Checkmate Covid-19 Online Blitz Open raises ₹451650
Checkmate Covid-19 Online Blitz Open raised ₹451650 with the contribution of 465 people all over the world. The event witnessed the participation of 331 players from 12 countries, including 32 GMs, 25 IMs, 2 WGMs and 5 WIMs. GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan scored an unbeaten 9.0/10 to win the tournament. GM Abhijeet Gupta also finished at 9.0/10 but he was placed second according to their tie-break scores. Both of them donated their entire prize fund for the noble cause which will be donated to the Kerala Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. Star attraction of the event was the participation of the former World Championship Challenger GM Nigel Short.
S L Narayanan wins his third ChessBase India Online Blitz event in 34 days
Chess players all over India and the world raised a mammoth ₹451650 for Kerala Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund. Total 465 people all over the world contributed to this noble cause to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
GM S L Narayanan once again wins the biggest ChessBase India Online Blitz Open. The tournament witnessed a mammoth participation of 331 players which is the highest ever for a ChessBase India Online Blitz event including 32 GMs, 25 IMs, 2 WGMs and 5 WIMs from India, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Chile, England, France, Kuwait, Peru, Romania, Thailand, USA and Venezuela. Both Sunil and Abhijeet Gupta scored an unbeaten 9.0/10 and finished a half point ahead of the competition. Unbeaten Sunil clinched the first position due to a better tie-break score and Mr. Commonwealth settled for the runner-up position. Both of them donated their entire prize fund of ₹12000 and ₹8000 respectively to the entire donation for the noble cause. IM Renato Terry of Peru clinched the sole third place with a score of 8.5/10
Narayanan vs Narayanan
A lot of people in the chess universe confuses the Narayanans. No one knows them more than they know each other at least across the 64 squares. Narayanansl (GM S L Narayanan) scored a convincing win over NSRINATH (GM Srinath Narayanan) in the fifth round.
Narayanansl - NSRINATH, Round 5
Sunil showed beautiful technique to win the Rook-Bishop vs Rook endgame in just 30 moves.
A quick dance with the Devil
Narayanan checkmated Devil1234 (GM Raunak Sadhwani) in just 26 moves. It speaks volumes about his preparation.
Narayanansl - Devil1234, Round 7
White has already made his intentions clear about what he is going to do by playing 10.h4. He just wants to wreck his opponent's kingside with the h-pawn and he succeeded in doing that.
A terrific game with Terry
Perhaps Narayanan's best game of the event was agaginst TerryR (IM Renato Terry of Peru) in the eighth round. Both players played the major piece ending quite beautifully. It is obvious that due to time scramble both of them missed winning chances.
Terryr - Narayanansl, Round 8
33.Rxb4 allowed black to get back in the game. Find out how black can equalize.
Narayanan continued the game with 35...Rc8. However there was a better continuation. Can you find it?
Black continued here with 37...c2 but there was a better continuation, try to find it.
Black needs to defend his king. The game continued with 41...Kg7. Find out why it is a mistake. The game eventually liquidated into a drawn Rook endgame where white made a couple of errors due to time scramble.
Find out the winning continuation for black here.
Battle of the Keralites
Perhaps one of the most anticipated match of the tournament was between Narayanansl and Nihal Sarin as they are both from Kerala. While Nihal was dominating for the majority of the match, Sunil showed true grit and bravely fought till the end to walk away with an important full point inching closer towards victory as he just needed a draw in the final round to win the event.
Narayanansl - Nihalsarin, Round 9
Black continued the game with 27...Rhe8, however there was a better continuation. Can you find it?
It is evident that despite white having a strong centralized bishop at e4, it is black who is dominating the position. The game went on with 40...Rb3+. However there was a better move, try to find it.
It is obvious that black has a decisive advantage here. Find out the best continuation for black.
It definitely takes a lot to turn things around in a completely lost position against the reigning Asian Blitz Champion.
Mr. Commonwealth finishes shared first
Mr.Commonwealth Bhaiyu (GM Abhijeet Gupta) also scored 9.0/10 along with the champion to finish shared first, second on tie-breaks. In the second round, he won with a beautiful display of his positional skill against Simandhar (GM Swapnil Dhopade).
Simandhar90 - Bhaiyu, Round 2
Find out the best continuation for black here.
Bhaiyu tames the Indian-Lion
In the sixth round, Abhijeet faced Indian-Lion (GM Arjun Erigaisi) who is well known to have a fantastic record in ChessBase India Online Blitz event. Abhijeet showed another technical masterpiece to claim a full point.
