Media Release
Mangalore, Apr 29: The first UKCA Cup All India Open FIDE Rated chess tournament was inaugurated by T A Nagendra, proprietor, Nagendra & Co here at Subrahmanya Sabha on Saturday April 28.
The international event was conducted by United Karnataka Chess Association.
In his inaugural address, Nagendra said, "Chess is a wonderful game to be taught at the childhood itself. It is the social commitment and responsibility to support and encourage such activities. UKCA is providing a good platform and tournament exposure by conducting a series of FIDE rated tournaments."
Speaking on the occasion, general manager of Corporation Bank B N Sathish said, "United Karnataka Chess Association is doing great job and our bank is happy to support its activities."
Karun Rao Belle, secretary, Subrahmanya Sabha, and M R Vasudeva, Mangalore airport director spoke on the occasion.
President of UKCA professor M B Puranik welcomed the gathering. President of UKCA, M S Gururaj narrated the activities, plans of UKCA for the year 2012.
Secretary of UKCA V Raghavendra proposed the vote of thanks.
Woman International Master and former National Women Champion Bhagyashree Thipsay (Elo 2166) of Maharashtra began her campaign on a sound note with an efficient win over Panchami K Shenoy (Elo 1366) of Karnataka in the inaugural round of the first UKCA Cup All India Open FIDE Rated Chess tournament.
Arjun Vairavan (Elo 1760) of Singapore scored over Amrutha (Kar) with black pieces.
Other higher seeds Akash Thakur (Maharashtra), Anurag Mhamal (Goa) and M Kunal (Tamil Nadu) registered convincing victories over their lower rated opponents.
In other interesting games, seeded Karnataka stars Santhosh Kashyap and Vaibhav Bhat defeated Rajath Kumar and Shravan Prabhu respectively.
As many as 178 players participated in the nine round Swiss events, which had the representation from several Indian states.
Chirag Baliga (Karnataka) lost to Akash Thakur (Maharashtra), Anurag Mhamal (Goa) beat Manoj B Kulkarni (Karnataka), K Padmanabhan (Kerala) lost to M Kunal (Tamil Nadu), Bhagyashree Thipsay (Maharashtra) beat Panchami Shenoy (Karnataka), M C Deepika (Tamil Nadu) lost to Pranav Vijay (Tamil Nadu), Rajath Kumar (Karnataka) lost to Santhosh Kashyap (Karnataka), A Akshaya (Tamil Nadu) beat Amoga Vigram P (Karnataka), Shravan Prabhu (Karnataka) lost to Vaibhav Bhat (Karnataka), Aruna Dinakara (Karnataka) lost to Rohan Ahuja (Goa), Akhilesh T Rai (Goa) beat Siddhant Dharwar (Karnataka).