Sanket, Saravana Krishnan and Pranav score major upsets on day 2 of 12th Chennai GM Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/01/2020

22 players are in the lead with full points at the conclusion of round 3 of 12th Chennai GM Open 2020. Day 2 had double rounds. There were several upsets. Among them the notable ones are, 16-year old Sanket Chakravarty defeated the defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia in round 2. Pranav V defeated GM Alexei Fedorov and IM P Saravana Krishnan defeated the in-form Delhi Open 2020 runner-up GM Aleksej Aleksandrov. Top seed of the tournament, GM Pavel Ponkratov scored a fantastic win and halted Pranesh's fantastic momentum which he started in Delhi. Second seeded Martinez also picked up two fine victories to stay in the lead. Photo: R Anantharam

Upsets galore on day 2

The day 2 of 12th Chennai Open witnessed to upsets. The major ones are 16-year old Sanket Chakravarty (2055) defeated the defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO, 2598) in Round 2. 14-year old Pranav V (2265) defeated GM Alexei Fedorov (BLR, 2562), IM P Saravana Krishnan (2313) defeated the in-form, Delhi Open 2020 Runner-up GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR, 2592) in Round 3.

Round 2

16-year old Sanket Chakravarty en route his victory over defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia | Photo: R Anantharam

Sanket - Pantsulaia, Round 2

Find out the best continuation for white after 30...Nxe4

Pantsulaia sacrificed an exchange a couple of moves ago to get rid of White's octopus knight at e6. White continued with 31.g4

Pantsulaia blundered with 31...Re5

Rest was just a matter of technique for white to convert it into a full point.

Sri Sai Baswanth (2008) held GM Alberto David (ITA, 2562) to a draw after the former having a fantastic space for the majority of the middlegame.

Sai Baswanth also opted for the English opening | Photo: R Anantharam

Ajay Mushini (1952) held GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (COL, 2498) to a draw after gaining a decent advantage in the middlegame.

Ajay could have taken his chances | Photo: R Anantharam

Mushini - Cristhian, Round 2

White continued with 29.Nb4. What did white miss?

Even in the final position white had quite an advantage.

GM Rodrigo Schroeder Vasquez (CHI, 2487) was held to a draw by Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki (1944).

Jayachandra managed to stay out of trouble and salvage a draw | Photo: R Anantharam

Among other upsets, GM Neelotpal Das (2436) was held to a draw by Raghavendra V, Ilamparthi A R (1880) defeated GM Ziaur Rahman (BAN, 2434), Sai Kiran Y (1868) drew with IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (2417), Umashankar A (1838) defeated GM Attila Czebe (HUN, 2392), Mayank Chakraborty (1827) drew with IM Denis Eraschenkov (RUS, 2370), R M Subramaniam (1806) held IM Ameir Moheb (EGY, 2363).

Round 3

Top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov (RUS, 2622) halted Pranesh's momentum as the former opted for the less popular variation in Berlin Defence by keeping the queens on the board and avoiding a queen-less drawish endgame. The Russian did not give any chances to Pranesh and scored a comfortable victory.

Pranesh's Berlin Defence did not prove to be strong enough | Photo: R Anantharam

IM P Saravana Krishnan (2313) had a decent advantage out of the Ruy Lopez Breyer variation, however his slow maneuvering allowed his opponent GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR, 2592) secure a wonderful position. White later miscalculated a sacrifice which gave the Belarusian GM a decisive advantage. However, he was unable to maintain the advantage and blundered terribly which cost him the game.

Saravana en route his win against Aleksandrov | Photo: R Anantharam

GM Aleksey Goganov (RUS, 2583) was held to a draw by FM L R Srihari (2302). However the 15-year old boy had a half chance in the final part of the game. It is safe to say assume, time pressure could be the reason he missed.

Goganov - Srihari, Round 3

Position after 31.Qb1

Black continued the game with 31...Qf5. Find out what Black missed here.

GM Ivan Rozum (RUS, 2573) was held to a draw by FM Rohith Krishna S (2289).

