The week begins with a bang with the most awaited Chess KLUB Open Tournament.

This week saw 102 students take part and play some engaging games for three hours. Vivaan Bhatt took home the title at this prestigious event with an exceptional win rate of 69%. Vivaan played a gripping game against our runner up, Saket Reddy, who had an admirable win rate of 80%.

The game was at reasonably equally advantages till Saket sacrificed a knight to invade Vivaan’s king. To defend this attack, Vivaan had to sacrifice his rook, causing an exchange of two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn. Further, Saket made a blunder by moving his ‘f’ file pawn, allowing Vivaan to give Saket a king and queen pin causing Saket to lose his queen. Vivaan converted this massive advantage into a victory with a checkmate on the forty-ninth move.

In third place, we had Shiven Patel with an excellent win rate of 87%.  

Our battle arena tournaments on Sundays begin with our rising stars showing us what they’ve got with some exceptional games.

This week we had Reyansh Bansal leading the chart with exemplary performance and a win rate of 86%. Reyansh’s final game against our second runner up Harshith Nelabhotla, who had a win rate of 75%, caught everyone’s attention. Harshith opened the game with the French Defense, followed by capturing a lot of Reyansh’s pawns. A few moves later, Harshith blundered his queen, giving Reyansh a massive advantage. Just like the 64 squares, on the sixty-fourth move, Reyansh checkmated Harshith.

In second place we had Johan Chavara with a win rate of 56%. 

The second event of the day is the Intermediate Battle Arena Tournament where had 51 players compete against each other.

The reigning champion was Adhvik Manoj with an impressive win rate of 86%. Adhvik played an extremely tactical game against Rushil Karande. In the opening, Adhvik fell for a fork that led to a loss of a knight. Rushil then blundered his knight in the middle game. Rushil’s blunder that led to his loss was a poor exchange of his queen for Adhvik’s rook. This gave Adhvik a major advantage making him the eventual winner.

In second place we had Rishab Ghosh with a win rate of 68% followed by Vivaan Bhatt with a win rate of 72%.

The final event of the day was between our skilled students in the Advanced Battle tournament where we had Aman Sreshta as the champion with an incredible win rate of 76%.

Aman played an interesting game with our runner up Ishant Gandikota, who completed the tournament with a win rate of 71%. The game started with the Queen’s Gambit, where Ishant played the Queen’s Gambit declined variation. The game then gradually moved on to the end game where Aman strategically won a pawn creating a passer pawn. This pawn then converted into a queen and made Aman the winner.

In third place, we had Rudra Mishra with a win rate of 50%.   

The second series of Battle Arena tournaments took place on Wednesday, and the Beginner Battle Arena tournament marked the beginning of this entertaining day. 

The champion of the day was Pritish with a fantastic win rate of 88%. Pritish played an exceptional game against our runner up Andrea Sam, who had a win rate of 88% as well. Pritish played the Scandinavian defence which was followed by the two opponents exchanging some minor pieces till Andrea made a knight blunder in the middle game. Pritish followed this advantage with a rook pin, making Pritish an overall of a rook and a knight up. It did not take much time for Pritish to convert his passer into a queen and finish this game on the 28th move.

In the third place, we had Reyansh Bansal with a win rate of 59%. 

The Intermediate Battle Arena tournament saw 43 students participate with Vivaan Bhatt as the champion with a win rate of 76%.

Vivaan played a very tactical game against our runner up Rishab Ghosh, who concluded the tournament with a win rate of 85%. The game saw an early exchange of queens followed by Vivaan doubling Rishab’s pawns. In the middle game, the two blundered their bishops at particular time intervals; however, Vivaan was a pwn up. The game ended with Vivaan cornering Rishab’s king and checkmating him with a knight on the 37th move.

In third place, we had Ayush Sarraf with a record-breaking win rate of 100%. 

The final tournament was the Advanced Battle where Saket Reddy won the title with a win rate of 58% followed by Robert Harper with a win rate of 50%.

The two played an exceptionally aggressive match. After beginning with an exchange of queens in the opening the two fell for individual pins and forks, causing them both to lose their rooks at certain points in the game. This left the end game in an interesting spot with each player having a minor piece and pawns. Although Robert had a pawn more than Saket, Saket managed to convert his pawn into a passer allowing him to make a queen.

The game ended on the 57th move. The second runner up here was Sanjey Ramachandran. 

Another entertaining week concludes with a fresh set of names on the winner board, making everyone at Chess KLUB thrilled. We expect nothing less in the following week.

Congratulations to all the winners.