8th Sunway Sitges Open R4: Sethuraman in a three-way lead 4.0/4

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/12/2021

Sethuraman beat compatriot Harsha Bharathakoti to emerge as one of the three leaders at the conclusion of the fourth round of 8th Sunway Sitges Open 2021 Group A. The other two co-leaders are Denis Kadric (BIH) and Cristhian Rios Camilo (COL). IM Soumya Swaminathan continues her good form as she put her opponent GM Nihal Sarin in quite a bit of a pickle. However, Nihal managed to escape with a draw. Among the Indian players, GM Abhimanyu Puranik, GM Sankalp Gupta, GM Neelotpal Das and IM Soumya Swaminathan are at 3.5/4 each. Neelotpal outplayed Karthikeyan Murali right out of the opening to score a victory. Round 5 starts tonight at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Soumya misses her chance against Nihal

Only three games ended decisively out of the top ten boards. IM Pranesh M, FM Manu David Suthandram R, IM Padmini Rout, FM Aditya S Samant, Utsab Chatterjee, Tanmay Chopra, Barath Kalyan M and Ojas Kulkarni drew with GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI), GM Andreas Kelires (GRE), IM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO), IM Roberto Junio Brito Molin (BRA), IM Guillen Ernesto J Fernandez (CUB), IM Hampus Sorensen (SWE) and GM Susanto Megaranto (INA) each respectively. Sharan Rao and WIM Priyanka Nutakki defeated IM Dinara Saduakassova (KAZ) and IM Yovann Gatineau (FRA) respectively.

GM Sethuraman S P is one of the three leaders 4.0/4 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Harsha - Sethuraman: 0-1

Harsha Bharathakoti decided to sacrifice an exchange for a protected center passed pawn as a compensation against Sethuraman.

Position after 20.Rxe4

20.Bxe4 would have been fine. 20.Rxe4 gives White some compensation but not enough in the long term. 20...Bxe4 21.Bxe4 Rc8 22.d5 c4 23.d6 Nb3 24.Ra7 Bxd6 and now White went for an ambitious 25.Ng5

Position after 25.Ng5

It is quite possible White went for this in time scramble, because 25.Ng5 does not yield anything for White. Although it might look promising. 25...Bc7 26.Qh5 Qd7 and Black managed to win the game in another eight moves.

Harsha has had better days | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Soumya - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

The game started with a messy line of King's Indian Classical. Generally, Soumya thrives on slightly volatile positions.

Position after 15...e3

There are over 100 games in this variation and the results are favorable for White. The game continued 16.fxe3 fxg3 17.Ng6 Re8 18.Rg1 and so on. After a few moves, White got herself in a very good position.

Position after 24...Qh4

White correctly spotted 25.Ng6+. Black is forced to take it 25...Bxg6 26.Rxg6 Rg8 and now White needed to play 27.Qg4. The difference between 27.Rxh6+ and Qg4 is, White gets to exchange the rook on her terms and the black king continues his search for a safe haven. Nihal eventually managed to equalize to escape with a draw.

Soumya created a very good opportunity for herself against Nihal | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranesh - Tabatabaei: 0.5-0.5

To get an idea of how strong IM Pranesh M is, take a look at the following position from his game against GM M Amin Tabatabaei.

Position after 29...c5

Put yourself in White's shoes and try to find out what White should do here. If you find 30.Rxd5, you are tactically alert like Pranesh. 30...exd5 31.Bxd5 and now Black has to play 31...Qb4 as there is no other way to defend Qg7 checkmate threat after e6. 32.e6 Qxc3 33.exf7+ Kf8 34.Rxe8+ Rxe8 35.fxe8Q+ Kxe8 36.bxc3 exf5 and now White has a very good chance in the same color bishop endgame.

Position after 36...gxf5

Can White push for a win here? Most certainly yes. Find out the correct plan. White played 37.Bg8, probably under time pressure which allowed Black to get back in the game and salvage a draw.

IM Pranesh M has made a very good start | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Neelotpal - Karthikeyan: 1-0

GM Karthikeyan Murali went wrong in the opening and could not make a comeback for the rest of the game against GM Neelotpal Das.