Rohith held Rozum to a draw | Photo: R Anantharam

14-year old untitled Pranav V (2265) defeated GM Alexei Fedorov (BLR, 2562) with a fantastic display of attack. Alexei had small window of opportunity to go for a draw but it was not easy to find.

Pranav scored a fantastic win | Photo: R Anantharam

Pranav - Alexei, Round 3

Black has interesting continuation after 16.cxd5. Can you find it?

The position demanded black to go for an interesting continuation, but Alexei continued with a quiet move 16...cxd5 which shut the half chance he had to go for a draw.

IM B T Murali Krishnan (2202) held GM Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508)

Murali played solid to hold Yudin to a draw | Photo: R Anantharam

Rutuja Bakshi (2118) had an opportunity to create serious trouble for GM Maxim Lugovskoy (RUS, 2453) but she went for much simpler perpetual check and made a draw.

Rutuja could have gone for win | Photo: R Anantharam

Lugovskoy - Rutuja, Round 3

Position after 23.Qd2

Black had an interesting continuation after 23.Qd2 which Rutuja could have played to go for a win, but she chose a safer continuation with 23...c5. Can you find out what she missed?

Laxmi Narayanan (2162) beat IM Mitrabha Guha (2448) and Priyanka K (2124) beat GM Hesham Abdelrahman (EGY, 2429) | Photo: R Anantharam

Priyanka recovered from her mistake and capitalized on her opponent Hesham's mistake to score a full point.

Among other upsets, GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2414) was held to a draw by Indrajeet Mahindrakar (2066), FM J Ramakrishna (2068) defeated IM Bharath Subramaniyam H (2413), Chirag Satkar (2066) drew with GM Manik Mikulas (SVK, 2378), Sanket Chakravarty (2055) drew with IM Al Muthaiah (2367), IM Rathnakaran K (2329) drew with Umashankar A (1838), Parthasarathy R (1968) drew with GM Venkatesh M R (2501), Sahib Singh (1699) drew with GM Saptarshi Roy (2460) and IM Praveen Kumar C (2194) lost to Shree Ganesh Muthu Annamalai (1654).

Replay all games

Round 2 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	76	AGM	Rathneesh R		IND	2064	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	1
2	2	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	1	1 - 0	1	WGM	Safranska Anda		FRA	2063	77
3	78		Sanket Chakravarty		IND	2055	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Pantsulaia Levan		GEO	2598	3
4	4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Chilukuri Sai Varshith		IND	2045	79
5	80	IM	Hegde Ravi Gopal		IND	2037	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	5
6	6	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Vinoth Kumar M.		IND	2012	83
7	82	AGM	Sa Kannan		IND	2022	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2573	7
8	8	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	1	1 - 0	1		Abinandhan R		IND	1987	85
9	84		Sri Sai Baswanth P		IND	2008	1	½ - ½	1	GM	David Alberto		ITA	2562	9
10	10	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2562	1	1 - 0	1		Borgaonkar Akshay		IND	1961	89
11	86		Nambiar Vivek		IND	1980	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	11
12	12	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	1	1 - 0	1		Trivedi Karan R		IND	1959	91
13	88	WFM	Potluri Supreetha		IND	1964	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Stupak Kirill		BLR	2506	13
14	92		Mushini Ajay		IND	1952	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo		COL	2498	15
15	16	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		CHI	2487	1	½ - ½	1		Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki		IND	1944	93
16	94		Likhit Chilukuri		IND	1941	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2479	17
17	18	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	1	1 - 0	1		Sreekar J S S		IND	1937	95
18	96	AGM	Vignesh N		IND	1934	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Vignesh N R		IND	2472	19
19	20	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	1	1 - 0	1		Barath L		IND	1934	97
20	98		Dhanush Ragav N S		IND	1923	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	21
21	100		Nagare Akhilesh		IND	1903	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2453	23
22	24	IM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2448	1	1 - 0	1		Srikrishnan P		IND	1903	101
23	102		Aaditya Dhingra		IND	1897	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra		IND	2444	25
24	26	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2436	1	½ - ½	1		Raghavendra V.		IND	1885	103
25	104		Ilamparthi A R		IND	1880	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Rahman Ziaur		BAN	2434	27

