Raahil Mullick wins First Move Chess Club 2019 Rapid, Sameer Kathmale wins blitz

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/01/2019

11-year old CM Raahil Mullick of Mumbai won First Move Chess Club and We One Non Rated Open Rapid 2019. Raahil finished with 7.5/9 along with three other players FM Sauravh Kherdekera, FM Mithil Ajgaonkar and IM Sameer Kathmale. However due to a better tie-break score, Raahil was declared the winner. This might well be the first time that an 11-year-old won a Mumbai rapid event! Sameer Kathmale won the Blitz event scoring 8.0/9. FM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H also finished at 8.0/9, however he was defeated by Sameer in the penultimate round resulting in Sameer clinching the Blitz title. The report contains photos from the tournament and an annotated game by the champion Raahil himself. Photo: Amar Godbole

Raahil Mullick wins the Rapid event

The Mumbai rapid chess scene witnesses fierce competition. Top players of the city like Vikramaditya Kulkarni, Rakesh Kulkarni, Mithil Ajgaonkar, Ketan Boricha, Amardeep Bartakke and many others participate in the one day rapid event, which is usually held on Sundays. The prize money is attractive and it's a good form of practicing chess for some, while for others it's an excellent way to make some money. Not to forget, there are strong rapid players like IM Sameer Kathmale, Chinmay Kulkarni, Sauravh Kherdekar and others who come from Sangli, Pune, Nagpur and other cities of Maharashtra to pick up the top prize.

The First Move Chess Club and We One Rapid event was a strong one with players like Vikramaditya Kulkarni, Chinmay Kulkarni, Sameer Kathmale, Mithil Ajgaonkar, Mehar China Reddy - all players above an Elo of 2250 in classical chess, taking part. However, the tournament was won by 11-year-old Raahil Mullick who played some fine chess, remained unbeaten and took home the first prize of Rs.21,000.

CM Raahil Mullick won the rapid scoring 7.5/9. He won ₹21000 cash and a beautiful trophy of a golden king | Photo: Amar Godbole

Raahil's performance in the rapid section

Here is an annotated game by the champion Raahil himself:

IM Sameer Kathmale won the blitz event scoring 8.0/9. He won ₹5000 cash and a beautiful trophy | Photo: Sagar Shah

The tournament hall accommodated over 150 players in Rapid and 118 players in Blitz. It was the same place where the famous Bournivta inter-school championships used to be held around 15 years ago in Mumbai. It was nostalgia time for many of the players who came there.| Photo: Amar Godbole

Padma Shri and Arjuna Awardee WIM Bhagyasree Thipsay was seen in action... | Photo: Amar Godbole

...she scored 7.0/9 and secured 8th position in the Rapid event | Photo: Amar Godbole

The beautiful trophies and medals | Photo: Amar Godbole

All Prize winners | Photo: Amar Godbole

Final Standings after 9 Rounds in Rapid

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	6	CM	Mullick Raahil	U15		IND	2254	7,5	0,0	54,5	46,0
2	9	FM	Sauravh Khherdekar			IND	2143	7,5	0,0	53,5	45,0
3	5	FM	Mithil Ajgaonkar			IND	2257	7,5	0,0	49,5	40,5
4	2	IM	Kathmale Sameer			IND	2323	7,5	0,0	49,0	40,5
5	4	FM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.			IND	2264	7,0	0,0	58,0	48,0
6	1	IM	Kulkarni Vikramaditya			IND	2337	7,0	0,0	55,5	46,0
7	3		Kulkarni Chinmay			IND	2295	7,0	0,0	53,0	44,0
8	10	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe		w	IND	2065	7,0	0,0	52,0	44,0
9	34		Shome Shiv	U15		IND	1627	7,0	0,0	50,5	42,0
10	14	FM	Dixit Nikhil			IND	2003	7,0	0,0	47,0	41,0
11	32		Aditya Guhagarkar			IND	1654	7,0	0,0	46,5	40,0
12	8		Bhambure Shantanu			IND	2151	6,5	0,0	56,0	47,0
13	15		Bartakke Amardeep S.			IND	2003	6,5	0,0	52,5	43,0
14	22	WIM	Parnali S Dharia		w	IND	1868	6,5	0,0	51,0	41,5
15	16		Chittal Sairaj			IND	1983	6,5	0,0	47,5	41,0
16	35		Mishra Sanjeev			IND	1621	6,5	0,0	45,0	39,0
17	30		Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi			IND	1699	6,5	0,0	45,0	39,0
18	26		Kochrekar Vishwesh			IND	1767	6,5	0,0	43,5	36,5
19	12		Pandit Arun	S60		IND	2012	6,5	0,0	43,0	35,0
20	58		Khandelwal Naman			IND	1274	6,0	0,0	53,0	44,0
21	17	FM	Wagh Suyog			IND	1982	6,0	0,0	52,0	44,5
22	18		Mehta Praful			IND	1965	6,0	0,0	52,0	42,5
23	25		Prabhu Anand			IND	1779	6,0	0,0	52,0	42,0
24	20		Boricha Ketan			IND	1947	6,0	0,0	50,0	44,0
25	37		Shah Jeet	U15		IND	1489	6,0	0,0	48,5	40,5
26	29		Sawant Akshay			IND	1716	6,0	0,0	47,5	39,5
27	27		Raees Ahmed A Q			IND	1762	6,0	0,0	47,5	38,5
28	21		Shetye Siddhali		w	IND	1884	6,0	0,0	47,0	38,5
29	23		Samyak Baid			IND	1842	6,0	0,0	46,5	38,5
30	75		Rahul N Kamath			IND	1139	6,0	0,0	45,5	39,0

Final Standings after 9 Rounds in Blitz

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3	IM	Kathmale Sameer	IND	2235	8,0	1,0	52,5	49,0
2	2	FM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	IND	2238	8,0	0,0	58,0	53,5
3	17		Samyak Baid	IND	1899	7,5	0,0	49,0	46,5
4	4		Bhambure Shantanu	IND	2225	7,0	0,0	58,5	53,5
5	11	FM	Dixit Nikhil	IND	2039	7,0	0,0	53,5	49,5
6	16		Kothari Swapnil	IND	1994	7,0	0,0	50,5	46,5
7	1		Kulkarni Chinmay	IND	2271	7,0	0,0	49,0	46,0
8	8	CM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2083	6,5	0,0	55,0	50,5
9	10	FM	Wagh Suyog	IND	2047	6,5	0,0	53,0	48,5
10	24		Panesar Vedant	IND	1778	6,5	0,0	51,5	47,5
11	15		Chittal Sairaj	IND	1996	6,5	0,0	49,0	45,0
12	19		Siddharth Venkatesh	IND	1826	6,5	0,0	49,0	44,5
13	12	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2031	6,5	0,0	47,5	43,5
14	21		Om Kharola	IND	1806	6,0	0,0	50,0	47,5
15	6	FM	Mithil Ajgaonkar	IND	2149	6,0	0,0	49,0	45,0

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