MPL National Rapid 2023 R1-8: Mitrabha Guha emerges sole leader

Five in pursuit including Aravindh

The eleven-round MPL National Rapid Chess Championship 2023 has a total prize fund of ₹400000. There are 25 prizes up for grabs. The top three prizes are ₹75000, ₹60000 and ₹50000 each respectively. The last three rounds will be played tomorrow, starting with Round 9 from 9 a.m.. IST.

Round 2

Sanchay Dubey (UP, 1816) and Vivek Sharma (BIH, 1795) scored big upsets over IM Prraneeth Vuppala (TEL, 2351) and IM D K Sharma (LIC, 2315) respectively. The newly crowned National Amateur Below 1700 Open champion, Sham R (TN, 1727) held the former Asian Junior Open champion, IM Raahul VS (TN, 2202) to a draw.

Round 3

Vivek Sharma (BIH, 1795) continued his momentum and drew with IM Ameya Audi (Goa, 2309). World Rapid Women 2022 Bronze medalist, WIM Savitha Shri B (TN, 2317) and IM Nubairshah Shaikh (MAH, 2310) were held to draws by CM Aaditya Dhingra (HAR, 2075) and CM Garv Gaur (HAR, 1960).

Round 4

Mihir Shah (MAH, 1624) scored one of the biggest win of the round against WIM Savitha Shri B (TN, 2317). Sa Kannan (TN, 1738) scored a huge upset by defeating the reigning and two-time National Women and Asian Continental Blitz Women champion, WGM Divya Deshmukh (MAH, 2238).

Round 5

Four players were in the lead at 4/4 each. They are - GM Aravindh Chithambaram (TN, 2557), Mihir Shah (MAH, 1624), GM Mitrabha Guha (WB, 2374) and IM Ravi Teja S (AP, 2360). GM Mitrabha defeated Mihir to emerge sole leader 5/5.

Round 6

GM Mitrabha Guha (WB) defeated IM Ravi Teja S (AP) to increase his lead by a full point 6/6. The second board batttle between GM Aravindh Chithambaram (TN) and IM Nubairshah Shaikh (MAH) ended in a draw.

Earlier this month, team LIC participated in the MPL 42nd National Team Chess Championship in the Open category. In the sixth round, the teammates faced each other. GM Sriram Jha (2338) drew with WGM Swati Ghate (2178) and IM D K Sharma (2315) defeated WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2174). One must not forget, IM D K Sharma won National Blitz Championship in 2018 with a fractured arm.

Round 7

The seventh round witnessed the rematch of last year's final round battle between the defending champion, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Mitrabha Guha. The color was exactly the same and so was the result.

Round 8

GM Mitrabha Guha (WB) drew with IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad (AP) to maintain his sole lead 7/8.

For more Inauguration Ceremony, Round 1-4 and 5-8 photos, please click at the respective links.

Video Gallery

A total of 125 players including 5 GMs, 11 IMs, 3 WGMs and a WIM are taking part in this three-day eleven-round Swiss League Rapid Rating tournament. It is being organized by Crown Trust from 24th to 26th February 2023 at The Kangra Fort, Jammu. The time control is 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment.

Round 8 results

Details

Round 9 pairings

Details

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