Goa GM 2018 Round 9: Being overambitious sometimes pays, sometimes doesn't!

by Sagar Shah - 20/10/2018

When you are playing the penultimate round, a good result can place you in a very pleasant situation in the final round. Hence, a lot of players try to overpush. This ambitious attitude in chess is very double-edged. Sometimes you are rewarded with a win and you feel like you took the right call, but sometimes you lose the game and that's when you promise yourself to be more objective from next time onwards. At the 1st Goa International Open GM chess tournament two players faced differing fortunes for trying too hard. Karthik Venkatraman won his game Neverov and moved to joint lead, while Bernadskiy overpressed a bit too much and lost his game to Sergey Kasparov. Illustrated report with pictures by Niklesh Jain Amruta Mokal.

AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan visited the venue at the start of the ninth round | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Bharat Singh discusses and gives feedback about the Goa open to the tournament director Kishor Bandekar | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The chess lover! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Interview with Bharat Singh Chauhan

Live Commentary:

This is for the first time in the history of Indian chess that we have the live video of not just the commentator but also the playing hall along with game analysis board! Enjoy the commentary and do let us know your feedback in the comments section below.

On the top board Idani Pouya missed many wins and drew his game against Levon Babujian | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Chess is a tricky game. When you are playing a crucial round, you will often face a situation where you have to decide whether you should take a draw or play ambitiously. A lot of things are at stake and a lot of factors to consider before making the leap. In the ninth round Vitaliy Bernadskiy got his hands burnt playing against Sergey Kasparov and being too ambitious, on the other hand Karthik Venkatraman was rewarded for taking risks by winning his game against Valeriy Neverov. What is the correct approach? If you were to ask me I would tend towards being more objective, but then there are so many factors in play that it is simply impossible to stay objective and just look at the position and take such a decision.

The Goan heat is strong, but Sergey Kasparov maintained his cool and won against Bernadskiy! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Karthik Venkatraman was ambitious and got the full point by beating Valeriy Neverov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ankit Gajwa's dream run of 6.0/7 was halted with two losses in rounds 8 and 9. In the ninth round he lost to Neelotpal Das. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Martyn Kravtsiv beat Abhishek Kelkar, but with 6.5/9 he is already out from the first place race | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Results of round 9:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	5	GM	Idani Pouya	2588	IRI	7	½ - ½	7	GM	Babujian Levon	2456	ARM	18
2	15	GM	Neverov Valeriy	2488	UKR	7	0 - 1	6½	IM	Karthik Venkataraman	2525	AP	12
3	27	IM	Das Sayantan	2425	WB	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Sivuk Vitaly	2545	UKR	10
4	11	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2540	RLYS	6½	½ - ½	6½		Raahul V S	2294	TN	54
5	19	GM	Kasparov Sergey	2453	BLR	6½	1 - 0	6	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2547	UKR	8
6	9	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2547	ARM	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Deshmukh Anup	2267	LIC	62
7	80	CM	Aditya Mittal	2215	MAH	6	0 - 1	6	IM	Akash G	2424	TN	28
8	23	GM	Neelotpal Das	2436	PSPB	5½	1 - 0	6	FM	Gajwa Ankit	2224	MP	75
9	1	GM	Kravtsiv Martyn	2654	UKR	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Abhishek Kelkar	2359	MAH	38
10	39	FM	Rajdeep Sarkar	2355	WB	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2615	TJK	2

Rank after round 9:

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	18	GM	Babujian Levon		ARM	2456	ARM	7,5	0,0	50,5	54,5	45,25	6	10	23,9
2	5	GM	Idani Pouya		IRI	2588	IRI	7,5	0,0	49,5	54,0	43,75	6	10	8,5
3	19	GM	Kasparov Sergey		BLR	2453	BLR	7,5	0,0	48,0	51,5	41,00	7	10	21,3
4	12	IM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2525	AP	7,5	0,0	45,5	49,5	41,00	7	10	2,2
5	11	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2540	RLYS	7,0	0,0	53,0	57,0	42,50	5	10	3,0
6	10	GM	Sivuk Vitaly		UKR	2545	UKR	7,0	0,0	52,0	57,0	42,75	5	10	8,4
7	15	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2488	UKR	7,0	0,0	51,0	56,0	41,75	6	10	15,9
8	9	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel		ARM	2547	ARM	7,0	0,0	48,0	52,5	39,00	7	10	3,4
9	54		Raahul V S		IND	2294	TN	7,0	0,0	47,5	51,0	39,00	5	20	43,8
10	27	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2425	WB	7,0	0,0	47,0	51,0	37,00	6	10	13,2
11	28	IM	Akash G		IND	2424	TN	7,0	0,0	46,5	50,0	37,25	6	10	8,7
12	4	GM	Popov Ivan		RUS	2611	RUS	6,5	0,0	49,0	53,0	35,00	6	10	-9,0
13	1	GM	Kravtsiv Martyn		UKR	2654	UKR	6,5	0,0	48,5	53,0	36,00	6	10	-12,6
14	7	GM	Malakhatko Vadim		BEL	2552	BEL	6,5	0,0	47,0	51,5	36,50	5	10	-6,7
15	2	GM	Amonatov Farrukh		TJK	2615	TJK	6,5	0,0	46,5	52,0	36,00	6	10	-7,5
16	3	GM	Predke Alexandr		RUS	2615	RUS	6,5	0,0	46,5	50,5	34,50	5	10	-12,8
17	31	IM	Rakesh Kumar Jena		IND	2388	ODI	6,5	0,0	44,0	48,0	32,75	6	10	-0,4
18	6	GM	Tukhaev Adam		UKR	2556	UKR	6,5	0,0	43,5	46,0	32,50	5	10	-9,3
19	36	IM	Rathnakaran K.		IND	2366	RLYS	6,5	0,0	43,0	47,0	32,50	5	10	1,7
20	23	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2436	PSPB	6,5	0,0	42,0	45,5	31,25	6	10	-9,5

