Shubh & Tanisshi Triumphs
The White Rook Classical Chess Challenger Series initiated by Indian Chess School is an attempt to inculcate habits of patience and time so that children can compete at the state and national level chess tournaments with equal footing.
The first of the classical event in this series was held over 2-weekends on 23 & 30 June, 2023 in two different categories – medallist for players having classical rating & non-medallist for players without rating. The idea is to have a strong event for rated players and an incentive for non-medallist not only to win top honours (which otherwise is rare as rated players dominate) but also an opportunity for the prize winners to qualify for the medallist group
MEDALLIST SECTION:
It attracted a total of 5-players in the Medallist section & 30 in the non-medallist section for a round-robin (medallist) and 5-round Swiss league for non-medallist. The time-control for the event was 60+30.
The medallist event was won by 11-year-old, Shubh Patel (ELO 1083) with a score of 3/5. He edged out Rishi Desai (1046) on a tie-break. ACM Ferdyn Lobo (1205) & ACM Rivan Chheda (1003) secured 3rd & 4th place respectively.
Prize Winners from the Medallist Section
NON-MEDALLIST SECTION:
This section attracted a total of 30 players and witnessed good fighting games throughout. It was surprising dominated by two girls, ACM Tanisshi Agarwal & Mahua Deshpande, who secured the top-2 rankings. Tanisshi started with a draw but then score 4 consecutive wins to win the championship with a score of 4.5/5. As for Mahua, it was heart break as she had a perfect score of 4/4 but her last round loss to Tanisshi pushed her to the 2nd place. However, since Mahua got the honours in girl’s category, Tanay Agarwal & Mayan Jha were declared 1st and 2nd runner-up while Sachika Iyer & Myrah Reshamwala were declared similar in girl’s category.
Prize Winners from the Non-Medallist Section (Open)
Prize Winners from the Non-Medallist Section (Girls)
Here is the list of qualifiers from the non-medallist section. All these players will be eligible to play in the medallist section of the future events of the White Rook Classical series:
| QUALIFERS (OPEN) | ||||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Typ | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | ACM | Tanisshi, Agarwaal | U13 | w | IND | 0 | 5 | 14 | 15 | 14 |
| 2 | Tanay, Agarwal | U13 | IND | 0 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 10 | ||
| 3 | Jha, Mayan S | U09 | IND | 0 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 8 | ||
| 4 | Krishnav, Daryanani | U09 | IND | 0 | 4 | 14 | 16 | 10 | ||
| 5 | Sheth, Shubh | U13 | IND | 0 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 7.8 | ||
| 6 | Ansh, Jain | U11 | IND | 0 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 7.8 | ||
| 7 | Rajvir, Jigar Sanghavi | U09 | IND | 0 | 3 | 15 | 17 | 8.5 | ||
| 8 | Parth, Shah | IND | 0 | 3 | 15 | 16 | 8.3 | |||
| 9 | Savarkar, Tanay | IND | 0 | 3 | 13 | 15 | 8.3 | |||
| 10 | Samar, Mandhani | U09 | IND | 0 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 6.5 | ||
| 11 | Arjun, Puri | U13 | IND | 0 | 3 | 12 | 14 | 6.5 | ||
| 12 | Rehaan, Pawan Mulchandani | U13 | IND | 0 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 6.5 | ||
| 13 | Chembath, Vidur | U13 | IND | 0 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 6.5 | ||
| 14 | Viraansh, Jain | U09 | IND | 0 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 6 | ||
| QUALIFIERS GIRLS | ||||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Typ | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | Mahua, Vighnesh Deshpande | U11 | w | IND | 0 | 4 | 16 | 16 | 11 | |
| 2 | Sachika, Iyer | U11 | w | IND | 0 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 3 | |
| 3 | Myrah, Reshamwala | U09 | w | IND | 0 | 1 | 8.5 | 10 | 1.5 | |
The prize distribution ceremony was presided by our dear friend and prominent coach, Rupesh Bhogal. We were also privileged to have the presence of IA. Biswajit Bhardwaj – also a prominent coach from Guwahati, Assam for this event.
The event was flawlessly conducted by the Chief Arbiter, IA. Sandesh Nagarnaik with Mrs. Kanchan as the deputy.
Praful Zaveri (FI/FA/FT/FIO)
Tournament Director