National A blind 2019 Round 5-7: Subhendu Kumar Patra impresses

by Murthy Manjunatha - 10/01/2019

Subhendu Kumar Patra from Odisha is showing phenomenal chess at the National A championship 2019. It's really amazing to see how far this youngster has come from the last year. He had finished 5th in 2018 and qualified to the Indian team at the World Team Championships 2018. Although he didn't play many games, his experience of working with the best visually challenged players in the country and his persistence is showing at the National A 2019. Subhendu is unbeaten and with 6.0/7 is leading the tournament jointly with 5-time National Champion Kishan Gangolli. With six rounds to go, and four spots for the World Championship 2019 in Italy at stake, this promises to be an exciting finish.

Round 5

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	1747	Makwana Ashvin K	½ - ½	Patil Shirish	1673	14
2	4	1697	Krishna Udupa	1 - 0	Marimuthu K	1563	2
3	5	1863	Aryan B Joshi	0 - 1	Patra Subhendu Kumar	1686	1
4	6	1634	Prachurya Kumar Pradhan	1 - 0	Soundarya Kumar Pradhan	1819	13
5	7	1448	Hariharan Gandhi	0 - 1	Waghmare Sachin Lahu	1557	12
6	8	1522	Shashidhar K M	½ - ½	Kavlekar Sanjay R.	1812	11
7	9	2008	Kishan Gangolli	1 - 0	Swapanil Shah	1634	10

Aryan B Joshi, the overnight leader of the tournament played against Subhendu Kumar Patra of Odisha. Players went for the four knights game and Subhendu played very carefully with the leader. The game was equal up to 36 moves. Aryan rejected the draw offer and took risks to get the full point in an equal rook end game. Unfortunately, he over looked a move and surrendered on the 42nd move.

Subhendu Kumar Patra has shown tremendous form at the National A. He has played six rounds and has remained unbeaten. | Photo: Murthy Manjunatha

Aryan Joshi's defeat meant that Kishan Gangolli had taken the sole lead | Photo: Murthy Manjunatha

Kishan Gangolli of Karnataka played with white pieces against Swapnil Shah of Maharashtra. Swapnil opted for the Nimzo Indian Defence. As soon as he deviated from theory, he blundered a piece. Kishan Gangolli grabbed the piece and won the game easily on 24th move.

Prachurya Kumar Pradhan played with white pieces against his brother Soundarya Kumar Pradhan. In the Symmetrical English line that was played Soundarya miscalculated and played in hurry, for that he was penalized and his elder brother Prachurya finished the game very early on the 28th move. It was interesting to note the fighting spirit of both the brothers. They could have settled for a draw, but instead played on to fight hard with each other.

It was nice to see that both the brothers fought hard and tried their best to play a full-fledged game of chess | Photo: Murthy Manjunatha

Round 6:

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg	No.
1	14	1673	Patil Shirish	½ - ½	Swapanil Shah	1634	10
2	11	1812	Kavlekar Sanjay R.	0 - 1	Kishan Gangolli	2008	9
3	12	1557	Waghmare Sachin Lahu	0 - 1	Shashidhar K M	1522	8
4	13	1819	Soundarya Kumar Pradhan	1 - 0	Hariharan Gandhi	1448	7
5	1	1686	Patra Subhendu Kumar	½ - ½	Prachurya Kumar Pradhan	1634	6
6	2	1563	Marimuthu K	½ - ½	Aryan B Joshi	1863	5
7	3	1747	Makwana Ashvin K	1 - 0	Krishna Udupa	1697	4

On 6th board Marimuthu K of Tamil Nadu Played with white pieces against Aryan B Joshi of Maharashtra. In a Sicilian Defence both players agreed to a draw in 22 moves. The rules of the tournament ensured that players had to fight it out until move 25 and they did so, but the game was drawn nonetheless.