Pairings for round 10:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	12	IM	Karthik Venkataraman	2525	AP	7½		7½	GM	Idani Pouya	2588	IRI	5
2	18	GM	Babujian Levon	2456	ARM	7½		7½	GM	Kasparov Sergey	2453	BLR	19
3	10	GM	Sivuk Vitaly	2545	UKR	7		7	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2547	ARM	9
4	54		Raahul V S	2294	TN	7		7	GM	Neverov Valeriy	2488	UKR	15
5	28	IM	Akash G	2424	TN	7		7	IM	Das Sayantan	2425	WB	27
6	1	GM	Kravtsiv Martyn	2654	UKR	6½		7	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2540	RLYS	11
7	2	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2615	TJK	6½		6½	GM	Malakhatko Vadim	2552	BEL	7
8	3	GM	Predke Alexandr	2615	RUS	6½		6½	IM	Rakesh Kumar Jena	2388	ODI	31
9	88		Singh S. Vikramjit	2192	RLYS	6½		6½	GM	Popov Ivan	2611	RUS	4
10	6	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2556	UKR	6½		6½		Ritviz Parab	2252	GOA	67

Photos by Amruta Mokal

Battle hardened 85-year-old T.V. Subramanium

Mangoes are meant to be eaten, not to be pulped and put inside a box!

The "I found a great idea" look!

Mental torture! (Lacoste, this is high class branding! Start sponsoring chess players!)

"It's not fear! It's just that I don't like to smile in between the game!"

C-Group:

Prasath KR (left) is the leader in the C-group with 8.5/9. He was also the coach of Aravindh Chithambaram in the first few years when the youngster was growing up!

The final moments of Prasath's last round win and interview with him after his victory!

Ranking after round 9 - C group

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	50	Prasath K R		IND	1482	TN	8,5	0,0	49,0	53,0	49,75	8	20	59,6
2	54	Aanandha Kumar M S		IND	1475	TN	8,0	0,0	50,0	54,5	48,00	7	20	55,6
3	31	Shibin K Benny		IND	1516	KER	8,0	0,0	50,0	54,0	47,00	8	20	35,0
4	474	Ravi Chopra		IND	0	UP	8,0	0,0	48,5	53,0	45,50	8
5	181	Parekh Vishrut		IND	1287	GUJ	8,0	0,0	46,5	49,5	43,75	7	40	207,6
6	49	Ranjith Kalaiyarasan		IND	1483	TN	7,5	0,0	51,0	55,5	43,75	7	20	40,0
7	68	Rajat Yadav		IND	1449	MP	7,5	0,0	51,0	54,5	43,50	7	20	40,4
8	176	Pednekar Ayush	U15	IND	1298	GOA	7,5	0,0	48,0	51,0	42,00	7	40	143,6
9	22	Devi Das Suresh Pai		IND	1532	KAR	7,5	0,0	47,5	51,5	43,50	7	20	14,2
10	37	Tushar Banerjee		IND	1508	WB	7,5	0,0	44,5	48,0	38,75	7	20	22,0
11	106	Anvesh Bandekar	U15	IND	1393	GOA	7,5	0,0	43,5	44,0	34,50	7	40	107,2
12	33	Aryan Shamrao Raikar		IND	1513	GOA	7,0	0,0	51,5	56,0	41,00	6	40	74,4
13	13	Satyam Prakash		IND	1555	DEL	7,0	0,0	50,5	54,5	39,25	6	20	13,4
14	154	Felix Moothedath	U11	IND	1329	TN	7,0	0,0	48,5	52,0	36,00	7	40	129,6
15	14	Shanmugasundaram G.		IND	1549	TN	7,0	0,0	48,0	52,0	40,00	6	20	6,0
16	82	Gaude Sachin		IND	1425	GOA	7,0	0,0	47,5	51,5	38,50	6	20	24,0
17	20	Sivathanujan S		SRI	1535	SRI	7,0	0,0	47,0	51,5	38,50	7	40	4,4
18	73	Manabi Chouhan		IND	1443	WB	7,0	0,0	46,0	50,0	37,50	6	20	29,2
19	12	Sakthi Subash A S	U15	IND	1556	TN	7,0	0,0	45,5	49,5	37,25	6	40	-0,4
20	27	Gopikrishnan S	S50	IND	1524	TN	7,0	0,0	45,0	49,0	38,00	6	20	1,4

Watch the games of A-category live

Read previous reports:

Round 1: No less than Batumi

Round 2: 6-year-old prodigy and 12-year-old Veteran

Round 3+4: What is Troitsky's line?

Round 5: Who said GMs and IMs do not blunder

Round 6+7: Madhya Pradesh domination

Round 8: An Iranian, an Ukrainian and an Armenian

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