View source for Commonwealth Chess Championship

[[Image:Commonwealth Chess.jpg|thumb|right|Commonwealth Chess Championships logo]]
The '''Commonwealth Chess Championship''' is a gathering of [[chess]] players from [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries. The event offers direct titles: IM titles to the winners, and FM titles (and IM norms) to the Silver and Bronze medalists.<ref>https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B01DirectTitles2024</ref>

==Winners==

:{| class="sortable wikitable"
! # !! Year !! City !! Winner
|-
| (1) || 1950 || [[Oxford]] || {{flagathlete|[[William Fairhurst]]|SCO}}
|-
| 1 || 1983 || [[Melbourne]] || {{flagathlete|[[Ian Rogers (chess player)|Ian Rogers]]|AUS}} & {{flagathlete|[[Gregory Hjorth]]|AUS}}
|-
| 2 || 1984 || [[Hong Kong]] || {{flagathlete|[[Kevin Spraggett]]|CAN}} & {{flagathlete|[[Murray Chandler]]|ENG}}
|-
| 3 || 1985 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Praveen Thipsay]]|IND}} & {{flagathlete|[[Kevin Spraggett]]|CAN}}
|-
| 4 || 1986 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Devaki Prasad|Devaki V. Prasad]]|IND}}
|-
| 5 || 1987 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Murray Chandler]]|ENG}} 
|-
| 6 || 1988 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Gary Lane (chess player)|Gary Lane]]|ENG}} & {{flagathlete|[[Michael Adams (chess player)|Michael Adams]]|ENG}}
|-
| 7 || 1989 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Ian Rogers (chess player)|Ian Rogers]]|AUS}}
|-
| 8 || 1991 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Michael Adams (chess player)|Michael Adams]]|ENG}}
|-
| 9 || 1992 || [[Kuala Lumpur]] || {{flagathlete|[[Colin McNab]]|SCO}}
|-
| 10 || 1993 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Jonathan Speelman]]|ENG}}
|-
| 11 || 1996 || [[Calcutta]] || {{flagathlete|[[Poorna Sharma Mithrakanth]]|IND}}
|-
| 12 || 1999 || [[Bikaner]] || {{flagathlete|[[Alexander Baburin]]|IRL}} (off contest) <br> {{flagathlete|[[Atanu Lahiri]]|IND}}
|-
| 13 || 2000 || [[Sangli]] ||  {{flagathlete|[[Krishnan Sasikiran]]|IND}}
|-
| 14 || 2001 || [[London]] || {{flagathlete|[[Pentala Harikrishna]]|IND}}
|-
| 15 || 2003 || [[Mumbai]] || {{flagathlete|[[Nguyen Anh Dung (chess player)|Nguyen Anh Dung]]|VIE}} (off contest) <br> {{flagathlete|[[Dibyendu Barua]]|IND}}
|-
| 16 || 2004 || [[Mumbai]] || {{flagathlete|[[Nigel Short]]|ENG}}
|-
| 17 || 2006 || [[Mumbai]] || {{flagathlete|[[Nigel Short]]|ENG}}
|-
| 18 || 2007 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Ramachandran Ramesh]]|IND}}
|-
| 19 || 2008 || [[Nagpur]] || {{flagathlete|[[Nigel Short]]|ENG}}
|-
| 20 || 2009 || [[Singapore]] || {{flagathlete|[[Enrique Paciencia]]|SIN}}
|-
| 21 || 2010 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Rajaram Laxman]]|IND}}
|-
| 22 || 2011 || [[Ekurhuleni]] || {{flagathlete|[[Gawain Jones]]|ENG}}
|-
| 23 || 2012 || [[Chennai]] || {{flagathlete|[[Babu M.R. Lalith]]|IND}}
|-
| 24 || 2013 || [[Port Elizabeth]] || {{flagathlete| [[Abhijeet Gupta]]|IND}}
|-
| 25 || 2014 || [[Glasgow]] || {{flagathlete| [[Deep Sengupta]]|IND}}
|-
| 26 || 2015 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete| [[Abhijeet Gupta]]|IND}}
|-
| 27 || 2016 || [[Kalutara]] || {{flagathlete| [[Abhijeet Gupta]]|IND}}
|-
| 28 || 2017 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Abhijeet Gupta]]|IND}}
|-
|29  || 2018 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Karthikeyan P]]|IND}}
|-
|30  || 2019 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Abhijeet Gupta]]|IND}} <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/commonwealth-chess-championship-fantastic-fifth-for-abhijeet-gupta/article28313734.ece |title=Commonwealth chess championship: Fantastic fifth for Abhijeet Gupta |last=Rao |first=Rakesh |date=2019-07-07 |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |access-date=2019-09-13}}</ref>
|-
|31 || 2022|| [[Sri Lanka]] || {{flagathlete|[[P Shyam Nikhil]]|IND}}
|-
|32 || 2023-24 || [[Malacca]], [[Malaysia]] ||{{flagathlete|[[Mitrabha Guha]]|IND}} <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chessbase.in/news/Mitrabha-Guha-convincingly-clinches-Gold-at-Commonwealth-Chess-Championship-2023-24-Rohith-Krishna-Silver-and-Deepan-Bronze |last=Ahmed|first=Shahid |title= Mitrabha Guha convincingly wins Gold at Commonwealth 2023-24, Rohith Silver and Deepan Bronze |date=28 February 2024|publisher=Chessbase India|language=en-US |access-date=28 February 2024}} </ref>
|}

