60th National Championship 2023 R8: Sethuraman maintains his sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/08/2023

GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) defeated GM Visakh N R (RSPB) emphatically to maintain his sole lead 7.5/8. GM Iniyan P (TN) registered his second hat-trick of the event as he won against GM Abhimanyu Puranik (AAI). GM Diptayan Ghosh won the All-West Bengal clash against GM Mitrabha Guha. IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) got the better of GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB) when the latter blundered in an equal endgame. IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) beat a Commonwealth Gold medalist for the second round in-a-row. Three out of the top five boards ended in 25 moves or less, all five of them were decisive. This certainly speaks volumes about the level of competitiveness among India's strong titled players. Sethuraman will be up against Aronyak in Round 9 which starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Siddhant Mahajan

25 moves or less

The ongoing FIDE World Cup is clearly inspiring a lot of players to give their best at this event. Because, everyone is aware that apart from high reward as cash prizes, the winner of the event earns an important spot at the next edition of FIDE World Cup.

GM Sethuraman S P is still in sole lead 7.5/8

Visakh - Sethuraman: 0-1

The only time GM Visakh N R (2540) defeated GM Sethuraman S P (2591) was in their very first encounter almost a decade ago. Their last encounter at 55th Biel Masters last year ended in a draw.

Position after 19.h5

19.h5 actually did not launch White's attack first. It did the opposite Nxc2 20.Qxc2 b4 21.Ne2 b3 22.Qc5 bxa2+ 23.Kxa2 Qb8 24.Qc3 Nc4 25.Nc1 Re7 White did not even get an opportunity to attack on the kingside before Black gained a substantial advantage.

Abhimanyu - Iniyan: 0-1

GM Iniyan P (2502) has never beaten GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2611) in a rated game. After yesterday's immortal win over GM Venkatesh M R, Iniyan was definitely in good form.

Position after 35.Rxb7

In a complex queen, rook and two knights endgame, White blundered 35.Rxb7?? Ng5 36.Qxc6 Nfe4 and Black won the game in another four moves. Time trouble is likely the reason Black could not execute 36...Ng4.

GM Iniyan P (TN) registered another fine victory

Mitrabha - Diptayan: 0-1

The sole Classical rated game between GM Mitrabha Guha (WB, 2505) and GM Diptayan Ghosh (2568) took place over 4.5 years ago. Diptayan prevailed in that one. This time also the result was the same.

Position after 18.Nd4

18.Nd4 turned out to be a positional mistake by White as Black castled his king away to safety and also cleared the path for his cornered rook at h8. 18...0-0 19.g3 Rfa8 20.Kc1 Ne4 21.Rxe4 Ra1+ 22.Kd2 Rxd1 23.Kxd1 dxe4 24.h4 Ra5 25.Be3 Bd5 and White did not have much to go on.

GM Diptayan Ghosh won the all West Bengal clash against GM Mitrabha Guha

Aronyak - Deep: 1-0

IM Aronyak Ghosh (2538) won their first encounter against GM Deep Sengupta (2474) back in 2021, drew the second earlier this year. The third one was also heading towards a draw until the multi-time Hastings Masters winner made a minute inaccuracy in the rook and knight endgame.

Position after 36.Ng5

Here Black made the mistake of playing 36...f6?? which dropped the e6-pawn for free with a couple of checks 37.Rd8+ Kg7 40.Nxe6+ and White won the game eventually. 36...b5 would have continued the fight.

IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) - GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB): 1-0

IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) - IM P Shyam Nikhil (RSPB): 1-0

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) - IM C R G Krishna (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

CM Soham Kamotra (J&K) - GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

CM Rajesh Nayak (ODI) - IM Anuj Shrivatri (MP): 0.5-0.5

IM Arghyadip Das (RSPB) - Vedant Garg (CHD): 0-1

Ram S Krishnan (BSNL) - GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM P Konguvel (PSPB) - Mandar Pradip Lad (Goa): 0.5-0.5

A total of 352 players including 18 GMs, 17 IMs and a WGM are taking part in this tournament from various states across the country. The eleven-round Swiss League Rating tournament is taking place at Boxing Hall, Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, Maharashtra from 16th to 26th August 2023. The time control of the event is 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds from move no.1

Prizes

The total prize fund of the tournament is ₹3000000. The top three prizes are ₹600000, ₹500000 and ₹400000 each.

