Can Abhimanyu Puranik win 8th Sunway Sitges Open?

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/12/2021

Abhimanyu Puranik and Dmitrij Kollars (GER) were the only two victors among the leaders in Round 9 of 8th Sunway Sitges Open 2021 Group A. They will now face each other in the final round. Abhimanyu needs to win the final round game to become a clear champion, as a draw will allow other players to catch up with him and then Playoffs will be enforced. Nihal Sarin, Sankalp Gupta, Pranav Anand and Pranesh M were the other victors among top boards. Pranav and Pranesh's impressive performance earned them their respective GM-norms. Round 10 starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranav Anand and Pranesh M score GM-norms

IM Pranav Anand scored his maiden GM-norm, while IM Pranesh M scored his second GM-norm. More norm information of other players will be updated soon.

Both Abhimanyu Puranik and Dmitrij Kollars are at 7.5/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sethuraman drew with Ivan Cheparinov at the top board | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Abhimanyu - Arjun Erigaisi: 1-0

It was not completely a smooth sailing for Abhimanyu. In fact, it was just the opposite. Arjun Erigaisi had a substantial advantage, however he was unable to capitalize on it.

Position after 17...d5

17.Ka1 created the opening, Black was looking for 17...d5. The game continued 18.exd5 Rxb2 19.Kxb2 and now Black did not follow through correctly. 19.Bxe5 was a better defense for White. It is not easy to spot over-the-board as it's a computer-like defense.

Position after 19.Kxb2

19...Qxa3+ 20.Kb1 Rb8+ would have been completely winning for Black. However, he went wrong 19...e4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Be5 Nf2 and things started shifting in White's favor and he eventually won the game.

Arjun was unable to seize his opportunity | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal - Harsha: 1-0

Nihal Sarin scored an academic victory after his opponent Harsha Bharathakoti made a tiny yet significant inaccuracy in the endgame.

Position after 28...a6

Find out why 28...a6 is a mistake and what Black could have done instead.

One tiny mistake is enough for Nihal to capitalize on | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sankalp - Kadric: 1-0

India's 71st GM Sankalp Gupta is in terrific form lately. Denis Kadric (BIH) trapped his own rook on the 16th move.

Position after 16...Rb4

16...Rb4 looks like the rook will get trapped sooner than later. 17.Rfc1 Qd7 18.Nc4 0-0 19.Na2 and White gained the exchange. Rest was just a matter of technique which Sankalp had no trouble in converting.

Sankalp completed his second hat-trick at the event | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranav Anand - Dardha: 1-0

IM Pranav Anand scored his maiden GM-norm by defeating GM Daniel Dardha (BEL).

Position after 23.Nd6

The knight at d6 is certainly well-placed. Getting rid of it from there is desirable, however not at the cost of opening White's dark squared bishop's long diagonal. Black made a positional mistake of exchanging the knight with his bishop, 23...Bxd6 24.exd6 and soon the bishop almost caused an early demise for the black king.

Position after 28...N5f6

Find out the quicker win for White after 28...N5f6 which did not take place in the game. The game continued 29.Qf4 Qb4 30.Qxb4 axb4 and White's inevitable win got delayed.

IM Pranav Anand is a future GM of India | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranesh - Susanto: 1-0

IM Pranesh M scored his second GM-norm in a beautiful way as he defeated GM Susanto Megaranto (INA). He scored his first GM-norm at Delhi GM Open 2020.

Position after 23...Qc3

Black's position is already in shambles after he went wrong early in the game. Find out the winning continuation for White after 23...Qc3.

Pranesh is now final GM-norm and 2500 in the live ratings away from becoming India's next GM | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Pranesh scores his 2nd GM norm | Thank you to all the YouTube Members! | Video: ChessBase India

GM Marc Narciso Dublan (ESP) - FM Manu David Suthandram: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Mahel Boyer (FRA) - Dhananjay S: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Srijit Paul - GM Neelotpal Das: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) - FM Aditya S Samant: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Muhammad Lutfi Ali (INA) - WIM Rakshitta Ravi: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Peter Meister (GER) - WIM Priyanka Nutakki: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

CM Rajarishi Karthi - GM Ruslan Pogorelov (UKR): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Raahil Mullick - Nawin Jayaprakash Jayavalli: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Replay Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	1	11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2664	2
9	3	12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	8
9	6	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	32
9	9	29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Kadric Denis	2572	16
9	10	58	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Dardha Daniel	2533	24
9	11	7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	2455	48
9	13	50	IM	Pranesh M	2437	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Megaranto Susanto	2548	18
9	17	173	IM	Tarigan Gilbert Elroy	2149	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2506	28
9	19	33	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2484	5½	1 - 0	5½	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2132	178
9	24	27	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2519	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2360	84
9	27	90	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	36
9	30	47	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Macias Pino Diego	2324	104
9	31	51	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Luque Saiz Andres	2288	114
9	32	52	FM	Garcia Ramos Daniel	2428	5	0 - 1	5		Utsab Chatterjee	2255	122
9	33	53	IM	Boyer Mahel	2427	5	0 - 1	5		Dhananjay S	2174	163
9	36	97	IM	Srijit Paul	2340	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	62
9	37	65	FM	Hess Max	2404	5	1 - 0	5		Sharan Rao	2179	160
9	38	103	WGM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	2324	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Vaishali R	2401	66
9	41	17	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	4½	1 - 0	5		Vaibhav Jayant Raut	2097	193
9	42	41	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2469	4½	0 - 1	4½	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	107

Details

Round 10 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
10	1	12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	7½		7½	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2622	9
10	2	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2664	7		7	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	29
10	3	25	GM	Van Foreest Lucas	2530	7		7	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	3
10	4	6	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2633	7		7	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	58
10	5	11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	7		7	IM	Kacharava Nikolozi	2469	42
10	7	8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	6½		6½	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2484	33
10	12	4	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2645	6		6½	IM	Pranesh M	2437	50
10	14	54	FM	Stoyanov Tsvetan	2424	6		6	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	7
10	15	13	GM	Cornette Matthieu	2583	6		6	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	47
10	18	122		Utsab Chatterjee	2255	6		6	GM	Suleymanli Aydin	2537	23
10	19	24	GM	Dardha Daniel	2533	6		6	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	51
10	20	163		Dhananjay S	2174	6		6	IM	Muradli Mahammad	2503	30
10	21	32	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	6		6	IM	Gines Esteo Pedro Antonio	2413	59
10	23	36	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	6		6	FM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2396	71
10	25	86	IM	Ervan Mohamad	2356	5½		5½	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	17
10	26	18	GM	Megaranto Susanto	2548	5½		5½	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	88
10	27	95	IM	Padmini Rout	2345	5½		5½	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2519	27
10	28	107	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	5½		5½	IM	Kurmann Oliver	2466	44
10	30	178	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2132	5½		5½	IM	Cuhendi Sean Winshand	2419	57
10	31	62	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	5½		5½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2336	99

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 - 2:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

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