==Women Winners==

:{| class="sortable wikitable"
! # !! Year !! City !! Women's Winner
|-
| 1 || 2006 || [[Mumbai]] || {{flagathlete|[[Harika Dronavalli]]|IND}}
|-
| 2 || 2007 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Harika Dronavalli]]|IND}}
|-
| 3 || 2008 || [[Nagpur]] || {{flagathlete|[[Meenakshi Subbaraman]]|IND}}
|-
| 4 || 2009 || [[Singapore]] || {{flagathlete|[[Mitali Madhukar Patil]]|IND}}
|-
| 5 || 2010 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Harika Dronavalli]]|IND}}
|-
| 6 || 2011 || [[Ekurhuleni]] || {{flagathlete|[[Eesha Karavade]]|IND}}
|-
| 7 || 2012 || [[Chennai]] || {{flagathlete| [[Soumya Swaminathan (chess player)|Soumya Swaminathan]] |IND}}
|-
| 8 || 2013 || [[Port Elizabeth]] || {{flagathlete| [[Jovanka Houska]]|ENG}}
|-
| 9 || 2014 || [[Glasgow]] || {{flagathlete| [[Bhakti Kulkarni]]|IND}}
|-
| 10 || 2015 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete| [[Padmini Rout]]|IND}}
|-
| 11 || 2016 || [[Kalutara]] || {{flagathlete| [[Tania Sachdev]]|IND}}
|-
| 12 || 2017 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Swati Ghate]]|IND}}
|-
| 13 || 2018 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Tania Sachdev]]|IND}}
|-
| 14 || 2019 || [[New Delhi]] || {{flagathlete|[[Tania Sachdev]]|IND}}
|-
| 15 || 2022|| [[Sri Lanka]] || {{flagathlete|[[Nutakki Priyanka]]|IND}}
|-
| 16 || 2023-24 || [[Malacca]], [[Malaysia]] ||{{flagathlete|[[Gong Qianyun]]|SIN}} 
|}

==History==
A championship was planned for [[New Zealand]] in 1949, but it was canceled because the [[British Chess Federation]] was unable to attend.

===Oxford 1950===
In 1950 an informal all-play-all championship was held as the strongest players of [[Canada]] ([[Daniel Yanofsky]]), New Zealand ([[Robert Wade (chess player)|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 [[Australia]]n.  [[William Fairhurst]] (Scotland) won the unofficial championship held in [[Oxford]].<ref name="Whyld">{{citation
  | last=Whyld | first=Ken | author-link=Ken Whyld
  | year=1986
  | title=Chess: The Records
  | publisher=Guinness Books
  | isbn=0-85112-455-0
  | pages=82–83}}</ref>

===Melbourne 1983===
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 (chess player)|Ian Rogers]] and [[Gregory Hjorth]], both of Australia.

===Hong Kong 1984===
The winners of the 1984 [[Hong Kong]] tournament were [[Kevin Spraggett]] (Canada) and [[Murray Chandler]] (England).

===London 1985===
The winners of the 1985 [[London]] tournament were [[Praveen Thipsay]] ([[India]]) and Kevin Spraggett.

===London 1987===
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.<ref>[https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/198708lloyds-viewer.html BritBase.Info Tournament Details: 1987 Commonwealth Chess Championship]</ref><ref>''[[British Chess Magazine]]'', October 1987, page 448.</ref>

===London 1988===
In 1988 the championship title was shared by [[Gary Lane (chess player)|Gary Lane]] and [[Michael Adams (chess player)|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.<ref>[https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/198808lloyds-viewer.html BritBase.Info Tournament Details: 1988 Commonwealth Chess Championship]</ref><ref>''[[British Chess Magazine]]'', November 1988, pages 465-469.</ref>

===London 1989===
In 1989 the championship was won by [[Ian Rogers (chess player)|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.<ref>[https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/198908lloyds-viewer.html BritBase.Info Tournament Details: 1989 Commonwealth Chess Championship]</ref><ref>''[[British Chess Magazine]]'', October 1989, pages 434-436.</ref>

===Calcutta 1996===
Mithrakanth of India won with 7.5/10. Gokhale, Sriram, Praven Thipsay and McNab tied for second place on 7.0. Seventeen-year-old [[Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi|S. Vijaylakshmi]] won the women's title and earned an IM norm.<ref>{{cite web|last=Crowther|first=Mark|title=THE WEEK IN CHESS 110|url=http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic110.html|accessdate=22 February 2016|date=1996-12-16}}</ref>
===Bikaner 1999===
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.

