Arjun Erigaisi and Divya Deshmukh are new champions of India.
The Open and Women’s Championships 2022 were held concurrently but in different Indian states. Both events were dominated by young players.
The MPL 58th Senior National Chess Championship, an 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, took place from 25 February to 3 March 2022 in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, India). The event attracted 184 players from all over the country.
The recent winner of Tata Steel Challengers Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh D were heading to the final round as the joint leaders on 8/10, a half-point ahead of a big group of six people. Both leaders drew their games and made a half-step forward while among their pursuers, only Iniyan P scored a victory over Mithabha Guta to catch up with the duo. As a result, three players tied for the first, with Erigaisi taking gold thanks to better Buchholz. The same variable favoured Gukesh D (silver) over Iniyan P (bronze).
Final standings:
1 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2633 | 8½ |
2 | GM | Gukesh D | 2614 | 8½ |
3 | GM | Iniyan P | 2516 | 8½ |
4 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2611 | 8 |
5 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2585 | 8 |
6 | IM | Koustav Chatterjee | 2466 | 8 |
7 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2622 | 8 |
8 | GM | Visakh N R | 2522 | 8 |
9 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2619 | 8 |
10 | IM | Pranav V | 2486 | 8 |
In a glittering closing ceremony, BCCI Vice President Shri Rajiv Shukla awarded trophies and prize money cheques to the winners – Rs.6,00,000/-, 5,00,000/-, and 4,00,000/- for the top-3 places, respectively (Rs. 10,000/- is approximately $1,316)
The MPL 47th Indian Women’s Championship is a 9-round Swiss tournament was held from 25 February to 2 March 2022 in Bhubaneswar, India.
16-year-old Divya Deshmukh becomes the National Champion of India. Divya won the title scoring impressive 8/9, and finishing a full point ahead of three players who shared second place. On her way to the victory, Divya beat such strong players as Vaishali, Bhakti Kulkarni and many others. She became the second teenager after Humpy Koneru to win Women’s National Championship. The champion picked 25 rating points and took home a solid prize of Rs.55000 (US$7250).
Three players tied for second place with Chitlange Sakshi and Priyanka Nutakki, claiming silver and bronze respectively by dint of better Buchholz over Srija Seshadri.
Final standings:
1 | WGM | Divya Deshmukh | 2301 | 8 |
2 | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | 2205 | 7 |
3 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | 2301 | 7 |
4 | WGM | Srija Seshadri | 2219 | 7 |
5 | IM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2360 | 6½ |
6 | IM | Vaishali R | 2403 | 6½ |
7 | IM | Padmini Rout | 2350 | 6½ |
8 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | 2361 | 6½ |
9 | WIM | Priyanka K | 2227 | 6½ |
10 | WIM | Parnali S Dharia | 2224 | 6½ |
Photo: All India Chess Federation Facebook page