Zupanja IM3

[Mick Norris]

Zupanja Celebrates Chess- 70 Years of Pride and Tradition- IM Tournament 3

Final ranking

Koby Kalavannan with what I assume is an IM norm

[IM Jack Rudd]

Looks like it to me: over 2450 performance, more than half his field titled players, a third of his field IMs, a diverse enough mix of nationalities.

[Mick Norris]

I think Koby has been close before (London Chess Classic), is this a first norm?

[LawrenceCooper]

I think Koby has been close before (London Chess Classic), is this a first norm?

Amazingly, it is. All the more impressive given his loss in round 1. He had also played an all-play-all immediately before this one, where he scored 6/9 https://chess-results.com/tnr1144720.as ... g=30&snr=6

[NickFaulks]

Amazingly, it is.

His FIDE rating is 2303. You wouldn't expect to find many 2450+ performances in there.

[Mick Norris]

Koby was 2365 after the 2018 British, so hopefully he can get above that level in due course

[LawrenceCooper]

Amazingly, it is.

His FIDE rating is 2303. You wouldn't expect to find many 2450+ performances in there.

He was rated 2365 at the age of 16 though and has been beating titled players from a young age. He took a five year gap from rated classical chess to focus on his studies. It then took him most of 2024 to shake off the rust and get back to somewhere near his level. He has now regained most of the 100 points lost last year and can hopefully push on to the title.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Amazingly, it is.

His FIDE rating is 2303. You wouldn't expect to find many 2450+ performances in there.

He was rated 2365 at the age of 16 though and has been beating titled players from a young age. He took a five year gap from rated classical chess to focus on his studies. It then took him most of 2024 to shake off the rust and get back to somewhere near his level. He has now regained most of the 100 points lost last year and can hopefully push on to the title.

I wasn't aware he had taken a 5-year gap to focus on his studies. When I was first at university (1995-1999), two future GMs (Jonathan Parker and Matthew Turner who both had the IM title) were studying there (at Cambridge), as well as Mark Ferguson (who also already had the IM title [1996] he has now). Parker attained the GM title in 2001, and Turner in 2002. Despite playing much more chess in those years and in the 2000s and 2010s than I do now, I had little sense in that late-1990s period of their relative strengths (though Mark was lower rated than Jon and Matt and they did consistently play in the same board order in university and county matches) or their ambitions in chess.

When I see current juniors go through that period, of combining or not combining studying and chess, and deciding how and when to attempt to attain various titles or return to serious chess studies, I wonder what things influence that and whether the calculus used (and the factors considered) has changed? Certainly I think it is maybe less common to focus solely on studies to the extent of needing to shake off the rust, but maybe it depends on what someone is studying and where? (I think, if my memory is correct, that the three titled players I mentioned above were all studying Economics, which seemed to be a popular choice among chess players at the time - apologies if that is wrong!)

I was at some of the local league matches Koby played for Surbiton in that pre-pandemic period and earlier (I am going back to around 2014 here). I remember wondering how well he might do as he progressed compared to another strong junior, Akshaya Kalaiyalahan (a strong female player). I believe they met over the board in some clashes. As someone also playing in some of those Thames Valley League matches, I assessed her as a stronger player in around 2014. Koby was lower rated than her, but only just, and a year younger (not sure if this translated to a difference in school years or not). Looking at the rating list, I see that she has the FM title and reached a peak rating of 2288 back in 2016 when she would have been about 15). Interesting to see how it turns out (there are obviously many and varied reasons for ratings differing as juniors develop). It does make me wonder how much competition between juniors drives individuals on to attain higher levels?

Here is a nice article on Koby from St Catherine's College:

https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/chess-success

Koby Kalavannan, a third-year Medical Sciences undergraduate at St Catharine’s, has been President and Varsity Captain for CUCC in 2023–24.

There is a lot more in that article. And yes, studying undergraduate medicine at Cambridge is hard (I hasten to add that studying medicine is hard anywhere, but the shorter terms at Oxbridge make it even more so). I am not surprised that he took that break, though clearly he has been playing lots of chess as well. Lots more medical studying to come depending what medical degree pathway he is on. Might be a good point to ask how many medical doctors have historically taken chess to a high level (I can name a few, but it is not that many I think)?

In case anyone was wondering, Akshaya Kalaiyalahan went on to become a law student at Oxford University. She featured in a lovely article on the 2024 Chess Fest event:

https://cardiffjournalism.co.uk/life360 ... chessfest/

With a bright, confident smile, Akshaya—who was about to turn 23 at the end of August—was happy to share how persistence and the strong support system around her have played key roles in shaping her success in chess community.

Despite her demanding career as a newly graduated trainee solicitor from Oxford University, Akshaya has always found a way to balance her passion for chess. Originally from Sri Lanka but raised in the UK, her love for the game began early and never wavered.