Complete results

Round 3 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Pranesh M		IND	2317	48
2	47	IM	Saravanan V.		IND	2325	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	2
3	49	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.		IND	2313	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	4
4	5	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Srihari L R		IND	2302	50
5	51		Samant Aditya S		IND	2296	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	6
6	7	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2573	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Rohith Krishna S		IND	2289	52
7	53		Kunal M.		IND	2288	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	8
8	55		Pranav V		IND	2265	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2562	10
9	11	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	2	1 - 0	2	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman		IND	2197	58
10	57	IM	Murali Krishnan B T		IND	2202	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	12
11	13	GM	Stupak Kirill		BLR	2506	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2193	60
12	17	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2479	2	1 - 0	2		Zia Tahsin Tajwar		BAN	2177	62
13	61		Ram S. Krishnan		IND	2179	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	18
14	19	IM	Vignesh N R		IND	2472	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Deshmukh Anup		IND	2163	64
15	63		Masango Spencer		ZIM	2173	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	20
16	21	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	2	1 - 0	2	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty		IND	2133	66
17	23	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2453	2	½ - ½	2		Bakshi Rutuja		IND	2118	68
18	65	AGM	Lakshmi Narayanan M V		IND	2162	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2448	24
19	67		Priyanka K		IND	2124	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman		EGY	2429	28
20	29	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2424	2	1 - 0	2		Anadkat Kartavya		IND	2082	70
21	71		Balkishan A.		IND	2079	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2420	30
22	72	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan		IND	2077	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Karthikeyan P.		IND	2416	32
23	33	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2414	2	½ - ½	2		Mahindrakar Indrajeet		IND	2066	74
24	73	FM	Ramakrishna J.		IND	2068	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H		IND	2413	34
25	75		Satkar Chirag		IND	2066	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Manik Mikulas		SVK	2378	36

Complete results

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	32	GM	Karthikeyan P.		IND	2416	3		3	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	1
2	2	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	3		3	IM	Nitin S.		IND	2347	41
3	6	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	3		3		Harshavardhan G B		IND	2343	43
4	8	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	3		3	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.		IND	2313	49
5	42	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra		IND	2346	3		3	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	11
6	55		Pranav V		IND	2265	3		3	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2479	17
7	18	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	3		3	AGM	Lakshmi Narayanan M V		IND	2162	65
8	20	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	3		3		Priyanka K		IND	2124	67
9	60	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2193	3		3	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	21
10	64	IM	Deshmukh Anup		IND	2163	3		3	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2424	29
11	30	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2420	3		3	FM	Ramakrishna J.		IND	2068	73
12	38	IM	Muthaiah Al		IND	2367	2½		2½	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	5
13	39	IM	Ameir Moheb		EGY	2363	2½		2½	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2573	7
14	46		Senthil Maran K		IND	2328	2½		2½	GM	David Alberto		ITA	2562	9
15	12	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	2½		2½	IM	Rathnakaran K.		IND	2329	45
16	50	FM	Srihari L R		IND	2302	2½		2½	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo		COL	2498	15
17	16	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		CHI	2487	2½		2½	IM	Murali Krishnan B T		IND	2202	57
18	52	FM	Rohith Krishna S		IND	2289	2½		2½	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2453	23
19	26	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2436	2½		2½		Barath Kalyan M		IND	2091	69
20	68		Bakshi Rutuja		IND	2118	2½		2½	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha		IND	2417	31
21	112		Umashankar A		IND	1838	2½		2½	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2414	33
22	36	GM	Manik Mikulas		SVK	2378	2½		2½		Sanket Chakravarty		IND	2055	78
23	74		Mahindrakar Indrajeet		IND	2066	2½		2½	IM	Eraschenkov Denis		RUS	2370	37
24	3	GM	Pantsulaia Levan		GEO	2598	2		2½		Satkar Chirag		IND	2066	75
25	4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	2		2		Sreekar J S S		IND	1937	95

Complete pairings

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