MPL National Teams 2023 R2-3: Kishan Kumar stuns Deepan Chakkravarthy

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/02/2023

Kishan Kumar of Bihar A scored the biggest upset of the second round at MPL 42nd National Team Chess Championship Open 2023. He defeated the GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB B), who has a wealth of knowledge. Kumar Gaurav held the reigning Commonwealth champion, IM P Shyam Nikhil to a draw. On the top board, WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) held GM Vaibhav Suri (PSPB) to a draw. Although the latter was losing in the endgame. GM G N Gopal (PSPB) scored a crucial victory over GM Pranesh M, to ensure his team PSPB wins over Tamil Nadu B. In the Women's event, the top three teams - PSPB, AAI and Maharashtra won their second round convincingly. Round 4 Open and Round 3 Women starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Gopal pulls through for PSPB

GM G N Gopal ensured his team PSPB remains in the lead with RSPB at 6/6 after the third round. The leaders will face each other in the fourth round. PSPB will face AAI in the Women. Maharashtra will go against Tamil Nadu B team.

Kishan Kumar (Bihar A) en route his victory over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB B) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kishan Kumar won his third round game too, moving to 3/3 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Open Round 2: LIC - PSPB: 2.5-1.5

GM B Adhiban (2610), GM Karthikeyan Murali (2626) and GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2582) scored wins over IM Dinesh K Sharma (2211), WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2063) and GM Sriram Jha (2315) respectively. GM Vaibhav Suri (2606) sacrificed an exchange in the endgame against WGM Swati Ghate (2028) which had less than desired effect.

Vaibhav - Swati

Position after 29...Bxc5

White opted to sacrifice the exchange 30.Rxd5!? Bxg1 31.Nxf5 Re2+ 32.Kd3 Rxa2 33.h5 White had enough compensation. However, few inaccuracies later, White landed himself in a pickle.

Position after 51.Re4

White does not have any threat currently in the above position. Black needed to push her passed pawn 51...a5 as the rooks are not enough to make a checkmate threat or win the game. Eventually, Black returned the exchange and the game ended in a draw.

WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) gives a massive scare to GM Vaibhav Suri (PSPB) | Video: ChessBase India

WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) is a very strong player who prevented a whitewash by PSPB | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

LIC - PSPB: 0.5-3.5

AAI (pictured) - Tamil Nadu C: 4-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Tamil Nadu D - RSPB A (pictured): 1-3 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Tamil Nadu B (pictured) - Karnataka B: 3-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kishan Kumar (Bihar A) on his win over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB B) | Video: ChessBase India

Women Round 2: Telangana - PSPB: 0.5-3.5

Natura Bethi (1531), Sarayu Velpula (1899) and Sneha Bharathakoti (1475) lost to IM Eesha Karavade (2294), IM Padmini Rout (2389) and WIM Isha Sharma (2213) respectively. WCM Kheerthi Ganta (1836) held IM Soumya Swaminathan (2308) to a draw, although the former had a substantial positional advantage.

Kheerthi - Soumya

Position after 28....Be7

One of the best opportunities White had in the game was after 28...Be7. 29.Nxe7+ Rxe7 30.Bf1 Qh5 31.Qc6 Bb7 32.Qxd6 would have put Black on the verge of a loss.

WCM Kheerthi Ganta (TEL) had IM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) on the ropes | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

PSPB en route their victory over Telangana | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Telangana - PSPB: 0.5-3.5

AAI - Odisha: 4-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Tamil Nadu A - Maharashtra: 0-4 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Round 3 Open: PSPB - Tamil Nadu B: 2.5-1.5

GM G N Gopal (2589) scored the sole win for PSPB against GM Pranesh M (2504). This win ensured PSPB beat Tamil Nadu B 2.5-1.5.

Gopal - Pranesh

Position after 21.e5

Black was already misplaying the position by making moves on the queenside without making any impact. 20...Re7 completely ended things as 21.e5 disintegrated Black's position completely. 21...Nd5 22.Nh5 Nxe3 23.Rxe3 Qb6 24.Nf6+ and Black's position fell apart.

GM G N Gopal scored the key victory for PSPB | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

PSPB - Tamil Nadu B: 2.5-1.5

RSPB A - AAI: 2-2 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

RSPB B - Odisha: 3.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more photos, please click at the respective links: Round 2 Open and Women and Round 3 Open.

