Sant Martí 01-06: Shyam Sundar takes charge

by Niklesh Kumar Jain - 19/07/2016

One of the better events in the Catalan Grand Prix XVIII is the Sant Martí International tournament taking place in Barcelona, Spain. GM Shyam Sundar M. took an important step forward in the tourney when he defeated Argentine GM Fernando Peralta (2588) in the sixth round. He now leads the event with 5.5/6. An illustrated report.

Sant Martí 01-06: Shyam Sundar takes charge

One of the better events in the Catalan Grand Prix XVIII is the Sant Martí International tournament taking place in Barcelona, Spain. The average rating of the tourney is around 2200 Elo, including 12 GMs and 18 IMs. With a total of 140 players, 73 of them titled, the tournament is quite good for players searching for experience and ratings.

Tournament Hall: Centre Civic Sant Martí

Once again India is having the most number of participants after Spain.

Barcelona is a sport-loving city, famous mostly due to FC-Barcelona, the doyen among the football clubs worldwide. Participating in this tournament, one also realizes that chess is also very famous and a well-organized sport in Barcelona.

GM Shyam Sundar M. leads the tournament with 5.5/6.

GM Shyam Sundar M. took an important step forward when he defeated Argentine GM Fernando Peralta (2588).

Peralta-Shyam: Black to play. What would you do here?

Do you see what Shyam saw here? Black recognised his worst placed piece here and decided to do something about it.

[Event "XVIII Obert Internacional Sant Martí 20"] [Site "Barcelona. Carrer Selva de Mar"] [Date "2016.07.18"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Peralta, Fernando"] [Black "Shyam, Sundar M"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2588"] [BlackElo "2526"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r1qrk1/1p1b1pbp/1npp2p1/p1nPp2P/P1P1P1P1/1PN1B3/3N1P2/R2QKBR1 b Q - 0 16"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2016.07.13"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] 16... Na8 {improving the knight on b6!} 17. Rc1 (17. h6 Bh8 18. Bxc5 dxc5 19. Nf3 f6 20. Qd2 $14) 17... Nc7 18. Be2 N7a6 19. Nf1 cxd5 20. cxd5 Nb4 $11 21. g5 Qe7 22. Ng3 f6 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. gxf6 Rxf6 25. Rh1 Rf4 $1 {not an uncommon idea.} 26. Kf1 Rh4 $17 27. Rxh4 Qxh4 28. Kg1 Bh6 29. Bxh6 Qxh6 30. Nb5 Rf8 31. Nxd6 Qf4 32. Qf1 Bh3 33. Qxh3 Qxc1+ $19 34. Kg2 Qf4 35. f3 Nc2 36. Nc8 Kg7 37. Ne7 Ne1+ 38. Kf1 Nxf3 39. Nef5+ Kf6 40. Kg2 Ne1+ 41. Kg1 Nxe4 42. Nxe4+ Qxe4 43. Ng3 Nf3+ 44. Kf2 Qh4 0-1

Current National Champion GM Murali Karthikeyan needs to be in shape before the Olympiad begins in October. He is tied for the second spot with 5.0/6.

GM-elect Himanshu Sharma (2389) is also on 5.0/6.

[Event "XVIII Obert Internacional Sant Martí 20"]
[Site "Barcelona. Carrer Selva de Mar"]
[Date "2016.07.18"]
[Round "6.8"]
[White "Himanshu, Sharma"]
[Black "Munoz, Miguel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2389"]
[BlackElo "2477"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bd2 a6 7. h3 Bxf3 8.
Qxf3 Nc6 9. O-O-O O-O-O 10. d5 Nxd5 11. Bc4 Nxc3 12. Bxc3 Qg5+ 13. Kb1 e5 14.
Bxa6 Qf6 15. Qg4+ Kb8 16. Rxd8+ Nxd8 17. Bc4 Bd6 18. Re1 h5 19. Qe2 Re8 20. a4
Qg6 21. g4 hxg4 22. hxg4 Qg5 23. a5 e4 24. Bd3 e3 25. fxe3 Bg3 26. Rf1 g6 27.
e4 Be5 28. Bd2 Qe7 29. a6 b6 30. Bb5 c6 31. Bc4 b5 32. Bxb5 cxb5 33. Qxb5+ Kc8
34. a7 1-0

IM Swayams Mishra (2457) has reached 4.5/6.

[Event "XVIII Obert Internacional Sant Martí 20"] [Site "Barcelona. Carrer Selva de Mar"] [Date "2016.07.14"] [Round "2.30"] [White "Sadhwani, Raunak"] [Black "Swayams, Mishra"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2122"] [BlackElo "2457"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1b1qrrk1/pp1b2pp/2n1p3/1N1p4/3Pn3/1Q1BBNPP/PP3PK1/R4R2 b - - 0 18"] [PlyCount "7"] [EventDate "2016.07.13"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] 18... a6 {Yes, it wins a piece!} 19. Nc3 Rxf3 $1 20. Nxe4 (20. Kxf3 Nxd4+ 21. Bxd4 Nd2+ $19) 20... dxe4 21. Bxe4 Rf7 $19 {Black went on to win comfortably.} 0-1

CM Mendonca Leon Luke (1964) is in red hot form, increasing 99 Elo, to be on 3.5/6.

IM Anurag Mhamal (2392) drew against top seed GM Axel Bachmann (2649) in the fourth round and has reached 4.0/6.

Odisha's GM Debashis Das is still searching for his best form and is on 4.0/6.

Ra Harikrishnan (2138) is also having a good showing and is on 3.5/6.

Yogit S. trying to 'hoodie'wink Iran's Niusha Afshar

The top games are being broadcasted live, and you cann watch it too, below!

The whole point.

Photographer: Pau Pascual Duran

Pascual loves chess. He writes chess and culture articles, makes tournament photo reports, and organizes chess events. He is playing the Sant Martí Open in group B.

Pairings for Round 07:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	5½		5	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2513	8
2	18	GM	Cuartas Jaime Alexander	2455	5		5	IM	Oliva Castaneda Kevel	2493	12
3	28	IM	Himanshu Sharma	2389	5		5	GM	Alvarez Pedraza Aramis	2484	14
4	1	GM	Bachmann Axel	2649	4½		4½	IM	Asis Gargatagli Hipolito	2504	10
5	11	GM	Arizmendi Martinez Julen Luis	2501	4½		4½	GM	Peralta Fernando	2588	2
6	5	IM	Gomez Garrido Camilo Ernesto	2541	4½		4½	GM	Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo	2580	3
7	4	GM	Libiszewski Fabien	2542	4½		4½	IM	Swayams Mishra	2457	17
8	27	IM	Vassallo Barroche Mauricio	2389	4½		4	IM	Henriquez Villagra Cristobal	2491	13
9	15	GM	Munoz Miguel	2477	4		4	IM	Perpinya Rofes Lluis Maria	2373	31

Check the complete pairings here.

Watch the games LIVE:

Games in PGN

Official Website

Photos by Pau Pascual