Ajay Srikanth dominates 1st Sports Bees Rapid Rating Open 2024 after more than a decade long hiatus
When a lot of tournaments take place, naturally a lot of champions get crowned. However, it is slightly different with Ajay Srikanth, the winner of 1st Sports Bees Rapid Rating Open 2024. He scored 8.5/9 and finished a half point ahead of the rest. Five players - FM Ankit Gajwa, IM Sathvik Adiga, Vivaan Sachdev, FM Apoorv Kamble and Aarya Satish Chikodi scored 8/9 each. They were placed second to sixth according to tie-breaks. Ajay defeated the eventual runner-up, Sathvik in the final round to become the champion. The total prize fund was ₹250000. The top three prizes were ₹35000, ₹25000 and ₹20000 along with a trophy each. The two-day nine-round Swiss league rapid rating tournament was organized by Sports Bees at CMK Convention Hall in Bangalore, Karnataka on 28th and 29th December 2024. This is Ajay's first rating tournament triumph of his career. If you have not played a tournament for a really long time, check out this report and you might just find your inspiration. Photo: sportsbees.in
Ajay makes an epic comeback after more than a decade
Ajay Srikanth won his first tournament in July 2009 - 35th Tamil Nadu State Sub-Junior (Under-15) Open. The last open tournament he played was in 2012 where India's stalwarts like - GM Sasikiran Krishnan, GM Vishnu Prasanna, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, GM Venkatesh M R, GM Ramesh R B, GM Sethuraman S P, GM Aravindh Chithambaram, IM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi and many more strong titled players took part in it. More than a decade later, he played a rating tournament and won it convincingly. One of the latest IMs of India, Karnataka's Sathvik Adiga was the sole leader by winning eight games in-a-row. Ajay was the only player trailing him by a half point at 7.5/8. He managed to beat the talented teenager Sathvik in the final round to become a clear champion.
Dear reader, if you have not played a tournament for a long time, even if it is more than a decade, you do not have to look further than Ajay Srikanth's performance. A lot of things might have changed since you were in action but with a proper preparation, you can still do it, Ajay showed it.
A total of 511 players including an IM took part from various parts of India, one from Singapore and two from the USA. The tournament was organized by Sports Bees at CMK Convention Hall in Bangalore, Karnataka on 28th and 29th December 2024. The nine-round Swiss league Rapid Rating tournament had a time control of 20 minutes + 5 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Srikanth, Ajay | IND | 2142 | 8,5 | 52 | 54 | 51,25 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 1 | FM | Gajwa, Ankit | IND | 2147 | 8 | 56 | 61 | 53,00 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 6 | IM | Sathvik, Adiga | IND | 1914 | 8 | 56 | 61 | 52,50 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 4 | 14 | AFM | Vivaan, Sachdev | IND | 1801 | 8 | 55 | 59 | 51,00 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5 | 3 | FM | Apoorv, Kamble | IND | 2103 | 8 | 52 | 56,5 | 48,50 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 6 | 40 | Aarya, Satish Chikodi | IND | 1616 | 8 | 51 | 55 | 48,00 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 7 | 10 | AIM | Farhaan, M | IND | 1847 | 7,5 | 53 | 56 | 44,50 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 8 | 7 | Bhuvan, Krishna Prasanth | IND | 1898 | 7,5 | 52 | 56 | 44,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 9 | 9 | Ajit, Singh | IND | 1855 | 7,5 | 49 | 53,5 | 43,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 10 | 15 | Rohan, Gupta | IND | 1790 | 7,5 | 48 | 52,5 | 42,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 11 | 21 | Gopika, M | w | IND | 1717 | 7 | 53,5 | 59 | 43,75 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 12 | 13 | Vigneshwaran, S | IND | 1825 | 7 | 53,5 | 58 | 42,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 13 | 5 | WCM | Charvi, A | w | IND | 2007 | 7 | 53 | 55,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 14 | 56 | Karthik, G Iyer | IND | 1569 | 7 | 52,5 | 55 | 40,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 15 | 39 | AFM | Shobhit, Agilarasan | IND | 1616 | 7 | 52 | 55,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 16 | 27 | AFM | Sinthia, Sarkar | w | IND | 1672 | 7 | 51 | 55,5 | 40,50 | 0 | 7 | |
| 17 | 37 | Samaksh, Ashok | IND | 1621 | 7 | 51 | 55 | 39,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 18 | 19 | Nishanth, Dsouza | IND | 1727 | 7 | 51 | 53,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 19 | 24 | Karthik, S | IND | 1679 | 7 | 50,5 | 54,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 20 | 30 | Ekantharaju, | IND | 1658 | 7 | 50 | 54,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 21 | 31 | Kavari, Aarav | U09 | USA | 1649 | 7 | 50 | 52 | 37,00 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 22 | 63 | Raghav, Budur | IND | 1559 | 7 | 49,5 | 54,5 | 39,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 23 | 20 | Ragavan, Samarth Rajesh | USA | 1721 | 7 | 49,5 | 52,5 | 38,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 24 | 43 | Prahalad, Sen | IND | 1608 | 7 | 49,5 | 52,5 | 37,50 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 25 | 4 | FM | Apaar, Saxena | IND | 2012 | 7 | 49,5 | 52 | 37,50 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 26 | 33 | Tarun, Thiyagarajan | IND | 1637 | 7 | 48,5 | 52,5 | 37,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 27 | 151 | Rishikesh, K M | IND | 1441 | 7 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 36,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 28 | 25 | Amogh, Manohar | IND | 1676 | 7 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 29 | 28 | Vamsi, Krishna A | IND | 1669 | 7 | 46 | 49,5 | 36,00 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 30 | 17 | Gowtham, K K | IND | 1764 | 7 | 46 | 48,5 | 36,50 | 0 | 7 |
