Best Games of MatchDay #1
Hello everyone!
The first tournament of the All IITs Chess Club concluded on 7th February, 2021. With players from all 23 IITs taking part, it turned out to be a massive success with over 600 players battling it out on the 64 squares to fight for the top spots!
Given the strength of the field, there were expected to be many topsy-turvy games and nail biting finishes and the players did not disappoint the viewers by providing them with many incredible matches and loads of entertainment . In this article, we bring to you the best games played by the top 3 players of the event- Shani Sharma(@Shani096) from IIT Madras, Aditya Kalyani(@aditya140202) from IIT Dharwad and Saankulp Jain(@SaankulpJain) from IIT Kanpur.
The first game that we present to you is by the eventual winner of the tournament, Shani Sharma. Playing with the Black pieces, Shani opened with the Sicilian Defense and the game became really sharp when White went in for the kill after losing a few pawns and ending up in a slightly worse position. What followed was utter chaos with the evaluation of the position changing after every move! White was the last to blunder when he could not stop Black's passed pawns despite being up a full rook. Not the smoothest victory for Black, but this game is a great illustration of just how important it is to fight till the very end, no matter how bad your position is.
Moving on to the game between Dhruv Jain and Aditya Kalyani, the eventual runner up of the tournament. The game started off with the London System, with the advantage swinging from one player to another. Once the dust settled and the Queens got exchanged, White seemed to have a slight edge as he had an extra pawn going into the endgame. However, Black's active rooks soon took over and the position seemed to be heading towards a draw. White eventually blundered a couple of pawns and ended up in a losing rook endgame before the clock robbed him of a chance to somehow hold on and miraculously survive.
The last game that we intend to present to you was played by the second runner-up of the tournament, Saankulp Jain. The game was dominated by White right from the start. At no point in the game was Black better. White slowly built an advantage and Black gave in to the constant nudging by blundering a piece. The rest was just a matter of conversion, which White managed to do with relative ease. A flawless game by White and what adds to the charm of this game is the final mating position with 2 Queens and 1 Rook delivering a checkmate in a beautiful pattern. Truly a sight to behold!
Congrats to all the winners and I hope that all of you enjoyed playing this event. I hope that this tournament has encouraged everyone to start playing chess seriously in an attempt to shine on this big stage, in our future events! Also, do let us know your favorite games from the event in the comment section 
Meanwhile, please follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay updated with all our events and initiatives!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dkcc_iitb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IITBChessClub/
