Sunil Somani is the winner of the 5th AICCF Championship. After the publication of the August 2004 Bulletin, Somani rounded up his score with a draw against Dr. Prabhakar and win against Mookiah Reddy for a final tally of 12 from 14 games. A very creditable score, taking him past A.G.Nagaradjane who is runner up with 11½ points. In the early stages, Nagaradjane was ahead, and indeed was the favourite to win being a past AICCF Champion and winner of the very first AICCF Championship. Dr. Prabhakar finishes 3rd. His performance is all the more creditable given his sudden transfer from Mumbai to Bhubaneshwar and then to Surat during the course of the games.

N.Neelakantan and R.K.Chauhan were tied with 9.5 points each. The following order of tie-breaking rules was applicable (see the August 2001 Bulletin, p. 10) (a) Direct Encounter (Sum of points from encounters amongst the tied players) (b) Koya System (c) Sonneborn-Berger (S.B.) and (d) Number of Won Games. In this case rule (a) resolves the tie, as Neelakantan won against R.K.Chauhan and so is placed higher.

AICCF’s Hall of Fame (past winners and runners up in the Championships) is given below:

Sunil Somani is the 4th AICCF Champion (N.R.Anil Kumar won the title twice). Thirty-seven year old Somani is Lecturer at Institute of Engineering and Technology, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidhyalaya, Indore. A qualified engineer and MBA, Somani is also a Design Consultant and coach. He is also a chess coach. An AICCF member since 1996, his rating climbed into the 1200 bracket in 1999. This championship, 1505 is his maiden entry and now he is also playing in 1506 where we once again expect a tough fight between the AICCF giants Somani and Nagaradjane. You can read more about Somani in his Auto-Chess-O-Graphy published in the August 2000 Bulletin (also available at the AICCF website http://www.geocities.com/aiccf). Aside from his strong and dynamic CC play, Somani has been one person instrumental in introducing the largest number of new members into AICCF. These include friends and family members from Indore.

A.G.Nagaradjane as runner up has narrowly missed joining N.R.Anil Kumar in the ranks of double AICCF Champion. A very strong and active CC player, Nagaradjane is one of the stalwarts of AICCF being the very first AICCF Champion. Also a chess coach, Nagaradjane is now one of AICCF’s main tournament directors and has been doing an excellent job in this sphere.