The Commonwealth Chess Championship is a gathering of chess players from Commonwealth countries. The event offers direct titles: IM titles to the winners, and FM titles (and IM norms) to the Silver and Bronze medalists. [1]
The Commonwealth Chess Championship is a gathering of chess players from Commonwealth countries. The event offers direct titles: IM titles to the winners, and FM titles (and IM norms) to the Silver and Bronze medalists. [1]
| # | Year | City | Women's Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2006 | Mumbai |  Harika Dronavalli (IND) |
| 2 | 2007 | New Delhi | Harika Dronavalli (IND) |
| 3 | 2008 | Nagpur | Meenakshi Subbaraman (IND) |
| 4 | 2009 | Singapore | Mitali Madhukar Patil (IND) |
| 5 | 2010 | New Delhi | Harika Dronavalli (IND) |
| 6 | 2011 | Ekurhuleni | Eesha Karavade (IND) |
| 7 | 2012 | Chennai | Soumya Swaminathan (IND) |
| 8 | 2013 | Port Elizabeth |  Jovanka Houska (ENG) |
| 9 | 2014 | Glasgow | Bhakti Kulkarni (IND) |
| 10 | 2015 | New Delhi | Padmini Rout (IND) |
| 11 | 2016 | Kalutara | Tania Sachdev (IND) |
| 12 | 2017 | New Delhi | Swati Ghate (IND) |
| 13 | 2018 | New Delhi | Tania Sachdev (IND) |
| 14 | 2019 | New Delhi | Tania Sachdev (IND) |
| 15 | 2022 | Sri Lanka | Nutakki Priyanka (IND) |
| 16 | 2023-24 | Malacca, Malaysia |  Gong Qianyun (SIN) |
A championship was planned for New Zealand in 1949, but it was canceled because the British Chess Federation was unable to attend.
In 1950 an informal all-play-all championship was held as the strongest players of Canada (Daniel Yanofsky), New Zealand (Robert Wade), and South Africa (Wolfgang Heidenfeld) were all in England. The field was rounded out with a player from England, Scotland, and a promising Australian. William Fairhurst (Scotland) won the unofficial championship held in Oxford. [4]
The Commonwealth Chess Association (formed in 1981) planned a 1982 championship in Nigeria, but it was not held. The 1983 Swiss system tournament was held in Melbourne, and won by Ian Rogers and Gregory Hjorth, both of Australia.
The winners of the 1984 Hong Kong tournament were Kevin Spraggett (Canada) and Murray Chandler (England).
The winners of the 1985 London tournament were Praveen Thipsay (India) and Kevin Spraggett.
The winner of the 1987 London tournament was Murray Chandler (England). The title was awarded to the highest eligible player in the 11th Lloyds Bank Masters, played at the Park Lane Hotel, London, 22–31 August 1987. Chandler tied for first place on 8/10 with Michael Wilder (USA), who was not eligible for the Commonwealth title. [5] [6]
In 1988 the championship title was shared by Gary Lane and Michael Adams. It was awarded to the highest eligible player(s) in the 12th Lloyds Bank Masters, played at the Ramada Inn, London, 20–29 August 1988. At the time Gary Lane was registered as an English player. Scores: 1-2 Gary Lane, Michael Adams 8/10. [7] [8]
In 1989 the championship was won by Ian Rogers (Australia). It was awarded to the highest eligible player(s) in the 13th Lloyds Bank Masters, played at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch, London, August 1989. Ian Rogers scored 8/10, behind the ineligible Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Georgia) on 8½. [9] [10]
Mithrakanth of India won with 7.5/10. Gokhale, Sriram, Praven Thipsay and McNab tied for second place on 7.0. Seventeen-year-old S. Vijaylakshmi won the women's title and earned an IM norm. [11]
Grandmaster Alexander Baburin of Ireland remained undefeated throughout with 8.5/10 but since Ireland is outside the Commonwealth federation the title went to Atanu Lahiri.
