103 students put up an excellent show for the spectators at the Chess KLUB Open Tournament where this week’s second runner up was Saket Reddy with an excellent win rate of 69%.

Saket, a veteran player, played an exceptional match against a fellow veteran Vivaan Bhatt. The game saw a relatively equal opening followed by Vivaan making a pawn blunder in the middle game. Saket played the middle and end game very strategically. Saket had two passed pawns due to which he sacrificed his queen for Vivaan’s knight and rook and the opportunity to use his other passer pawn to create a queen. This led the end game to a match between Saket’s rook and knight and Vivaan’s queen.

In the course of preventing Saket from making another queen, Vivaan blundered his queen, driving Saket towards victory. 

Just after a funfilled Saturday afternoon, we begin the Battle Arena tournaments on a Sunday beginning with the Beginner Battle Arena tournament where we saw 45 students play against each other with Reyansh Bansal as the winner with a win rate of 71%.

Reyansh played an interesting game against Aariv Sangani in his second last round. Aariv blundered his knight in the opening while Reyansh followed this with a ferocious attack. Aariv then castled on his queenside which led to an even stronger attack by Reyansh eventually cornering Aariv’s king, leading to a checkmate. In second place we had Harshith Nelabhotla with an incredible win rate of 93% followed by Johan Chavara with a win rate of 71%. 

The second event of the day is the Intermediate Battle Arena tournament where we saw 57 students participate with a serious competitive spirit.

Adhvik Manoj took home the title here with an exceptional win rate of 86%. Adhvik played a brilliant game against our second runner up-Vivaan Bhatt who completed the tournament with a win rate of 71%. The two played some of the best moves according to the computer analysis and had a fairly equal advantage throughout. In the end game, both Adhvik and Vivaan made passer pawns.

Both the opponents stopped each other’s passer pawns from getting promoted, leaving the game to go on between Adhvik’s rook and King and Vivaan’s rook and king. The two kept chasing each other’s kings after which they came to a draw by agreement on the ninety-fifth move.

Our runner up was Shiven Patel, who had an admirable win rate of 81%.

The final event for the weekend was the Advanced Battle Arena Tournament where we had Sriranga Narapuram as the champion with a fantastic win rate of 68%.

Sriranga played a thoroughly engaging game against Srithika Kasalingam. Srithika played the Scandinavian Defence followed by an early exchange of the queens. The two then went further and traded their minor pieces and one rook each. The end game was between the rooks and the remaining four pawns. Sriranga trapped Srithika’s rook that she was using to defend her pawn. This won Sriranga a rook and a major advantage in the end game that he converted into a victory.  

Post the Sunday Funday fever we have another round of battle Arena tournaments on Wednesday with each tournament spread out over a period of two hours. Reyansh Bansal was the winner of the Beginner Battle Arena tournament with a fantastic win rate of 76%. Reyansh played a wonderful game against Pranav Deepak.

Reyansh opened with the Scandinavian defence followed by a furious attack on Pranav’s king. Although Pranav removed his king early on in the game, he was unable to defend his king. Finally, Reyansh cornered Pranav’s king and checkmated him. In the second place, we had Harshith Nelabhotla with an excellent win rate of 90%, followed by Rayhan Ulla with a win rate of 67%.  

The Intermediate Battle Arena had forty participants with Vivaan Bhatt as the champion with a fabulous win rate of 93%.

Vivaan played a game against our runner up Adhvik Manoj, who completed the event with a spectacular win rate of 83%, that was a real treat for the eyes. The game began with the four knights opening followed by the trade of all the minor pieces. The game went south for Adhvik when he blundered his rook on the twenty-fifth move. The two then exchanged the other rook as well, and Vivaan posed a major attack on Adhvik’s king. Adhvik tried to divert the game by giving Vivaan’s king perpetual checks. On the 58th move, Vivaan checkmated Adhvik.

Our second runner up here was Rushil Karande who had a win rate of 69%. 

Finally, we have the much-awaited Advanced Battle Arena tournament where we had Saket Reddy as the star of the event with a wonderful win rate of 92%.

Saket played a brilliant game against our second runner up Dron Das, who ended the tournament with a win rate of 83%. The game began with the Giuoco Piano Opening, and the came continued to be in an equal position till the end game. The end game was between a knight and bishop Vs a knight and bishop with equal pawns. Dron managed to capture some of Saket’s pawns, but Saket created a passer pawn that converted into a queen before Dron’s passer pawn. This made Dron resign on the 46th move once Saket made his queen.

In the second place, we had Druheen Das with a record-breaking win rate of 100%.  

The fever post the incredible games that took place this week will surely persist for a while, but we are all geared up to see similar action in the following week as well.

Congratulations to all the winners.