The Peacekeepers Parade in round 9

Reigning Asian Continental women's champion IM Padmini Rout defeated GM Stupak Kirill emphatically | Photo: David Llada

The game started as Reverse Benoni/King's Indian Attack and soon allocated almost all her resources on the queenside of the board which black managed to stall for a while.

It seems like Black managed to stop all attempts for white. So how should white continue here?

Black has a space advantage on the kingside but that also makes his king vulnerable. How can white exploit it?

White is ahead by a pawn and has advantage too but how can white maintain it?

Pranesh secures his maiden IM norm by defeating GM Erigaisi Arjun

Pranesh's phenomenal performance continued as he ran through GM Erigaisi Arjun in the penultimate round | Photo: Amruta Mokal

13-year old Pranesh secured his maiden IM-norm by defeating GM Erigaisi Arjun. He will face GM Susanto Megaranto in the final round

Arjun decided to sacrifice an exchange to stop all kinds of possibilities for a future attack but Pranesh was determined to attack.

Arjun sacrificed an exchange to prevent future attack with 30...Rg4

Pranesh took it and Arjun recapture with the h-pawn. How should white continue here?

White is looking for a way to attack and Black's last move 33...Kf7 gave him an opportunity. What should white play here?

GM Levan Pantsulaia played dominantly and defeated GM Maxim Lugovskoy to get into the sole lead heading into the final round | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Maxim wanted to capitalize on the backward d-pawn, but the plan was flawed. What is the best continuation for black here?

Despite the position being completely open, Levan's Knights are dominating the pace of the game

Suddenly white's knight is trapped, white cannot move it. White must liquidate into a losing Rook and Pawn endgame.

Round 9 results of 2019/01/24 at 10.00 AM

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
120
GMLugovskoy Maxim24457½0 - 17GMPantsulaia Levan2597
2
21
GMPredke Alexandr26206½½ - ½6½IMVignesh N R2461
15
34
GMPopov Ivan25886½½ - ½6½GMAleksandrov Aleksej2582
6
414
GMDeviatkin Andrei24616½½ - ½6½GMPaichadze Luka2583
5
528
IMGirish A. Koushik24116½0 - 16GMRozum Ivan2589
3
634
IMPadmini Rout236561 - 06GMStupak Kirill2542
9
726
GMCzebe Attila24186½ - ½6GMTran Tuan Minh2541
10
843
WGMBabiy Olga227560 - 16GMMegaranto Susanto2530
11
912
GMKarthik Venkataraman251561 - 06IMRajesh V A V2410
29
1016
IMKhusenkhojaev Muhammad24556½ - ½6Sahoo Utkal Ranjan2388
31
1118
IMNguyen Van Huy245061 - 06IMRathnakaran K.2373
33
1224
GMLaxman R.R.24216½ - ½6IMAmeir Moheb2309
39
1372
Pranesh M212561 - 05½GMErigaisi Arjun2548
7
1446
FMGajwa Ankit22635½½ - ½5½IMGajek Radoslaw2481
13
1558
Samant Aditya S22055½1 - 05½IMAkash G2453
17
1656
Saurabh Anand22105½1 - 05½IMShyaamnikhil P2446
19
17100
AGMVignesh N19385½½ - ½5½GMNeelotpal Das2419
25
1896
Karthik Rajaa19605½½ - ½5½GMManik Mikulas2413
27
1930
IMMuthaiah Al24065½1 - 05½FMMaheswaran P.2207
57
2035
Ritviz Parab23625½1 - 05½IMHegde Ravi Gopal2110
73

 

Round 10 on 2019/01/25 at 10.00 AM

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
12
GMPantsulaia Levan259787GMPredke Alexandr2620
1
24
GMPopov Ivan258877½GMLugovskoy Maxim2445
20
33
GMRozum Ivan258977GMDeviatkin Andrei2461
14
45
GMPaichadze Luka258377IMPadmini Rout2365
34
56
GMAleksandrov Aleksej258277IMNguyen Van Huy2450
18
611
GMMegaranto Susanto253077Pranesh M2125
72
715
IMVignesh N R246177GMKarthik Venkataraman2515
12
831
Sahoo Utkal Ranjan23886½6½GMTran Tuan Minh2541
10
916
IMKhusenkhojaev Muhammad24556½6½Ritviz Parab2362
35
1037
IMSaravanan V.23186½6½GMLaxman R.R.2421
24
1139
IMAmeir Moheb23096½6½GMCzebe Attila2418
26
1228
IMGirish A. Koushik24116½6½Saurabh Anand2210
56
1391
Barath Kalyan M20046½6½IMMuthaiah Al2406
30
148
GMDeepan Chakkravarthy J.254366½Samant Aditya S2205
58
159
GMStupak Kirill254266GMZiatdinov Raset2248
50
1613
IMGajek Radoslaw248166IMSuvrajit Saha2221
54
1721
IMNitin S.244266IMRamnathan Balasubramaniam2191
60
1822
GMSundararajan Kidambi243666WIMVarshini V2171
63
1925
GMNeelotpal Das241966Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U2048
80
2027
GMManik Mikulas241366Md.Abzid Rahman2040
82