PSPB wins National Team Women 2019 and almost Open category

by Shahid Ahmed - 10/02/2019

PSPB wins National Team 2019 in both Open and Women category with a round to spare for second consecutive year. However, there is one unlikely scenario where Air India can win the Open category. Everything has to go Air India's way completely to get the title. In an unlikely scenario, if PSPB loses against Alekhine Chess Club-A and Air India wins with a minimum score of 3.5-0.5 against Bengal Red in the final round, only then they can become champion. PSPB dominated Day 4, by derailing both RSPB-A and RSPB-B with a same score of 3-1. Among the women, PSPB Women defeated LIC emphatically in round 5 with a score of 3.5-0.5 and whitewashed Tamil Nadu 4-0 in the penultimate round. This report contains games, photos and positions. The report contains games, positions, photos and video. Photo: Shahid Ahmed and Gopakumar Sudhakaran

PSPB dominates National Teams for the second consecutive year

Round 7 Open

Before the match, Surya Sekhar Ganguly with his friend and teammate GM Karthikeyan Murali | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

His actual opponent was GM Pandian Karthikeyan of RSPB-A | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

World Cup 2019 participant GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly got a huge space advantage early in the middle game which he converted easily against the reigning Commonwealth champion GM P Karthikeyan

Newly crowned National champion GM Aravindh Chithambaram took a quick draw with GM Swapnil Dhopade | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM G N Gopal played absolutely solid in French Tarrasch against National Open 2019 runner-up IM C R G Krishna and outplayed him | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

White has a huge advantage in this position, but how should white continue here?

They share a good laugh before battling it all out on the 64 squares. The game between GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Deepan Chakravarthy ended up in a draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Air India defeated Airport Authority of India by 3-1. IM Swayams Mishra picked up the decisive victory for his team against GM Stany G A | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

RSPB-B defeated Bengal Red by 2.5-1.5. IM S Nitin picked up an upset victory against GM Dibyendu Barua in an inferior position | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 7 results

Bo.

PSPB

Rtg

FED

Railways SPB - A

Rtg

FED

3 : 1

1.1

Ganguly, Surya Shekhar

2636

IND

Karthikeyan, P.

2451

IND

1 - 0

1.2

Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.

2601

IND

Swapnil, S. Dhopade

2488

IND

½ - ½

1.3

Gopal, G.N.

2594

IND

Krishna, C R G

2476

IND

1 - 0

1.4

Karthikeyan, Murali

2560

IND

Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.

2532

IND

½ - ½

Bo.

Air India

Rtg

FED

Airport Authority of India

Rtg

FED

2½:1½

2.1

Bakre, Tejas

2443

IND

Vignesh, N R

2473

IND

½ - ½

2.2

Satyapragyan, Swayangsu

2381

IND

Shyam, Sundar M.

2512

IND

½ - ½

2.3

Swayams, Mishra

2468

IND

Stany, G.A.

2517

IND

1 - 0

2.4

Narayanan, Srinath

2572

IND

Visakh, N R

2505

IND

½ - ½

Bo.

Railways SPB - B

Rtg

FED

Bengal Red

Rtg

FED

2½:1½

3.1

Nitin, S.

2395

IND

Barua, Dibyendu

2414

IND

1 - 0

3.2

Laxman, R.R.

2417

IND

Neelotpal, Das

2409

IND

½ - ½

3.3

Das, Arghyadip

2445

IND

Ghosh, Diptayan

2556

IND

½ - ½

3.4

Himanshu, Sharma

2441

IND

Koustav, Chatterjee

2332

IND

½ - ½

Bo.

Alekhine Chess Club - A -

Rtg

FED

Bengal Blue

Rtg

FED

3½: ½

4.1

Aronyak, Ghosh

2324

IND

Neelash, Saha

2340

IND

½ - ½

4.2

Subhayan, Kundu

2354

IND

Sarbojit, Paul

2014

IND

1 - 0

4.3

Srijit, Paul

2340

IND

Kaustuv, Kundu

2311

IND

1 - 0

4.4

Arpan, Das

2164

IND

Saptorshi, Gupta

2053

IND

1 - 0

Bo.