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	6	GM	Visakh, N R	2540	RSPB	6	0 - 1	6½	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2591	PSPB	3	PGN
2	2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2611	AAI	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Iniyan, P	2502	TN	9	PGN
3	8	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2505	WB	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2568	WB	5	PGN
4	7	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2538	RSPB	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2474	PSPB	12	PGN
5	16	IM	Neelash, Saha	2435	RSPB	6	1 - 0	5½	IM	Shyaamnikhil, P	2467	RSPB	13	PGN
6	4	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2583	PSPB	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Krishna, C R G	2405	RSPB	23	PGN
7	10	GM	Vignesh, N R	2501	RSPB	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Sriram, Jha	2316	LIC	31	PGN
8	25	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.	2384	RSPB	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Akash, G	2456	TN	14	PGN
9	26	CM	Soham, Kamotra	2381	J&K	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2446	RSPB	15	PGN
10	41	CM	Nayak, Rajesh	2194	ODI	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Anuj, Shrivatri	2420	MP	18	PGN
11	52		Apoorv, Kamble	2082	KAR	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Vishnu, Prasanna. V	2411	TN	21	PGN
12	22	IM	Srihari, L R	2407	TN	5½	1 - 0	5½		Vignesh, Advaith Vemula	2018	TEL	62	PGN
13	20	IM	Das, Arghyadip	2413	RSPB	5	0 - 1	5½		Vedant, Garg	1529	CHD	253	PGN
14	64		Imocha, Laishram	2004	PSPB	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2625	PSPB	1	PGN
15	80		Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi	1942	AP	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Das, Sayantan	2489	RSPB	11	PGN
16	82		Ram, S. Krishnan	1941	BSNL	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2434	PSPB	17	PGN
17	98		Shankhodip, De	1883	WB	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Sidhant, Mohapatra	2420	RSPB	19	PGN
18	150		Harsh, Himanshu	1744	BIH	5	0 - 1	5		Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan	2367	ODI	27	PGN
19	28	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2349	RSPB	5	1 - 0	5		Bharadia, Yash	1997	RAJ	65	PGN
20	33	IM	Konguvel, Ponnuswamy	2250	PSPB	5	½ - ½	5		Lad, Mandar Pradip	1954	GOA	75	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	3	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.		IND	2591	PSPB	7,5	40,5	44,5	41,50	0	7
2	5	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan		IND	2568	WB	7	37,5	41	35,25	0	6
3	7	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh		IND	2538	RSPB	7	37,5	40,5	36,00	0	6
4	9	GM	Iniyan, P		IND	2502	TN	7	36	40	34,00	0	7
5	16	IM	Neelash, Saha		IND	2435	RSPB	7	35	38	33,25	0	6
6	10	GM	Vignesh, N R		IND	2501	RSPB	6,5	39	42,5	32,25	0	6
7	21	GM	Vishnu, Prasanna. V		IND	2411	TN	6,5	37	41	31,50	0	6
8	22	IM	Srihari, L R		IND	2407	TN	6,5	36,5	40,5	30,25	0	6
9	14	GM	Akash, G		IND	2456	TN	6,5	33,5	36,5	30,25	0	6
10	253		Vedant, Garg		IND	1529	CHD	6,5	32,5	36,5	29,75	0	5
11	12	GM	Sengupta, Deep		IND	2474	PSPB	6	42	45,5	31,00	0	6
12	2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu		IND	2611	AAI	6	40,5	44,5	30,75	0	5
13	4	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar		IND	2583	PSPB	6	39,5	43,5	31,75	0	4
14	8	GM	Mitrabha, Guha		IND	2505	WB	6	39	42,5	29,00	0	5
15	15	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2446	RSPB	6	38	42	30,75	0	4
16	1	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet		IND	2625	PSPB	6	38	41	28,00	0	6
17	161		Kolla, Bhaavan		IND	1727	AP	6	38	40	27,75	0	5
18	26	CM	Soham, Kamotra		IND	2381	J&K	6	37	41,5	29,50	0	5
19	27		Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan		IND	2367	ODI	6	37	41	28,50	0	6
20	48	FM	Dhananjay, S		IND	2133	CHAT	6	37	40,5	28,75	0	5

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	3	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2591	PSPB	7½		7	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2538	RSPB	7
2	5	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2568	WB	7		7	IM	Neelash, Saha	2435	RSPB	16
3	9	GM	Iniyan, P	2502	TN	7		6½	GM	Vignesh, N R	2501	RSPB	10
4	14	GM	Akash, G	2456	TN	6½		6½	IM	Srihari, L R	2407	TN	22
5	21	GM	Vishnu, Prasanna. V	2411	TN	6½		6½		Vedant, Garg	1529	CHD	253
6	1	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2625	PSPB	6		6	CM	Soham, Kamotra	2381	J&K	26
7	19	IM	Sidhant, Mohapatra	2420	RSPB	6		6	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2611	AAI	2
8	27		Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan	2367	ODI	6		6	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2583	PSPB	4
9	23	IM	Krishna, C R G	2405	RSPB	6		6	GM	Visakh, N R	2540	RSPB	6
10	59	WGM	Kiran, Manisha Mohanty	2044	LIC	6		6	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2505	WB	8
11	11	GM	Das, Sayantan	2489	RSPB	6		6	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2349	RSPB	28
12	12	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2474	PSPB	6		6		Kolla, Bhaavan	1727	AP	161
13	15	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2446	RSPB	6		6	CM	Nayak, Rajesh	2194	ODI	41
14	18	IM	Anuj, Shrivatri	2420	MP	6		6	FM	Dhananjay, S	2133	CHAT	48
15	17	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.	2434	PSPB	5½		6		Om, Nagnath Lamkane	1786	MAH	133
16	13	IM	Shyaamnikhil, P	2467	RSPB	5½		5½		Vignesh, Advaith Vemula	2018	TEL	62
17	67		Mahindrakar, Indrajeet	1996	MAH	5½		5½	IM	Nitin, S.	2386	RSPB	24
18	75		Lad, Mandar Pradip	1954	GOA	5½		5½	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.	2384	RSPB	25
19	29	GM	Karthikeyan, P.	2325	RSPB	5½		5½		Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2034	UP	60
20	125		Tadam, Dupit	1792	ARU	5½		5½	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee	2322	WB	30

Details

Links

Tournament Details

Maharashtra Chess Association

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