The championship with 72 players was played as an 11-round Swiss event. Four players ended with 8.5/11: Max Sorokin, Krishnan Sasikiran, Evgeny Vladimirov and Alexander Fominyh. Sorokin won the championship on tie-break points but the title went to Krishnan Sasikiran.
The commonwealth chess championships was incorporated into the main Mind Sports Olympiad chess event, "The Ron Banwell Masters" at the Southbank University. [12] India sent a strong contingent of GMs [13] and the event was won for India by Pentala Harikrishna. [14]
Nguyen Anh Dung from Vietnam finished first with 8.5/10, the title went to 4th placed Dibyendu Barua.
The 2004 Championships were held in Mumbai, India. The winner was Nigel Short. In 2005 the event was scheduled to be played, but was in the end cancelled.
The event was won by Nigel Short with the emphatic score of 9/10. Indians Chanda Sandipan and M R Venkatesh scored 8/10 for 2nd-3rd places. [15]
Sponsored by Parvnath Developers Ltd., the 2007 tournament was held at the Sirifort Sports Complex, Khel, New Delhi. The Delhi Chess Association organized the event on behalf of the All India Chess Federation and Commonwealth Chess Association and the ten-round Swiss system tournament boasted a record field of 282 players included entries from eleven Commonwealth countries: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago, with 13 Grandmasters, 35 International Masters, 5 Woman Grandmasters and 7 Woman International Masters. The prize fund totaled US$20,000, with $4000 for the winner.
Former British Champion GM R. B. Ramesh won the final three rounds to tie with top seed GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly at 8½/10 points. Ramesh won the title on tie-break, with Ramesh and Ganguly splitting the top two prizes equally for Rs 137,500 (approximately €2400). IM Abhijeet Gupta finished third with 8, completing the requirements for the Grandmaster title to become India's 17th Grandmaster. He also won the Under-20 prize and received Rs 75,000. IM Dronavalli Harika won Rs 40,000 by taking the women's title for the second consecutive year with an overall finish in seventh place. There were three medals (gold, silver, and bronze) awarded in each fifteen categories: Overall, Women, Seniors, Under-20, Girls Under-20, and boys and girls U-18, U-16, U-14, U-12, and U-10. Players from India won 44 of the 45 medals, with English GM Gawain Jones preventing the sweep by winning the U-20 bronze. [16]
The 2008 tournament was held in the orange city of Nagpur at the navedhyam celebration center. The tournament was won by two time previous champion Nigel Short and won the prize money of 1,80,000 INR.
The 2009 tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia, [17] but eventually moved to Singapore, where it was held along the 6th Singapore International Chess Festival. [18] It was won by Singapore IM Enrique Paciencia with a score of 7.5/9. Indian IM Jayaram Ashwin finished second with 6.5/9, and Australian master Max Illingworth finished in third place with 6/9.
The 2019 edition was hosted in the capital city of India, New Delhi which had hosted the 2010,2015,2017,2018 editions. It was the third time in a row that New Delhi hosted the event. It was held at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel from 29 June 2019 to 7 July 2019. The tournament was won by Abhijeet Gupta of India. It was his fifth Commonwealth Chess Championship victory and the 8th time in a row an Indian has won the event. [19]
After months of discussion and planning, the Commonwealth Chess Association has agreed to award Malaysia to organize the Commonwealth Chess Championship 2023-24 in Quarter One of 2024 from 19th to 28th February 2024. Initially planned for 10th to 18th December 2023, MCF was advised not to use the dates due to the upcoming Asian Youth Chess Championship to be held in Al-Ain during the same period.
The CCC was last held in Sri Lanka in 2022 with 198 players took part in the Age Group event, and 98 players in the Open event. The best turnout was in 2013 – hosted by South Africa, when almost 900 players turned out when it had only 2 main sections to offer – the Open section with 314 players, and the challenger event with 567 players. The event skipped 2014 and when India resumed the event in 2015, it introduced the Age Group event with 268 youngsters taking part, and another 298 players in the Open section.