Position after 26...Ng3

The knight fork is ineffective as 27.Qg4 Nf5 28.Rf1 g6 29.h5 and Black has zero defense or counterplay against White's onslaught on the kingside.

GM Neelotpal Das scored a fine victory 3.5/4 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Manu David - Stefanova: 1-0

FM Manu David Suthandram R got himself a fantastic position against former women's world champion, GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL).

Position after 25...Ng5

Both 26.Rd8+ and 26.Bxe6 are a winning continuation for White. However, the game continued 26.Nf5 which is not bad either, 26...Nxe4 27.Bxe6+ Kc7 28.Rd7+ Kb6 29.Qe7 Qxe7 30.Nxe7 Nf2+ 31.Kg2 Nxd1 and the game meandered into a draw. Even after 27...Kc7, White still could have gone for a win with 28.b4. The complexity of the position combined with less time on the clock can make anyone err.

Manu certainly would have liked to make the most out of his opportunity | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Andreas Kelires - IM Padmini Rout: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Nikolozi Kacharava - FM Aditya S Samant: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Utsab Chatterjee - IM Roberto Junio Brito Molina: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Tanmay Chopra - IM Guillen Ernesto J Fernandez: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Hampus Sorensen - Barath Kalyan M: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Susanto Megaranto - Ojas Kulkarni: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Dinara Saduakassova - Sharan Rao: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WIM Priyanka Nutakki - IM Yovann Gatineau: 1-0 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Replay Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	4	10	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2621	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	29
4	5	32	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	11
4	6	12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Priasmoro Novendra	2502	31
4	10	90	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	3	½ - ½	2½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	3
4	11	50	IM	Pranesh M	2437	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2643	5
4	12	6	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2633	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	51
4	13	62	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	7
4	14	8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Baenziger Fabian	2409	63
4	19	80	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2368	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Di Berardino Diego Rafael	2480	35
4	20	84	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2360	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2469	41
4	22	239		Devnani Kush	1934	2½	0 - 1	2	GM	Fier Alexandr	2572	15
4	23	98	FM	Domingo Nunez Alejandro	2340	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	17
4	24	20	GM	Kelires Andreas	2543	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Padmini Rout	2345	95
4	25	22	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2537	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Srijit Paul	2340	97
4	26	26	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2519	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2336	99
4	28	36	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Vitenberg Noam Aviv	2327	101
4	30	42	IM	Kacharava Nikolozi	2469	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	107
4	31	108	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2313	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	47
4	37	122		Utsab Chatterjee	2255	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Molina Roberto Junio Brito	2420	55
4	40	58	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Fernandez Maria Florencia	2229	133

Details

Round 5 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
5	1	11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	4		4	GM	Kadric Denis	2572	16
5	4	29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	3½		3½	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2645	4
5	8	37	IM	Garriga Cazorla Pere	2477	3½		3½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	12
5	10	23	GM	Suleymanli Aydin	2537	3½		3½	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	62
5	11	90	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	3½		3½	GM	Dardha Daniel	2533	24
5	12	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	3		3	IM	Pranesh M	2437	50
5	13	5	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2643	3		3	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	58
5	14	53	IM	Boyer Mahel	2427	3		3	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	8
5	15	15	GM	Fier Alexandr	2572	3		3	IM	Vaishali R	2401	66
5	16	17	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	3		3	IM	Dionisi Thomas	2396	70
5	19	63	IM	Baenziger Fabian	2409	3		3	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2537	22
5	21	78		Bhambure Shantanu	2377	3		3	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	32
5	22	33	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2484	3		3	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2368	80
5	23	35	IM	Di Berardino Diego Rafael	2480	3		3	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2360	84
5	24	81	IM	Aulia Medina Warda	2367	3		3	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	36
5	26	45	IM	Quintiliano Pinto Renato R.	2466	3		3	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	88
5	28	7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	2½		2½	FM	Kenneskog Theodor	2307	111
5	34	47	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	2½		2½	FM	Aranha Filho Alvaro Z.	2283	116
5	36	51	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	2½		2½		Utsab Chatterjee	2255	122
5	41	57	IM	Cuhendi Sean Winshand	2419	2½		2½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2240	130

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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