When a 59-year-old player takes on a 13-year-old - Nihal Swarna vs Jayakumar P | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 2-3 Open games

Replay Round 2 Women games

Round 3 Open results

No.	SNo	Team	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Team	SNo
1	1	PSPB Men	4	2½	:	1½	4	Tamil Nadu B	4
2	3	RSPB A	4	2	:	2	4	AAI	2
3	5	RSPB B	4	3½	:	½	3	Odisha A	6
4	7	Telangana	3	2½	:	1½	3	Madhya Pradesh	15
5	13	Kerala B	3	3	:	1	3	Kerala A	14
6	19	DASCB	2	0	:	4	2	LIC	8
7	9	Tamil Nadu C	2	2½	:	1½	2	Tamil Nadu A	18
8	21	Bihar B	2	2½	:	1½	2	Tamil Nadu D	10
9	11	Karnataka B	2	1	:	3	2	Haryana A	20
10	23	SSCB	2	1	:	3	2	Bihar A	12
11	17	BSNL	2	1	:	3	2	Tamil Nadu E	22
12	24	Andhra Pradesh B	0	1½	:	2½	1	Pondicherry	16
13	25	Karnataka A	0	4	:	0	0	Haryana B	28
14	29	Himachal C	0	1	:	3	0	Himachal A	26
15	27	Andhra Pradesh A	0	4	:	0	0	Himachal B	30

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	5	RSPB B	3	3	0	0	6	0	10	67	24,5
2	1	PSPB Men	3	3	0	0	6	0	8,5	64,8	20,5
3	2	AAI	3	2	1	0	5	0	10	60	25
4	3	RSPB A	3	2	1	0	5	0	9	51	22
5	13	Kerala B	3	2	1	0	5	0	8,5	40	22,5
6	7	Telangana	3	2	1	0	5	0	8	59	21
7	8	LIC	3	2	0	1	4	0	8,5	34,3	20,5
8	12	Bihar A	3	2	0	1	4	0	8	46	19
9	4	Tamil Nadu B	3	2	0	1	4	0	8	41,3	21,5
10	22	Tamil Nadu E	3	2	0	1	4	0	7,5	20	18,5

Details

Round 4 Open pairings

No.	SNo	Team	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Team	SNo
1	5	RSPB B	6		:		6	PSPB Men	1
2	2	AAI	5		:		5	Telangana	7
3	13	Kerala B	5		:		5	RSPB A	3
4	4	Tamil Nadu B	4		:		4	Bihar A	12
5	8	LIC	4		:		4	Bihar B	21
6	20	Haryana A	4		:		4	Tamil Nadu C	9
7	15	Madhya Pradesh	3		:		4	Tamil Nadu E	22
8	6	Odisha A	3		:		3	Pondicherry	16
9	14	Kerala A	3		:		2	Karnataka B	11
10	10	Tamil Nadu D	2		:		2	SSCB	23
11	26	Himachal A	2		:		2	BSNL	17
12	18	Tamil Nadu A	2		:		2	Andhra Pradesh A	27
13	25	Karnataka A	2		:		2	DASCB	19
14	30	Himachal B	0		:		0	Andhra Pradesh B	24
15	28	Haryana B	0		:		0	Himachal C	29

Details

Round 2 Women results

No.	SNo	Team	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Team	SNo
1	5	Telangana Women	2	½	:	3½	2	PSPB Women	1
2	2	AAI Women	2	4	:	0	2	Odisha Women A	7
3	6	Tamil Nadu Women A	2	0	:	4	2	Maharashtra Women A	3
4	4	Tamil Nadu Women B	1	2½	:	1½	0	Tamil Nadu Women D	8
5	10	Tamil Nadu Women C	0	2	:	2	1	Andhra Pradesh Women	11
6	14	Himachal Women A	0	0	:	4	0	Kerala Women	9
7	12	Himachal Women B	0	3½	:	½	0	Himachal Women C	13

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	AAI Women	2	2	0	0	4	0	8	30	20
2	3	Maharashtra Women A	2	2	0	0	4	0	8	24	20
3	1	PSPB Women	2	2	0	0	4	0	7,5	21,8	19
4	4	Tamil Nadu Women B	2	1	1	0	3	0	4,5	11,8	9
5	5	Telangana Women	2	1	0	1	2	0	4,5	17,8	11

Details

Round 3 Women pairings

No.	SNo	Team	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Team	SNo
1	1	PSPB Women	4		:		4	AAI Women	2
2	3	Maharashtra Women A	4		:		3	Tamil Nadu Women B	4
3	9	Kerala Women	2		:		2	Telangana Women	5
4	11	Andhra Pradesh Women	2		:		2	Tamil Nadu Women A	6
5	7	Odisha Women A	2		:		2	Himachal Women B	12
6	13	Himachal Women C	0		:		1	Tamil Nadu Women C	10
7	8	Tamil Nadu Women D	0		:		0	Himachal Women A	14

Details

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