MPL 59th National Senior R2: The Deep Queen sac

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/12/2022

19-year-old Akshit Kumar J (AP) scored the first big upset of MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship 2022. He defeated GM-elect IM Arghyadip Das who could not find the best way to save his pinned knight. Multi-time Hastings Masters winner and Commonwealth Gold medalist, GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB) sacrificed his queen against the reigning National Under-17 Open champion, CM Mayank Chakraborty (ASM). While Deep did not follow through correctly and finish things off earlier, nevertheless he managed to score the full point. Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri (TEL), M Anees M (TN), Dhananjay S (CHT), Shreyansh Daklia (CHT), Kartavya Anadkat (GUJ), Grahesh Y (AP), Rupam Mukherjee (WB) and Tapan Badamundi (ODI) held their respective Grandmaster opponents to a draw each. Round 3 starts today at 2 p.m. IST today. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Akshit surprises Arghyadip

A total of dozen IM and GMs were denied a full point by their relatively lower rated untitled opponents. Untitled Akshit Kumar J (ODI) scored the sole victory against a titled player, IM Arghyadip Das (RSPB).

GM Deep Sengupta made a fantastic queen sacrifice | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Mayank - Deep: 0-1

GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB, 2486) made a nice queen sacrifice against CM Mayank Chakraborty (ASM, 2179). Although, he did not follow through correctly.

Position after 34...fxe3!

34...fxe3 works because 35.Nxc7 exf2+ 36.Kf1 and now Black needed to play Bg3! the correct follow through against which White has no defense. 36...Bxc7 was played probably in time scramble and to reach 40 moves quickly. Black eventually won the game as it was certainly not easy to defend against Black's stronghold surrounding the f2-pawn and the back-rank checkmate threat.

Arghyadip - Akshit

Position after 32...Rb5

Black has made a deadly pin on the b-file. The only way to ensure White does not lose the knight for nothing is to play 33.d5 now. 33...Reb8 34.d6! Nxd6 35.Rd3 and White has successfully managed to unpin the knight. Yes, White had to give up both d and b-pawns but it's certainly not losing for him. 33.Re1 f5 and the b4-knight is a goner. Black won the game in the next few moves.

Anuj - Gaurang

Position after 51...c3

White can still win the game despite c2 followed by c1 seem to be unstoppable. Try to find out how.

The last encounter between IM Anuj Shrivatri and CM Gaurang Bagwe was also a draw earlier this year at 3rd Gujarat GM Open 2022 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Some notable results

Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri (TEL) - GM Visakh N R (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

GM Shyam Sundar M (TN) - FM Mohamed Anees M (TN): 0.5-0.5

Dhananjay S (CHT) - GM Swapnil S Dhopade (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

Shreyansh Daklia (CHT) - GM Sandipan Chanda (WB): 0.5-0.5

Kartavya Anadkat (GUJ) - GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM Arghyadip Das (RSPB) - Akshit Kumar J (AP): 0-1

Kaivalya Sandip Nagare (MAH) - IM Srihari L R (TN): 0.5-0.5

IM Anuj Shrivatri (MP) - CM Gaurang Bagwe (MAH): 0.5-0.5

GM Laxman R R (RSPB) - Grahesh Y (AP): 0.5-0.5

FM Ayushh Ravikumar (TN) - IM Avinash Ramesh (TN): 0.5-0.5

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB) - Rupam Mukherjee (WB): 0.5-0.5

Tapan Badamundi (ODI) - GM Sriram Jha (LIC): 0.5-0.5

Ujjawal Bansal (GUJ) - IM Ratnakaran K (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

A total of 196 players including 18 GMs and 27 IMs are taking part in this tournament organized by Delhi Chess Association. The event is taking place in New Delhi from 22nd December 2022 to 3rd January 20233. The 13-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds from move no.1

Replay Round 2 games

Round 2 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	58		Varun V	2250	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	1	PGN
2	59	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2244	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	3	PGN
3	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	1	1 - 0	1		Praloy Sahoo	2241	61	PGN
4	60		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2243	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Visakh N R	2544	5	PGN
5	6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2237	63	PGN
6	62	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2239	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	7	PGN
7	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	1	1 - 0	1		Gandhi Anish	2197	67	PGN
8	64		Sai Vishwesh.C	2219	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Iniyan P	2507	9	PGN
9	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	1	1 - 0	1		Garv Rai	2181	69	PGN
10	66		Dhananjay S	2199	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2499	11	PGN
11	68	CM	Nayak Rajesh	2184	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	13	PGN
12	14	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	1	1 - 0	1		Chidvilash Sai Surapaneni	2177	71	PGN
13	70	CM	Mayank Chakraborty	2179	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	15	PGN
14	16	IM	Krishna C R G	2480	1	1 - 0	1		Surendran N	2168	73	PGN
15	74		Shreyansh Daklia	2165	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	17	PGN
16	76		Anadkat Kartavya	2147	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	19	PGN
17	21	IM	Das Arghyadip	2438	1	0 - 1	1		Akshit Kumar J	2158	75	PGN
18	22	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Srinivasa Rao M.	2142	77	PGN
19	78	CM	Borgaonkar Akshay	2135	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	23	PGN
20	80		Nagare Kaivalya Sandip	2124	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Srihari L R	2429	25	PGN

Details

Round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	2		2	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2383	34
2	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	2		2	IM	Shahil Dey	2381	35
3	37	IM	Nitin S.	2372	2		2	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	4
4	7	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	2		2		Sanket Chakravarty	2367	38
5	41		Srihari L	2356	2		2	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	8
6	9	GM	Iniyan P	2507	2		2	FM	Sekar B	2358	40
7	47	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	2329	2		2	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	10
8	13	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	2		2	IM	Utsab Chatterjee	2350	42
9	51		Subhayan Kundu	2319	2		2	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	14
10	15	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	2		2		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2333	46
11	53	IM	Rajesh V A V	2314	2		2	IM	Krishna C R G	2480	16
12	75		Akshit Kumar J	2158	2		2	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	22
13	23	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	2		2	IM	Raahul V S	2325	50
14	27	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	2		2	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2316	52
15	83		Dere Pushkar	2114	2		2	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	30
16	33	GM	Neelotpal Das	2384	2		2	FM	Krishnan Ritvik	2266	56
17	5	GM	Visakh N R	2544	1½		1½	FM	Aradhya Garg	2312	54
18	49	IM	Avinash Ramesh	2327	1½		1½	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	6
19	11	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2499	1½		1½		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2243	60
20	63	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2237	1½		1½	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	12

Details

Links

Delhi Chess Association

Tournament Regulations

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