Malaysia hosted the event once in 1992 in Kuala Lumpur, and was supposed to host it again in 2009 but had to withdraw with Singapore taking over the event from Ipoh. For this Malaysia edition, the Age Group and the Open section have been maintained with an introduction of a Blitz event on the very last day of the Championship. [20]
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
Ramachandran Ramesh, also known as R. B. Ramesh, is an Indian chess grandmaster (GM) from Chennai who won the 2002 British Championship and the 2007 Commonwealth Championship.
Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess grandmaster.
Parimarjan Negi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He achieved the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 4 months, and 20 days, which made him the second youngest grandmaster in history at the time. As of September 2023, he is the seventh youngest player to achieve this feat.
Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Shenzhen University. She is the second highest rated female player of all time. A chess prodigy, she was the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of grandmaster and the youngest ever to win the Women's World Chess Championship.
Abhijeet Gupta is an Indian chess player with the title of Grandmaster (GM). Gupta is the first player to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship five times. He completed his early education from A's Steward Senior Secondary School, Bhilwara before embarking upon his career as a chess player.
Kevin Spraggett is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He was the first Canadian-born player and fourth Canadian overall to earn the grandmaster title, after Abe Yanofsky, Duncan Suttles and Peter Biyiasas.
Tania Sachdev is an Indian chess player, who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a two-time Indian women's chess champion in 2006 and 2007, one-time Asian women's chess champion in 2007 and three-time and current Commonwealth Women's Chess Champion in 2016, 2018, and 2019. She is also a chess presenter and commentator.
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Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Harika was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.
Surya Shekhar Ganguly is an Indian chess grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676. Ganguly became an International Master at the age of 16 and a grandmaster at the age of 19.
Pravin Mahadeo Thipsay is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He is the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster Norm and the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship.
Padmini Rout is an Indian chess player. She holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She has won the National Women's Premier Championship five times, consecutively from 2014 to 2017 and again in 2023, and was the Asian women's champion in 2018.
Akshayraj Kore, is an Indian chess player and a Grandmaster. In 2006, he became Maharashtra's youngest International Master at the time after he won the Invitational IM Norm Round Robin Chess Tournament in Luhansk, Ukraine. In February 2013, he became India's 32nd Grandmaster.
Nihal Sarin is an Indian chess grandmaster and chess prodigy. In 2018, he passed the Elo rating of 2600 at 14 years old, which at the time made him the third youngest player in history to do so.
Prathamesh Mokal is an Indian chess player. He is an International Master as well as FIDE Trainer, and won the Shiv Chhatrapati Award (2005). He is also a black belt in karate and koryū. He received the Shiv-Chhatrapati Award from Maharashtra government in 2004 for his achievements in Chess.
Fenil Shah is an Indian chess player, who holds the FIDE title of International Master (IM). He was the youngest rated chess player in 2002 and also the youngest chess player to represent Indian Team.
Stany George Anthony is an Indian chess player and a chess grandmaster. In 2012, he became Karnataka's youngest international master at the time after completing his final norm in Rethymno International Open, Greece. In December 2018 he completed his final grand master norm in National Senior Chess Championship, Jammu and became India's fifty-eighth and Karnataka's second grandmaster. He was given the Ekalavya Award by the Govt of Karnataka in 2012. Stany is a B.Com. graduate and has done masters in business administration.
Pallathur Venkatachalam Nandhidhaa is an Indian chess player from the state of Tamilnadu, who holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and Woman International Master (WIM). She is the 17th Woman Grandmaster of India. Her peak FIDE ELO rating is 2380 and she is holding 8 International Master norms as of April 2024. She was part of the 30 member Indian Chess Olympiad team which participated in 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, India from 28 July to 9 August 2022. Nandhidhaa had won an individual Gold in Asian Chess Championship held at New Delhi on 3 November 2022, making her only the 9th Indian Women to clinch the Asian Gold. She scored an unbeaten and impressive 7.5/9 to clinch the title, thereby also qualifying for the Women's Chess World Cup 2023. She has won 7 medals each in Commonwealth Chess Championship and Asian level Chess Championship tournaments in different age categories. She also won 5 National level Chess Championship Gold medals in different age categories.