Telangana SCA

Rtg

FED

All Orissa CA

Rtg

FED

1½:2½

5.1

Bharat, Kumar Reddy Poluri

2252

IND

Sidhant, Mohapatra

2330

IND

½ - ½

5.2

Raghav, Srivathsav V

2042

IND

Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan

2356

IND

0 - 1

5.3

Varun, V

2239

IND

Nayak, Rajesh

2210

IND

½ - ½

5.4

Shanmukha, Pulli

1859

IND

Baivab, Mishra

2205

IND

½ - ½

Round 8 Open

PSPB defeated RSPB-B by 3-1 in the penultimate round to secure the championship | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Only consolation for RSPB-B was IM S Nitin securing a draw with GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly in their top board encounter in Sicilian Taimanov

Reigning National Champion GM Aravindh Chithambaram capitalized on his opponent IM P Shyamnikhil's mistake in the endgame | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

In the game, IM P Shyamnikhil played 36...Kh5. Find out why it's a mistake and what was a better continuation for Black here

GM-elect IM Arghyadip Das blundered here with 34.Nb2 against GM Karthikeyan Murali. What did he miss and what was the better alternative?

GM Deep Sengupta drew with GM Himanshu Sharma in a game where Deep's exchange sacrifice and space advantage did not seem to be enough | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

All Orissa CA lost to Air India by 1-3 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Equation for Air India to become champion:

There is still some hope for Air India to win the championship in the open category. However, for that to happen, a lot of things need to go Air India's way.

1. PSPB needs a draw to become champion, so for Air India to win the tournament, PSPB needs to lose which is practically highly improbable since they have won 7 matches and drawn 1.

2. If PSPB loses by any margin, then Air India must defeat Bengal Red by 3.5-0.5 to win it. In case Air India wins by 3-1, then it will all come down to tie-breaks.

GM Visakh N R of AAI defeated GM Sriram Jha in a four-hour long grueling battle. Team AAI defeated Team LIC 3-1 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Final moments: Pawn race with Rook and a minor piece

Round 8 results

Bo.

Railways SPB - B

Rtg

FED

PSPB

Rtg

FED

1 : 3

1.1

Nitin, S.

2395

IND

Ganguly, Surya Shekhar

2636

IND

½ - ½

1.2

Shyaamnikhil, P

2428

IND

Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.

2601

IND

0 - 1

1.3

Das, Arghyadip

2445

IND

Karthikeyan, Murali

2560

IND

0 - 1

1.4

Himanshu, Sharma

2441

IND

Sengupta, Deep

2555

IND

½ - ½

Bo.

All Orissa CA

Rtg

FED

Air India

Rtg

FED

1 : 3

2.1

Sidhant, Mohapatra

2330

IND

Bakre, Tejas

2443

IND

½ - ½

2.2

Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan

2356

IND

Satyapragyan, Swayangsu

2381

IND

½ - ½

2.3

Nayak, Rajesh

2210

IND

Swayams, Mishra

2468

IND

0 - 1

2.4

Baivab, Mishra

2205

IND

Narayanan, Srinath

2572

IND

0 - 1

Bo.

Airport Authority of India

Rtg

FED

L I C

Rtg

FED

3 : 1

3.1

Vignesh, N R

2473

IND

Deshmukh, Anup

2259

IND

½ - ½

3.2

Puranik, Abhimanyu

2538

IND

Agarwal, Brajesh

1829

IND

½ - ½

3.3

Shyam, Sundar M.

2512

IND

Gajendra, Singh

1906

IND

1 - 0

3.4

Visakh, N R

2505

IND

Sriram, Jha

2376

IND

1 - 0

Bo.

All Bihar CA - C

Rtg

FED

Alekhine Chess Club - A -

Rtg

FED

0 : 4

4.1

Sonu, Kumar

1525

IND

Aronyak, Ghosh

2324

IND

0 - 1

4.2

Rupesh, Ranjan

1898

IND

Subhayan, Kundu

2354

IND

0 - 1

4.3

Aman, Kumar

1500

IND

Srijit, Paul

2340

IND

0 - 1

4.4

Vikash, Kumar Dwivedi

1687

IND

Arpan, Das

2164

IND

0 - 1

Bo.

Railways SPB - A

Rtg

FED

Tamil Nadu SCA

Rtg

FED

4 : 0

5.1

Karthikeyan, P.