Sanjay Kavlekar of Goa played with white pieces against Kishan Gangolli. Kishan opted for the French defence and punished Sanjay for his opening mistake very quickly. With this victory Kishan became the sole leader with 5.5/6.

Subhendu Kumar Patra who was in joint lead with Kishan Gangolli before the round, agreed to a quick draw against Prachurya Kumar Pradhan.

Round 7:

Bo.	No.	Rtg	Name	Result	Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	1697	Krishna Udupa	½ - ½	Patil Shirish	1673	14
2	5	1863	Aryan B Joshi	1 - 0	Makwana Ashvin K	1747	3
3	6	1634	Prachurya Kumar Pradhan	0 - 1	Marimuthu K	1563	2
4	7	1448	Hariharan Gandhi	0 - 1	Patra Subhendu Kumar	1686	1
5	8	1522	Shashidhar K M	0 - 1	Soundarya Kumar Pradhan	1819	13
6	9	2008	Kishan Gangolli	½ - ½	Waghmare Sachin Lahu	1557	12
7	10	1634	Swapanil Shah	1 - 0	Kavlekar Sanjay R.	1812	11

The biggest surprise of the round was Kishan Gangolli not being able to win against Sachin Waghmare. Sachin played very safely in Nimzo Indian defence. Kishan had a winning move in the middlegame, but he missed it and had to settle for a draw in an opposite coloured bishop endgame.

Hariharan has performed quite poorly in this event and after seven rounds is still on zero. Hariharan lost a pawn in the opening and Subhendu gave him no real chances thereafter. As Kishan drew his game, Subhendu now leads the tournament jointly with Kishan on 6.0/7.

Aryan Joshi against Ashvin Makwana was a game to look forward. Both have represented our country on the international stage on multiple occasions. Ashvin played the Pirc's Defence and Ashvin managed to equalize in the middlegame. However, the youngster from Mumbai weaved a lot of complications in the position. Ashvin burned a lot of time and before he knew it, his flag had fallen and the game was over.

Standings after round 7

Rk.	Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Patra Subhendu Kumar	1686	IND	*		1	1	½		1	½				1		1	6,0	0,0	19,50	5
2	Kishan Gangolli	2008	IND		*			½	1			1		1	1	½	1	6,0	0,0	14,00	5
3	Aryan B Joshi	1863	IND	0		*	½				1	1	1	1		1		5,5	0,0	14,75	5
4	Marimuthu K	1563	IND	0		½	*	1		0	1		1		1			4,5	0,0	14,75	4
5	Prachurya Kumar Pradhan	1634	IND	½	½		0	*				½	1	1		1		4,5	0,0	13,50	3
6	Shashidhar K M	1522	IND		0				*			1	0	½	1	1	1	4,5	0,0	7,00	4
7	Krishna Udupa	1697	IND	0			1			*	0		1	½	½	1		4,0	0,0	10,25	3
8	Makwana Ashvin K	1747	IND	½		0	0			1	*		½		½	1		3,5	0,0	10,50	2
9	Swapanil Shah	1634	IND		0	0		½	0			*		1	½		1	3,0	0,0	5,00	2
10	Soundarya Kumar Pradhan	1819	IND			0	0	0	1	0	½		*				1	2,5	0,0	6,25	2
11	Kavlekar Sanjay R.	1812	IND		0	0		0	½	½		0		*			1	2,0	0,0	4,25	1
12	Patil Shirish	1673	IND	0	0		0		0	½	½	½			*			1,5	0,0	5,25	0
13	Waghmare Sachin Lahu	1557	IND		½	0		0	0	0	0					*	1	1,5	0,0	3,00	1
14	Hariharan Gandhi	1448	IND	0	0				0			0	0	0		0	*	0,0	0,0	0,00	0

About the author:

Murthy Manjunatha is the chief arbiter at the National Premier 2019. He has been an arbiter at blind tournaments since many years and conducts the proceedings with great speed and accuracy and a human touch!

Related news: