Mysore has been producing talented Chess players from time to time who have gone on to represent the country in different levels. Mysore’s IM M.S. Thejkumar, with a present rating 2460, is the highest ranked player in Karnataka. He recently took part in the National Rapid Chess Championship 2014 held at Ahmadabad from Apr. 26 to 28 and finished runner-up. He is our ‘Star This Week.’
Thejkumar, a employee with the South Western Railways, Mysore, has been consistently performing well in the National and International tournaments and has been steadily increasing his rating points and needs another 40 points to get the Grand Master title.
Representing Karnataka in National Rapid Chess Tourney in Ahmadabad, Thejkumar tied with GM Sriram Jha with 8 points from 11 rounds. As both of them tied also in their tie-break scores (70.5), they played two games in the play-off and both ended in a draw. In the final game, GM Sriram Jha triumphed and clinched the title with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and IM Thejkumar won Rs. 25,000 cash prize.
In the tourney, Thejkumar had wins over Raje Anil, D. Shreyansh, WGM Kulkarni Bhakti, Kulkarni Rakesh, Sharma Dinesh and Thanki Hemal Karsangi. He drew with M Dustageer Ibrahim, Matta Vinay Kumar, GM Sriram Jha and J. Ramakrishna. He had a single loss against Syed Anwar Shazuli.
An Ekalavya awardee,Thejkumar is the first Karnataka player to win the National ‘B’ Chess Championship. He has also finished fourth in the National Premier Chess Championships this year and is part of the Indian team.
Thejkumar is being sponsored by Yasasvi Shankar of Saanvi Technologies, USA and www.mysoresport.com. The Karnataka Government is also supporting him by providing him the needed help for taking part in overseas tournaments from time to time.
He will be participating in the forthcoming National ‘B’ Chess Championships at Himachal Pradesh from May 9 also and also in the International GM tournament in Mumbai.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / May 04th, 2014