UICC Rapid International Open Fide Rating Chess Tournament 2024 organized by Unite Indore Chess Club, was held at Suruchi Garden, Indore (Madhya Pradesh) from 6th to 7th Jan 2024. This tournament was organized under the aegis of FIDE, AICF and Madhya Pradesh Ad-hoc Committee.
The opening ceremony was held on 6th of Jan in the presence of Chief Guest Mr. Vinay Chhajlani (Founder and Group President of Webdunia) along with IM D.V. Prasad, IM Anup Deshmukh, IM ShyamNikhil P, FM Ayush Sharma, IA/NI Vikas Sahu (Secretary, Chess in Lakecity), Mr. Anil Fatehchandani (Member, MP Chess Ad-Hoc Committee), Mr. Sunil Soni (Organizing Secretary) and Chief Arbiter IA/FI Yashpal Arora.
The Two day Swiss event carried a prize fund of ₹3, 00,000 and was distributed amongst different category.
The event was conducted in Rapid 9 round Swiss format, with a time control of 25 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move. 368 players Including (3 IM, 2 FM) participated in this tournament with players coming from 16 different states of India.
IM Shyaamnikhil P from ICF was top seeded with FIDE rating of 2346.
At the end of final round games third seeded FM Ayush Sharma ended with 8.5 points out of 9 to bag the Champion’s title with cash prize of Rs. 30,000/- and a beautiful trophy. First seeded IM Shyaamnikhil P (ICF) grabbed 2nd position scoring 8 points with cash prize of Rs. 25,000/- and a trophy and sub junior champion Mrittika Mallick scored same 7.5 points secured third position received Rs. 20,000/- with trophy.
In the attractive rating category prizes Gabbar (Uttar Pradesh) who also scored 7 points in the tournament, grabbed 1st position in 1401-1600 rating category and won 8,000/- and a trophy, Harshit Dawar (Indore-MP) scored 7 points grabbed 1st position in 1201-1400 rating category and won 8,000/- and a trophy, Siddharth Jain (Indore-MP) scored 7 points grabbed 1st position in 1000-1200 rating category and won 8,000/- and a trophy, Kesava Batchu (Andhra Pradesh) scored 6.5 points grabbed 1st position in Unrated category and won 7,000/- and trophy.
The prize distribution ceremony was organized in a grand manner. The prizes were distributed at the hands of Chief Guest Mr. Om Soni (Vice President, MP Olympic Sangh), Special Guests were Mr. Gurmeet Singh (Chairman, MP Chess Ad-Hoc Committee), Mr. Kapil Saxena (International Arbiter), Mr. Rajesh Udawat (Member, MIC Indore) and Mr. Sunil Soni (Organizing Secretary).
Mr. Jitendra Soni, Ms. Soniya Soni, Mr. Piyush Zamindar, Mr. Girish Dhoot and Chief Arbiter were also present.
The team of arbiter’s was headed by Chief Arbiter IA Yashpal Arora & Dy Chief: IA Vikas Sahu, SNA Yogesh Mohite , Pairing Arbiter : IA Neelesh Kumawat , Anti-Cheating Arbiter : IA Sunil Soni & they were ably assisted by arbiters SNA Kushal Patel, SNA Devansh Singh, SNA Akanksha Astik were very much competent and were equipped with full technical knowledge which helped each one of them to tackle every situation efficiently to make the event a grand success.