Tirupathi (18 May 12):- The 50th edition of National Challengers Chess Championship formerly known as National B Chess Championship got off to a surprising start as Secunderabad based N Krishna Teja stunned fourth seed International Master P Karthikeyan of Tamilnadu while Goa lad Ritviz Parab outwitted seasoned campaigner International Master P Konguvel of PSPB here at Ramatulasi Kalyana Mandapam on Friday.
Playing white side of English opening, Karthikeyan over looked his opponent’s Knight Move and blundered his queen on 22nd move to hand over full point to his Andhra Pradesh rival after 12 more moves while Parab used his Queen and Knight to good effect to outwit his fancied rival in 31 moves.
Apart from Karthikeyan and Konguvel, as expected almost all the top seeded players posted easy victories to advance to the second round with full points in their kitty.
Top seed and defending champion International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni of Railways defeated Jalpan Bhatt of Gujarat while second seed International Master S Satyapragyan of Air India had an easy outing against Ankit Gajwa of Madhya Pradesh and third seed International Master Debashis Das made short work of Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh.
In other surprises of the day, highly rated Bitan Banerjee of West Bengal was held by Yogit S of Tamilnadu while International Master PDS Girinath forced to sign the peace treaty with young Rohan Ahuja of Goa.
A total number of 236 players, which include 24 International Masters, 1 Women Grandmaster and 213 International Rated Chess players from across India are participating in this prestigious championship and serve as selection event for the forthcoming National Premier Chess Championship scheduled to be held at West Bengal in the month of October.
Earlier in a colourful opening ceremony, Shri. L V Subramanyam IAS, Executive Officer Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams inaugurated the event by making the customary first move against veteran International Master PDS Girinath in presence of Shri. Kranti Kumar Rana IPS, Superident of Police, Shri. D V Sundar, Vice President World Chess Federation, Shri. Kanna Reddy, General Secretary Andhra Pradesh Chess Association and Shri. Y Praveen, Organizing Secretary National Challengers Chess Championship.
News by Gopakumar Sudhakaran
Nice.