Pranesh silver lining in ordinary Indian campaign

THE 11th Chennai Open, which concluded here on Friday, wasn't the best of tournaments for Indians. Though the event saw entries from six Indian Grandmasters, the highest spot that one of them managed to occupy was eighth - Karthik Venkataraman finishing there with 7.5 points. Even established names like Deepan Chakkravarthy and Sundararajan Kidambi flattered to deceive, finishing 21st and 31st respectively.

- ASHOK VENUGOPAL @ Chennai

Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia won the title with 8.5 points

One of the few bright spots though was Tamil Nadu's M Pranesh, who became the only player from India to achieve an IM norm in the tournament. The 12-year-old's first IM norm came when he defeated GM Erigaisi Arjun in the ninth round. "I'm obviously very happy and delighted to get my IM norm. I have been playing chess since I was five years old. A lot of hard work has gone into it over the years. I was keen to do well in the Chennai Open and luckily, I made a good beginning,' said Pranesh.

The Tamil Nadu State Chess Association regularly conducts tournaments in other districts too. This has generated plenty of interest in the sport and also improved the awareness of budding chess players.