Harshith Nelabhotla – Champion of Champions

The week began with the exciting Chess Klub Open Tournament, where we had 92 participants competing against each other for 3 hours.

Saket Reddy stole the show as our runner up with an excellent win rate of 76% followed by Sanjay Aditya in third place with a win rate of 70%. The two played an extremely interesting game against each other. Saket played the Giuoco Piano Opening and Sanjay fell for the trap Saket laid and lost his queen, to protect his king, on the 13th move. In the bargain, Saket lost two rooks while laying this trap, so the end game saw Saket’s queen and knight against Sanjay’s two rooks.

Saket then went on to give perpetual threats to Sanjay’s king and eventually checkmated Sanjay’s king on the 26th move.  

In the Beginner Battle, we had Harshith Nelabhotla as the champion with an incredible win rate of 86%.

Harshith’s final match against Aariv was a delight for the spectators to view. On the third move itself, Harshith forked Aariv’s king and rook giving him a massive advantage in the opening. Harshith then posed multiple attacks on Aariv’s king while Aariv tried to invade Harshith’s territory and captured his rook. Harshith then pinned Aariv’s queen and rook and won Aariv’s second rook as well. On the 21st move, Aariv blundered his queen while trying to attack Harshith’s king. The game ended on the 32nd move with Harshith checkmating Aariv on the corner of the board with his rook and queen.

In the second place, we had Nithic Sampathkumar with a brilliant win rate of 85%, followed by Reyansh Bansal in third place with a win rate of 65%. 

The Intermediate Battle had 58 students with Adhvik Manoj at the top of the winner list with an admirable win rate of 88%.

Adhvik played a tactical game against our runner up Sanjay Aditya who concluded the tournament with a wonderful win rate of 70%. The game began with the two knights defence. Sanjay becomes a pawn up on the 13th move and invades Adhvik’s king’s territory. The tables turn a little after Adhvik castles to protect his king, and Adhvik’s rook controls an open file. On the other hand, Sanjay hasn’t castled yet, and his king is exposed. On the 19th and 20th move, Adhvik forced Sanjay’s king into a back rank checkmate.

Our second runner up for the day was Ayush Sarraf who had a win rate of 65%. 

Finally, we had our last event for the Sunday, the Advanced Battle. Sriranga Narapuram stole the day as the winner of this battle with a marvellous win rate of 76%.

Wish to see to a fine and polished game?

Well, we have it right here for you. Sriranga’s final game against our runner up Sanjey Ramachandran was just that. Sanjey opened with the Italian Game, and by the 9th move, Sriranga managed to open up Sanjey’s king. The two then traded queens on the 17th move with Sriranga being a minor piece up. Sriranga then blundered his knight but regained the lost advantage by tactically winning Sanjey’s bishop soon after.

The game ended with Sriranga checkmating Sanjey’s open king with his two rooks on the 31st move. Although Sriranga lost this game, he ended the tournament with a win rate of 52% followed by Joshith Vurimi who finished the tournament with a win rate of 53%. 

The second round of Battle Arena Tournaments on Wednesday started with the Beginner Battle Arena where we had Harshith Nelabhotla with an excellent win rate of 92%.

Harshith played an aggressive game against our runner up Eshan Kadri who had a great win rate of 71%. Harshith gained control of the centre within the first four moves and tried to attack Eshan’s territory very early into the game. Harshith attacked Eshan’s queen and a move later, Eshan forgot about this attack and blundered his queen and resigned. In third place we had Shreyan Basu with a win rate of 50%. 

In the Intermediate Battle, we had 50 students with Adhvik Manoj as our champion for the second time in a week with a fabulous win rate of 80%.

Adhvik’s second last game against Sohum Nigam caught particular interest. The game opened with the Nimzowitsch Defense. Adhvik managed to get his pawn to the 7th file and invade Sohum’s territory early into the game. Due to this invasion, Adhvik managed to win Sohum’s bishop giving him an advantage, and the two then traded queens.

Adhvik then gained even more advantage when he forked Sohum’s king and rook and won Sohum’s rook as well. The game ended with a back rank checkmate where Adhvik used both his rooks. In second place we had Vivaan Bhatt with a win rate of 63% followed by Nikitha Kanagaraj with a win rate of 89%. 

In the Advanced Battle, Saket Reddy was the winner with an incredible win rate of 77%.

Saket played an aggressive game against our second runner up Sriranga Narapuram who ended the tournament with a win rate of 46%. Sriranga placed his pawns beautifully in the opening giving him a good tactical advantage. While trading bishops, Sriranga used his queen to capture Saket’s bishop, allowing Saket to fork his king and queen.

As Sriranga lost his queen, he resigned on the 10th move. In second place we had Adithiyaa Vasudevan with a win rate of 44%. 

Extremely elated to see some fresh names on our winner list this week and nothing compares to the joy we feel to see such brilliant games. Hope to see the same next week.

Congratulations to all the winners!