not be counted against your USCF rating.

Conclusion

The CHESS KLUB Ballantyne’s new King’s Indian tournament series is off to a great start. Please consider joining this event. Entry is free throughout August, 2023.