===Sangli 2000===
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]].

===London 2001===
The commonwealth chess championships was incorporated into the main [[Mind Sports Olympiad]] chess event, "The Ron Banwell Masters" at the [[Southbank University]]. 
<ref>Chess by Malcolm Pein http://www.chess.co.uk/dt010814.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922101019/http://www.chess.co.uk/dt010814.html |date=2013-09-22 }}</ref> India sent a strong contingent of GMs <ref name="venue2001">''Chess'' [[The Independent]], [[Jon Speelman]], 29 August 2001 [https://web.archive.org/web/20130518195058/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-5193764.html archived abstract] retrieved 15 July 2012</ref> and the event was won for India by [[Pentala Harikrishna]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=mso5 |title=MSO results page for 2001 |access-date=2012-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311042905/http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=mso5 |archive-date=2012-03-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Mumbai 2003===

[[Nguyen Anh Dung (chess player)|Nguyen Anh Dung]] from Vietnam finished first with 8.5/10, the title went to 4th placed [[Dibyendu Barua]].

===Mumbai 2004===
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.

===Mumbai 2006===
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.<ref>[http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3531 Chessbase article]</ref>

===New Delhi 2007===
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 [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]]s, 35 [[International Master]]s, 5 [[Woman Grandmaster]]s and 7 [[Woman International Master]]s.
The prize fund totaled [[United States dollar|US$]]20,000, with $4000 for the winner.

Former [[British Chess Championship|British Champion]] GM [[Ramachandran Ramesh|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-breaking in Swiss system tournaments|tie-break]], with Ramesh and Ganguly splitting the top two prizes equally for [[Indian rupee|Rs]] 137,500 (approximately [[Euro|€]]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.<ref>{{citation
 | last=Zaveri | first=Praful
 | date=2 January 2008
 | url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4355 | title=Ramesh is the Commonwealth Chess Champion
 | periodical=Chessbase News}}</ref>

===Nagpur 2008===

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.

===Singapore 2009===

The 2009 tournament was originally scheduled to be held in [[Ipoh]], Malaysia,<ref>[http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3827-commonwealth-chess-championship-2009-in-malaysia Commonwealth Chess Championship 2009 in Malaysia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313134029/http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3827-commonwealth-chess-championship-2009-in-malaysia |date=2016-03-13 }}. FIDE. 2009-03-06.</ref> but eventually moved to Singapore, where it was held along the 6th Singapore International Chess Festival.<ref>[http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3991-commonwealth-chess-championship-2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406175925/http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3991-commonwealth-chess-championship-2009 |date=2016-04-06 }}. FIDE. 2009-05-07</ref> 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.

===New Delhi 2019===
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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=India to host the 2019 Commonwealth Championship – All India Chess Federation|url=https://aicf.in/india-to-host-the-2019-commonwealth-championship/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=aicf.in}}</ref>

===Melaka 2023-24===
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, [[Malaysian Chess Federation|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Malaysia to Organize Commonwealth Chess Championship 2023-24 from 19th to 28th February in Melaka – Malaysian Chess Federation |url=https://malaysiachess.org/announcement/malaysia-to-organize-commonwealth-chess-championship-2023-24-from-19th-to-28th-february-in-melaka/ |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Chess}}
*[[Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championships]]

==References==
<references/>
*{{in lang|de}} [http://de.chessbase.com/post/commonwealth-meisterschaften-in-chennai Article about 2012 edition with a list of winners 1983-2011] by ChessBase
*Results: [https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic110.html 1996], [http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99apr28/sports.htm#2 1999], [https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic285.html 2000], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070816130718/http://msoworld.com/mindzine/news/chess/news/archive/chess_nibs_febmar00.html 2000], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070807204236/http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=69 2001], [https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic442.html#8 2003], [https://web.archive.org/web/20061010193330/http://chess.about.com/library/weekly/aa06a07d.htm 2005], [https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic631.html#23 2006], [https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic683.html#7 2007]

{{Commonwealth Championships}}
{{Chess international championships}}

[[Category:Commonwealth sports competitions|Chess]]
[[Category:International chess competitions]]
[[Category:Chess in England]]
[[Category:Chess in India]]
[[Category:1950 in chess]]
[[Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1950]]