Staying indoors is never easy, but playing chess online has made it easier for our students, and in some cases, even their parents, to get through these pressing times.

While the world is facing a pandemic and everybody is trying to venture out into doing something new every day, we at Chess KLUB provide a platform and help budding chess masters find a sense of passion towards this brilliant game.

Bill Harston once said “Chess doesn’t drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane”, and in times where everyone’s mental health is at risk, this mind game, is acting as a saving grace for many.

Our weekly tournaments at Chess KLUB give this purpose a significant amount of validation. Every week we see our students excel and surprise us by performing even better than the last time.

Their efforts indeed need to be rewarded.

Hence, we present to you the winners of the tournaments held between the 25th and the 31st of, July and some of their incredible games.

On the 25th of July, we had the Swiss Open tournament where we had a total of 112 players who competed against each other through 7 rounds.

Archit Singh backed the third place with his final game being a delight for the spectators to watch against Camilo Gonzalez. Having started with a slightly weak opening, giving white a slight advantage, Archit managed to get back with a vengeance in the middle game by gaining a lead of 4.5 points, and there was no looking back from thereon. Although both sides made some blunders, both the players managed to give each other a run for their money.

After an intense match lasting a good 50 moves, Archit won this mind battle and was one of our top three players.

On the 26th of July, we had the Chess KLUB beginners battle where we had a total of 39 students participating, and after three challenging hours and twenty-one games, we had Vivan Sarraf prevail as the champion of the day.

One of the most exciting games in this battle arena was a game played between Vivan Sarraf and Vani Patel who backed the 2nd position in this tournament. After 40 moves where both the players were performing their best, Vani Patel won this gripping game. Vani used the advantage she had tactically gained in the opening, and there was no looking back for her. Although Vivan lost this game he however with a lot of effort and dedication did finally win the tournament. In the third place, we had Avaneesh G, who played a total of 19 beautiful games.

On the 26th of July, we also had the Chess KLUB advanced team battle where a total of 17 players competed against each other. Hemanth Samayamantri backed the 2nd position, and Druheen Das secured the 3rd position. Hemanth played a total of 18 games, and one of his best games was against D Das, our second runner up. Both players played very aggressively, and after a neck to neck 32 moves, Hemanth managed to win this round.

Having made some mistakes in the opening, Hemanth managed to open up his king too soon, which allowed D to exploit this position completely. However, Hemanth managed to bounce back and turned the game around, allowing him to win this intense match successfully.

The 26th was indeed a very satisfying day for us as we had a third tournament which was the battle between our Intermediate students where we had 61 students take part, and Arav Singh was the champion of the day. In the 2nd and 3rd place we had Advit Gupta and Pratham Ghosh (Tintin) respectively.

Although Arav played a total of 16 games, his most exciting game was against our second runner up Tintin. Having exchanged both their queens very early on in the game, every small piece on the board mattered then on. A small error in the middle game cost Arav a pawn causing the match to be at a disadvantage for him from thereon. The game went on for 39 moves, and Arav eventually resigned.

Although this game didn’t favor our champion Arav, he did manage to perform exceedingly well in all the other games and use this loss to turn his game into an overall victory.

On the 27th of July, the Beginner Swiss League tournament was held where we had a total of 25 budding chess enthusiasts who competed against each other for a total of 5 rounds. The champion of this tournament was Abheek Sanagapally and following him in second and third place were Aariga Katta and Aayan S respectively.

One of the games that had the most number of spectators was a match played between our champion Abheek S and Vihaan T. Unfortunately Vihaan blundered a piece on the 9th move and was at a disadvantage.

Still, our champion fought his way through, and after 51 moves, unfortunately, Vihaan lost on time. Since Abheek was left only with his king, the result ended as a Draw.

On the 29th of July, we held the Intermediate Swiss Leagues tournament where we had a total of 55 students compete against each other across five rounds.

Advit Gupta was the champion of the day at this event, and one of his games had the spectator room filled with chatter. His match against Archit Singh received a lot of spectators and deserved all the applaud it received.

After exchanging a knight for two pawns in the middle game, Archit was consistently at a disadvantage, but the real trouble started from the 34th move where Archit blundered his rook. This blunder acted as a major set back which caused Archit to resign on the 38th move.

Apart from Advit’s spectacular performance, we also had our brilliant runner ups – Nikita Kanagaraj and Shiven K Patel, who were our second and third runner ups respectively.

The Advanced Swiss League tournament took place on the 30th of July where we had Avighnav in the 2nd place followed by Hemanth S in the 3rd place.

Eighteen extremely experienced players fought this cut-throat competition through 6 rounds. The 6th and the final round was the most crucial one, and one of the most exciting matches was between Avighnav Vasudevan and Saketh Chavva. After making a rather unnecessary bishop sacrifice on the 14th move, black seemed to be dominated by white for the rest of the game.

Although black made this error in the middle game, both the opponents played exceptionally well and continued the game for a marvelous 62 moves.

As every week goes by, we see our students surprise us and outdo themselves, and as every tournament get’s over, our students and we, wait eagerly for the next week to see another round of some incredible performances and mind-blowing games. Hence, to satisfy this urge to play some fulfilling games, we share with you the links of the tournaments taking place in the following week.

We congratulate all our winners and hope to see great results in the coming week as well.