There is also a lovely bit in there about the parental support she received. There is another Kalaiyalahan in the rating list (Aishwarya Kalaiyalahan), 8 years younger than Akshaya. I have no idea how common the surname is, but wondered if they are related?

Sorry to have wondered quite far from the original topic, but it was good to find out "where they are now"!

[Kevin Thurlow]

I played both Koby and Akshaya at a Coulsdon APA and they were both good players and pleasant! They would have met in that event. One evening I played Akshaya and we were talking about the game as we left the venue about midnight, when I slipped on some ice and landed really heavily on my left leg. Her (ever-present) father helped pick me up and offered me a lift home, which I declined, partly as I had my car there (luckily an automatic, so I could drive with one leg...) and partly, I assumed she had school the next day and would be getting a really late night anyway.

Even more away from the subject, but both Koby and Akshaya deserve success, whatever they're doing.

[LawrenceCooper]

His FIDE rating is 2303. You wouldn't expect to find many 2450+ performances in there.

He was rated 2365 at the age of 16 though and has been beating titled players from a young age. He took a five year gap from rated classical chess to focus on his studies. It then took him most of 2024 to shake off the rust and get back to somewhere near his level. He has now regained most of the 100 points lost last year and can hopefully push on to the title.

I wasn't aware he had taken a 5-year gap to focus on his studies. When I was first at university (1995-1999), two future GMs (Jonathan Parker and Matthew Turner who both had the IM title) were studying there (at Cambridge), as well as Mark Ferguson (who also already had the IM title [1996] he has now). Parker attained the GM title in 2001, and Turner in 2002. Despite playing much more chess in those years and in the 2000s and 2010s than I do now, I had little sense in that late-1990s period of their relative strengths (though Mark was lower rated than Jon and Matt and they did consistently play in the same board order in university and county matches) or their ambitions in chess.

When I see current juniors go through that period, of combining or not combining studying and chess, and deciding how and when to attempt to attain various titles or return to serious chess studies, I wonder what things influence that and whether the calculus used (and the factors considered) has changed? Certainly I think it is maybe less common to focus solely on studies to the extent of needing to shake off the rust, but maybe it depends on what someone is studying and where? (I think, if my memory is correct, that the three titled players I mentioned above were all studying Economics, which seemed to be a popular choice among chess players at the time - apologies if that is wrong!)

I was at some of the local league matches Koby played for Surbiton in that pre-pandemic period and earlier (I am going back to around 2014 here). I remember wondering how well he might do as he progressed compared to another strong junior, Akshaya Kalaiyalahan (a strong female player). I believe they met over the board in some clashes. As someone also playing in some of those Thames Valley League matches, I assessed her as a stronger player in around 2014. Koby was lower rated than her, but only just, and a year younger (not sure if this translated to a difference in school years or not). Looking at the rating list, I see that she has the FM title and reached a peak rating of 2288 back in 2016 when she would have been about 15). Interesting to see how it turns out (there are obviously many and varied reasons for ratings differing as juniors develop). It does make me wonder how much competition between juniors drives individuals on to attain higher levels?

Here is a nice article on Koby from St Catherine's College:

https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/chess-success

Koby Kalavannan, a third-year Medical Sciences undergraduate at St Catharine’s, has been President and Varsity Captain for CUCC in 2023–24.

There is a lot more in that article. And yes, studying undergraduate medicine at Cambridge is hard (I hasten to add that studying medicine is hard anywhere, but the shorter terms at Oxbridge make it even more so). I am not surprised that he took that break, though clearly he has been playing lots of chess as well. Lots more medical studying to come depending what medical degree pathway he is on. Might be a good point to ask how many medical doctors have historically taken chess to a high level (I can name a few, but it is not that many I think)?

In case anyone was wondering, Akshaya Kalaiyalahan went on to become a law student at Oxford University. She featured in a lovely article on the 2024 Chess Fest event:

https://cardiffjournalism.co.uk/life360 ... chessfest/

With a bright, confident smile, Akshaya—who was about to turn 23 at the end of August—was happy to share how persistence and the strong support system around her have played key roles in shaping her success in chess community.

Despite her demanding career as a newly graduated trainee solicitor from Oxford University, Akshaya has always found a way to balance her passion for chess. Originally from Sri Lanka but raised in the UK, her love for the game began early and never wavered.

There is also a lovely bit in there about the parental support she received. There is another Kalaiyalahan in the rating list (Aishwarya Kalaiyalahan), 8 years younger than Akshaya. I have no idea how common the surname is, but wondered if they are related?

Sorry to have wondered quite far from the original topic, but it was good to find out "where they are now"!

Jonathan, Matthew and Mark were all important and valued members of the Midland Monarchs 4NCL team in the mid 1990s so I have good memories of them from that era.

Aishwarya is indeed Akshaya's younger sister.