Indian-Lion - Bhaiyu, Round 6
White continued with 26.g3. Find out why it's a mistake and what white should have played instead.
Champion vs. Champion
In a battle between reigning National Triple Crown Champion Hitter1999 (GM Aravindh Chithambaram) and reigning Commonwealth Champion Bhaiyu (GM Abhijeet Gupta), it was Abhijeet who came out at the top.
Hitter1999 - Bhaiyu, Round 10
In an already difficult position, white made a desperate sacrifice in time scramble. Much to the chagrin of white, the sacrifice didn't yield much and white lost the game in another 15 moves.
Terry made an impressive start
In the third Terryr (IM Renato Terry of Peru) was paired against Hitter1999 (GM Aravindh Chithambaram). After an initial miss by Aravindh, Terry seized the opportunity and made sure that he got the full point.
Hitter1999 - Terryr, Round 3
A Terry-fic draw
Terryr (IM Renato Terry of Peru) was worse against GM Nihal Sarin for the better part of the game. However in the end he managed to survive 50 movcs by avoiding checkmate against Nihal's Bishop and Knight.
Star attraction of the event: GM Nigel Short
Former World Championship Challenger and current FIDE Vice-President GM Nigel Short was the star attraction of the event. His best win was against IM C R G Krishna in Round 7.
Final Standings:
Main Prize winners (Top 20)
| Rank | Name | Score | Prize money |
| 1 | GM S L Narayanan | 9 | ₹12000 |
| 2 | GM Abhijeet Gupta | 9 | ₹8000 |
| 3 | IM Renato Terry | 8.5 | ₹5000 |
| 4 | GM Raunak Sadhwani | 8 | ₹4000 |
| 5 | GM Arjun Erigaisi | 8 | ₹3000 |
| 6 | GM Nihal Sarin | 8 | ₹2000 |
| 7 | GM Aravindh Chithambaram | 8 | ₹1000 |
| 8 | GM Abhimanyu Puranik | 8 | ₹1000 |
| 9 | GM Alan Pichot | 8 | ₹1000 |
| 10 | GM Laxman R R | 8 | ₹1000 |
| 11 | GM Vaibhav Suri | 8 | ₹500 |
| 12 | GM Shardul Gagare | 8 | ₹500 |
| 13 | FM Jubin Jimmy | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 14 | GM Jakhongir Vakhidov | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 15 | IM Aronyak Ghosh | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 16 | IM Sreeshwan Maralakshikari | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 17 | GM Kevin Cori Quispe | 7 | ₹500 |
| 18 | GM Stany G A | 7 | ₹500 |
| 19 | GM Srinath Narayanan | 7 | ₹500 |
| 20 | GM Debashis Das | 7 | ₹500 |
Best Woman
| 1 | WIM Aakanksha Hagawane | 6.5 | ₹500 |
| 2 | WFM Sai Nirupama Kotepalli | 6 | ₹500 |
| 3 | WGM Leya Garifullina | 6 | ₹500 |
Best Under-18
| 1 | GM Gukesh D | 7 | ₹500 |
| 2 | IM Rahul Srivasthav P | 7 | ₹500 |
| 3 | Alan Diviya Raj | 7 | ₹500 |
Best Under-12
| 1 | Arhan Chethan Anand | 6.5 | ₹500 |
| 2 | Ilamparthi A R | 6.5 | ₹500 |
| 3 | John Veny Akkarakaran | 6.5 | ₹500 |
Best Kerala Players
| 1 | Abhijith M | 7 | ₹500 |
| 2 | IM Rathnakaran K | 7 | ₹500 |
| 3 | Mihir A K | 7 | ₹500 |
Rating Category: 1201-1400
| 1 | Karthik Raj (1383) | 6.5 | ₹500 |
| 2 | Padmaesh M K (1293) | 6 | ₹500 |
| 3 | Abhishek Raghupathy (1343) | 6 | ₹500 |
Rating Category: 1000-1200
| 1 | Kuldeep Chotrani (1164) | 6 | ₹500 |
| 2 | Sujan Bharadwaj (1129) | 6 | ₹500 |
| 3 | Adwaith S Vinu (1158) | 5.5 | ₹500 |
Total donation raised ₹451650. Complete donor's list can be found here. The entire prize fund of ₹52000 was sponsored by Chess Kerala.