2451

IND

Arnav, Maheshwari

1825

IND

1 - 0

5.2

Swapnil, S. Dhopade

2488

IND

Barath, Kalyan M

2065

IND

1 - 0

5.3

Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.

2532

IND

AGM

Sa, Kannan

1968

IND

1 - 0

5.4

Thejkumar, M. S.

2470

IND

Yutesh, P

1911

IND

1 - 0

Round 5 Women

PSPB Women defeated Team LIC 3.5-0.5 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

WGM Swati Ghate got almost a winning position but WGM Mary Ann Gomes survived and salvaged a draw

The position seems incredibly uncomfortable to play. But we all know that IM Padmini Rout is a fighter. She managed to steer her ship away from the storm and sailed towards ashore to secure a full point.

Air India drew with Airport Authority of India 2-2 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Bengal Tigresses lost to Tamil Nadu by 1-3 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 5 results

Bo.

L I C

Rtg

PSPB

Rtg

½ :3½

1.1

WGM

Swati, Ghate

2229

WGM

Gomes, Mary Ann

2317

½ - ½

1.2

WGM

Kiran, Manisha Mohanty

2069

Padmini, Rout

2315

0 - 1

1.3

Tanuja, Kansal

Karavade, Eesha

2365

0 - 1

1.4

WFM

Bindu, Saritha K.

1523

WIM

Pratyusha, Bodda

2275

0 - 1

Bo.

Air India

Rtg

Airport Authority of India

Rtg

2 : 2

2.1

WGM

Meenakshi, Subbaraman

2161

WIM

Chitlange, Sakshi

2127

½ - ½

2.2

Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman

2352

WIM

Pujari, Rucha

2133

0 - 1

2.3

WGM

Kulkarni, Bhakti

2348

WIM

Nandhidhaa, P V

2268

½ - ½

2.4

WGM

Ramaswamy, Aarthie

2004

WIM

Parnali, S Dharia

2146

1 - 0

Bo.

Bengal Tigresses

Rtg

Tamil Nadu

Rtg

1 : 3

3.1

Mohana, Sengupta

1834

Abirama Srinithi, G

1668

½ - ½

3.2

WFM

Arpita, Mukherjee

2184

WCM

Jyothsna, L

2115

½ - ½

3.3

WCM

Bristy, Mukherjee

1915

Saranya, Y

1977

0 - 1

3.4

WIM

Chandreyee, Hajra

1921

Divya, Lakshmi R

1887

0 - 1

Round 6 Women

PSPB Women whitewashed Tamil Nadu Women | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Bengal Tigresses were tamed by Team Air India by 1.5-2.5 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Airport Authority of India defeated Rising Bengal | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Round 6 results

Bo.

PSPB

Rtg

Tamil Nadu

Rtg

4 : 0

1.1

WGM

Gomes, Mary Ann

2317

Abirama Srinithi, G

1668

1 - 0

1.2

Padmini, Rout

2315

WCM

Jyothsna, L

2115

1 - 0

1.3

Karavade, Eesha

2365

Saranya, Y

1977

1 - 0

1.4

WIM

Pratyusha, Bodda

2275

Divya, Lakshmi R

1887

1 - 0

Bo.

Bengal Tigresses

Rtg

Air India

Rtg

1½:2½

2.1

WFM

Arpita, Mukherjee

2184

WGM

Meenakshi, Subbaraman

2161

½ - ½

2.2

WCM

Bristy, Mukherjee

1915

Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman

2352

0 - 1

2.3

WIM

Chandreyee, Hajra

1921

WGM

Kulkarni, Bhakti

2348

½ - ½

2.4

Roy, Pallabi

1785

WGM

Ramaswamy, Aarthie

2004

½ - ½

Bo.

Airport Authority of India

Rtg

Rising Bengal

Rtg

3 : 1

3.1

WIM

Pujari, Rucha

2133

Sinthia, Sarkar

1351

1 - 0

3.2

WIM

Nandhidhaa, P V

2268

Sudipa, Haldar

1616

0 - 1

3.3

WIM

Srija, Seshadri

2176

Diya, Chowdhury

1709

1 - 0

3.4

WIM

Parnali, S Dharia

2146

Sneha, Halder

1282

1 - 0

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