Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh Clinch Indian National Championships
The 18-year-old GM Arjun Erigaisi won the 58th MPL National Senior Championship, and 16-year-old WGM Divya Deshmukh clinched the 47th MPL National Women's Championship.
Scoring 8.5 points out of 11 rounds, Arjun tied for first place with GM Gukesh Dommaraju and GM Iniyan Panneerselvam. A better Buchholz tiebreak score helped Arjun to win the championship. Gukesh and Iniyan secured second and third places respectively. It is interesting to note that Arjun led the event from the beginning and never trailed.
In the 47th MPL National Women's Senior Championship, WGM Divya Deshmukh dominated the field. After a draw in the first round against Varshita Jain (1429), Divya scored seven wins in a row and maintained a one-point lead over her nearest rival prior to the final round. She secured a draw in the final round against IM Soumya Swaminathan to claim the champion's trophy with 8/9.
"I was caught in the opening. I managed to create something out of nothing," said Arjun about his game against GM Abhijeet Gupta.
Arjun also mentioned that his game against Pranav V (who finished 10th in the event) was the scariest of all.
Speaking to Chess.com India, Gukesh shared that he liked his game against GM Abhijeet Gupta: "Abhijeet showed great fighting spirit, and I was lucky to have some nice defensive resources."
You can listen to the complete interview with Gukesh here.
GM Iniyan P lost to FM Suyog Wagh in the second round. Four straight wins helped him to return to the top tables. Iniyan considers his game against GM Adhiban B as one of his best in the tournament. He was still in his home preparation until the 27th move.
Watch the complete interview with Iniyan here.
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Arjun Erigaisi | 2633 | 8.5 | 77.0 | 81.0 | 60.50 |
| 2 | 7 | GM | Gukesh D | 2614 | 8.5 | 75.5 | 81.5 | 61.75 |
| 3 | 15 | GM | Iniyan P | 2516 | 8.5 | 69.0 | 74.5 | 56.25 |
| 4 | 8 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2611 | 8.0 | 73.5 | 78.0 | 55.0 |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2585 | 8.0 | 71.5 | 76.6 | 53.75 |
| 6 | 26 | IM | Koustav Chatterjee | 2466 | 8.0 | 70.0 | 75.0 | 53.25 |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2622 | 8.0 | 69.5 | 75.5 | 53.25 |
| 8 | 13 | GM | Visakh N R | 2522 | 8.0 | 68.0 | 72.5 | 50.25 |
| 9 | 5 | GM | Sethuraman S P | 2619 | 8.0 | 67.5 | 72.0 | 50.25 |
| 10 | 21 | IM | Pranav V | 2486 | 8.0 | 66.0 | 69.5 | 48.75 |
Utsab Chatterjee, Anustoop Biswas, and Sambit Panda secured nine-game IM norms in the tournament.
Full final standings here.
"Not sure about my best game, but the toughest game was against Vaishali R," said Divya in an interview with Chess.com India.
When we contacted GM Srinath Narayanan for his comments about the performances of Arjun and Divya, he summed it up in three words: "Really, really proud."
WIM Sakshi Chitlange secured second place and won ₹4.50 lakhs in the tournament. She completed her final WGM norm in the event and will be looking forward to reaching 2300 to attain the title. She liked her game against WGM Mary Ann Gomes:
Priyanka Nutakki secured third place and won the cash prize of ₹ 3.50 lakhs in the tournament. She became India's latest woman grandmaster after making her final norm in the event. She considers her game against Pratyusha Bodda as one of her favorites:
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 8 | WGM | Divya Deshmukh | 2301 | 8.0 | 47.5 | 51.5 | 46.50 |
| 2 | 19 | WIM | Sakshi Chitlange | 2205 | 7.0 | 48.5 | 53.0 | 37.25 |
| 3 | 9 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | 2301 | 7.0 | 48.0 | 52.0 | 38.00 |
| 4 | 16 | WGM | Srija Seshadri | 2219 | 7.0 | 46.5 | 51.0 | 38.75 |
| 5 | 5 | IM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2360 | 6.5 | 51.0 | 55.5 | 38.50 |
| 6 | 1 | IM | Vaishali R | 2403 | 6.5 | 50.5 | 54.5 | 32.75 |
| 7 | 6 | IM | Padmini Rout | 2350 | 6.5 | 45.5 | 50.0 | 35.00 |
| 8 | 4 | WGM | Mary Ann Gomes | 2361 | 6.5 | 44.0 | 48.0 | 32.75 |
| 9 | 14 | WIM | Priyanka K | 2227 | 6.5 | 43.0 | 47.0 | 32.25 |
| 10 | 15 | WIM | Parnali Dharia | 2224 | 6.5 | 42.5 | 47.0 | 33.25 |
Full final standings here
All games of 58th MPL National Senior Chess Championship 2022
All games of 47th MPL Women's National Senior Chess Championship 2022
Currently work as a community manager for Chess.com India.
I have a GM norm and an IM norm. Became a FIDE Trainer recently. Coached two Indian Teams for the Olympiad for PWD. Apart from playing and teaching chess, I dabble in writing and reading. Can speak in English, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and Marathi. I recently wrote a short story titled 'Over a Cup of Chai' that's available on amazon. My last novel 'The Lively Library & An Unlikely Romance' is a story of a library where books come to life at night.
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