Malayali players outscore GMs at Kerala’s strongest chess tournament

For a week, Sanjay S Pillai took a 30-minute daily ride from his house at Kavalam to reach a convention centre at Kanjikuzhy in Kottayam that had been transformed into a playing hall for Kerala's strongest Grandmaster tournament in recent years.

Considering the scarcity of quality chess tournaments in Kerala, Sanjay was not going to miss the 1st KCA GM International, which began on April 30. The tournament featured 16 GMs and 13 IMs (International Master) among at least 230 participants.

On May 7, when the ten-round event concluded, Sanjay finished as the best-performing Keralite with 7 points. Georgian GM Levan Pantsulaia won the title with 8.5 points, while Kyrgyzstan IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (8.5) and Armenian GM Karen Grigoryan (8) finished second and third respectively.

Sanjay defeated UP's Arnav Agrawal (2194) in the tenth round to make it 6 wins and two draws. His best result was a draw against Belarusian GM Vitaly Teterev. He is set to gain about 22 points, which should give him a peak FIDE rating of about 2050.

"This event was a great opportunity for me. Mainly because for local players like me, there were hardly any expenses involved. Usually, we shell out a lot on travel and accommodation because we have to travel outside Kerala to compete in such GM tournaments," Sanjay said.

For the 27-year-old, chess is his livelihood, and he is a full-time coach. A few of his trainees were among the participants, including 15-year-old Ahaz E U from Thrissur. Sanjay and Ahaz finished higher than at least eight titled players, including three GMs and two IMs.  

Ahaz, who started as the highest-rated Keralite with an Elo of 2191, finished just behind Sanjay on 6.5 points. He had been the best performing Keralite until the penultimate round, having scored impressive draws against GMs Tornike Sanikidze (2448), Karen Movsziszian (2417) and RR Laxman (2290).

But in the final round, he tried to manufacture a win from an endgame against the experienced Indian GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, and lost. "Ahaz has great potential; he trained with me for about six months, and was a 1600-rated player then, but he's 2100+ now. He could be the next IM from Kerala," Sanjay said. Despite the final round loss, which was only his second in the event, Ahaz is expected to gain about 40 points.

Karan J P (2067), who held Armenian GM Karevn Movsziszian to a draw in the eighth round, blundered and lost in the last round to IM Mehar Chinna Reddy (2418). Though the 23-year-old was devastated by the outcome, he was among five other Keralites on an impressive 6.5 points.

Another stellar performer among Malayalis was 12-year-old Kottayam boy Ajish Daniel, who scored 6.5 points with a draw against Tamil Nadu FM Aakash G (2100) in the final round. He drew with GM Raset Ziatdinov and Egyptian IM Mohsen Elgabry. Like Sanjay, the 1849-rated Ajish will hit peak rating thanks to the event, from which he is set to gain about 58 points.

Huge success
"In terms of participation and the feedback we received from the foreign players, the event was a huge success," said Tournament Director Rajesh Nattakom.

"When we planned this tournament, the main aim was to provide our players with an opportunity to play against GMs and IMs in Kerala. It is heartening to see that most of the young Kerala players made good use of the opportunity and got some good results," said Rajesh, who is also the president of Chess Association Kerala.

He said they intend to make the KCA GM International an annual event, preferably around the same time of the year, depending on the availability of a venue and sponsors.