8th Sunway Sitges Open R1: Priyanka Nutakki and Sharan Rao score big upsets

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/12/2021

WIM Priyanka Nutakki and Sharan Rao were the only two Indian players to beat GMs Iniyan P and Arjun Kalyan respectively in the first round of 8th Sunway Sitges Open 2021 Group A. FM Alessio De Santis (ITA) also stunned GM Susanto Megaranto (INA) after the latter made tactical error, much like how Priyanka got the better of Iniyan. Nihal, Karthikeyan Murali, Arjun Erigaisi, Sethuraman, Abhimanyu Puranik, Vaishali, Mary, Soumya, Padmini and Nandhidhaa made a winning start among the top Indian men and women in the field. Round 2 starts tonight at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

A smooth start for the top seeds

Vaibhav Jayant Raut, Namitbir Singh Walia, Atul Dahale and Kush Devnani beat IM Roberto Junio Brito (BRA), IM Milton Pantzar (SWE), IM Pauline Guichard (FRA) and IM Manish Anto Cristiano F. WIM Sakshi Chitlange drew with IM Liam Vrolijk (NED).

Priyanka Nutakki scored a big win | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal - Tanmay: 1-0

Tanmay Chopra managed to equalize the position after the opening against Nihal Sarin. In the middlegame, the former made a positional mistake.

Position after 27...c5

27...Rac8 or Rec8 keeps the position fine for Black. 27...c5 creates a passed pawn on the c-file for White 28.dxc5 bxa4 29.Rd1 Be6 30.Rd4. White does not hurry in pushing the pawn because it might get captured easily. Instead, he activates his rook first, so that the a1-rook can also later join in the action. White won the game in another seven moves when Black had to concede huge material loss to prevent the c-pawn from being promoted.

Nihal scored a clinical victory in the first round | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Karthikeyan - Minko: 1-0

CM Dmitry Minko (RUS) went wrong early in the opening, GM Karthikeyan Murali rightly punished him for it.

Position after 9...cxd5

9...cxd5 is a big mistake. Find out why.

Karthikeyan Murali is in top form | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Iniyan - Priyanka: 0-1

WIM Priyanka Nutakki opted for the Petroff's Defence with the black pieces against GM Iniyan P. She got a comfortable position out of the opening.

Position after 29.Nf5

29.Nf5 self-pins the knight after 29...Qd7 30.Qf3 Ng7 and everything starts falling apart for White. Computer says 29...Ne7 is instantly winning for Black as Nxg3+ fork is looming large. 30.Qf3 does not save the day as 30...Nxf5 31.Bxf5 Nxg3+ 32.Qxg3 gxf5 gives Black the decisive advantage. However, the humane 29...Qd7 is also good for Black which was played in the game. 31.e6 Nxe6 32.Nh4 does not work either as 32...Ng5 33.Bxd7 Nxf3 34.Nxf3 Rxd7 leaves with White with broken pawn structure and also behind by two pawns. Soon, White blundered a piece and lost the game in another four moves.

Priyanka Nutakki made a perfect start | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sharan Rao caused a big upset as he beat GM Arjun Kalyan | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WIM Sakshi Chitlange - IM Liam Vrolijk (NED): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Roberto Junio Brito Molina (BRA) - Vaibhav Jayant Raut (pictured): 0-1 | Photo: Club d'Escacs Barberà

Namitbir Singh Walia (pictured) - IM Milton Pantzar (SWE): 1-0 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Pauline Guichard (FRA) - Atul Dahale (pictured): 0-1 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Manish Anto Cristiano (pictured) - Kush Devnani: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

The tournament hall | Photo: Niklesh Jain

For more photos, click here.

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	0	1 - 0	0		Tanmay Chopra	2221	140
1	4	141	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	0	- - +	0	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2645	4
1	7	7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Minko Dmitry	2207	144
1	8	145	CM	Rajarishi Karthi	2207	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	8
1	9	9	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2622	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Mrithyunjay Mahadevan	2206	146
1	10	147		Ojas Kulkarni	2206	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2621	10
1	11	11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Saya Ethan	2204	148
1	12	149	WFM	Alboredo Julia	2200	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	12
1	17	17	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2187	155
1	22	160		Sharan Rao	2179	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2537	22
1	25	25	GM	Van Foreest Lucas	2530	0	1 - 0	0		Dhananjay S	2174	163
1	28	166	FM	Lorscheid Gerhard	2169	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2506	28
1	29	29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	0	1 - 0	0	WGM	Varshini Velavan	2165	167
1	32	170		Fanninger Leon	2160	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	32
1	36	174		Ruiz Buendia Miguel	2141	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	36
1	40	178	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2132	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Vrolijk Liam	2473	40
1	46	184		Aniruddh Chatterjee	2112	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2460	46
1	47	47	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	0	1 - 0	0		Ezquerro Luque Albert	2112	185
1	49	49	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard	2448	0	1 - 0	0		Nawin Jayaprakash Jayavalli	2109	187
1	50	188	FM	Cmiel Thorsten	2107	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Pranesh M	2437	50

Details

Round 2 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
2	2	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2664	1		1	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2360	83
2	3	80	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2368	1		1	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	3
2	7	82		Roebers Eline	2365	1		1	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	7
2	8	8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	1		1	IM	Salimova Nurgyul	2353	89
2	9	84	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2360	1		1	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2622	9
2	11	86	IM	Ervan Mohamad	2356	1		1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	11
2	12	12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	1		1		Grebeniuk Semen	2346	93
2	13	88	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	1		1	GM	Cornette Matthieu	2583	13
2	14	14	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2579	1		1	IM	Padmini Rout	2345	95
2	15	90	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	1		1	GM	Fier Alexandr	2572	15
2	16	16	GM	Kadric Denis	2572	1		1	IM	Srijit Paul	2340	97
2	23	28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2506	1		1	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	107
2	24	106	FM	Kapitanchuk Tomas	2323	1		1	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	29
2	26	108	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2313	1		1	GM	Priasmoro Novendra	2502	31
2	27	32	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	1		1		Ortega Serra Marc	2292	113
2	28	110	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2312	1		1	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2484	33
2	30	36	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	1		1	FM	Dalaud Dorian	2275	117
2	36	122		Utsab Chatterjee	2255	1		1	IM	Quintiliano Pinto Renato R.	2466	45
2	38	124	WIM	Sihite Chelsie Monica Ignesias	2252	1		1	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	47
2	40	126	FM	Sreyas Payyappat	2250	1		1	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard	2448	49

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

13th - 22nd December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

23rd December - 1:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

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