Pavel Ponkratov wins 12th Chennai GM Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/01/2020

Top seed of the tournament Pavel Ponkratov scored an unbeaten 8.0/10 to clinch the championship. He won the Dr. N Mahalingam Trophy and ₹300000 cash prize for his efforts. Seven other players also finished at the same score. They were placed according to their tie-break score. Jose Eduardo Martinez and Sergei Yudin secured the first and second runner-up positions respectively. Among the Vishnu Prasanna was the only player to finish shared first, eighth according to tie-breaks. Total 284 players participated from 21 countries including 29 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WGMs. The tournament was organized by Tamil Nadu Chess Association at Novotel and IBIS Omar at Chennai from 18th to 25th January 2020. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Eight players finish at 8.0/10, Vishnu finishes shared first

Eight players finished with a score of 8.0/10. Top seed of the tournament GM Pavel Ponkratov, second seed GM Jose Eduardo Martinez, GM Sergei Yudin, GM Aleksej Aleksandrov, GM Ivan Rozum, GM Stanislav Bogdanovich, GM Stupak Kirill and GM Vishnu Prasanna, all of them finished with the same score. They were placed first to eighth according to their tie-break score.

Champion - GM Pavel Ponkratov receives the N Mahalingram Trophy and ₹300000 cash prize | Photo: R Anantharam

Ponkratov's unbeaten championship run

Final three rounds

In the eighth round, Ponkratov made a short theoretical draw in Giuco Piano just 14 moves against the eventual second runner-up, compatriot Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508). In the ninth round, he faced the then sole leader of the tournament GM Stanislav Bogdanovich (UKR, 2562).

Ponkratov defeated the sole leader Bogdanovich | Photo: R Anantharam

Ponkratov got a pleasant position out of the opening against Bogdanovich.

Ponkartov - Bogdanovich, Round 9

Position after 25...Qd6

White is completely dominating the position. Find out the best continuation after 25...Qd6

In the final round, Ponkratov made a comfortable draw with compatriot GM Ivan Rozum (RUS, 2573) in 42 moves as he just needed a draw in the final round to win the tournament.

Ponkratov en route his final round draw to clinch the championship | Photo: R Anantharam

After making two consecutive draws in just 32 moves in both round 8 and 9, Martinez defeated GM Venkatesh M R (2501) in the final round to secure the runner-up position and win ₹200000 cash prize.

Martinez's victory in the final round earned him the runner-up position | Photo: R Anantharam

It was evident that despite having the black pieces, Venkatesh kept pushing for an advantage out of the Bishop's opening. Eventually in the endgame, he managed to get advantage too.

Martinez - Venkatesh, Round 10

Position after 33.Rad1

Venkatesh continued with 33...Rc8. However there was a better continuation. Try to find it. Black lost the game in another 15 moves.

GM Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508) scored a crucial victory in the final round against IM Al Muthaiah (2367) to secure the third position and receive ₹125000 cash prize.

Yudin beat Muthaiah to finish third | Photo: R Anantharam

Fourth seeded GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR, 2592) defeated GM Vishnu Prasanna in round 8 and IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev (TJK, 2420) in the final round to finish fourth and bag home ₹100000 cash prize.

Aleksandrov en route his victory over Khusenkhojaev as Neverov observes | Photo: R Anatharam

The highest finisher among Indians is GM Vishnu Prasanna (2474). He scored 8.0/10, finished shared first, eighth according to his tie-break score. He received ₹40000 cash prize. He is followed by four Indians who finished at 7.5/10 from 9th to 12th and they are GM Visakh N R (2518), FM Jubin Jimmy (2193), FM Rohith Krishna S (2289) and IM Mitrabha Guha (2448).

Vishnu scored a marathon 95-move victory in the final round | Photo: R Anantharam

Vishnu - Goganov, Round 10

Position after 56...Kh8

Vishnu enjoyed a decent advantage out of the Semi-Slav opening. However only in the endgame white got an opportunity to make a substantial advantage and White did that. What was the continuation here?

Photo Gallery

Harshavardhan G B made an IM-norm by scoring 6.5/10 with a performance rating of 2385 | Photo: IA Jitendra Choudhary

FM Jubin Jimmy also score an IM-norm by scoring 7.5/10 with a performance rating of 2485 and gained 84 Elo rating points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Pranav V scored an IM-norm, scored 6.5/10 with a performance rating of 2429 and also gained 58 Elo rating points | Photo: R Anantharam

FM Rohith Krishna S scored an unbeaten 7.5/10, scored an IM-norm, performed at rating 2443 and gained 29 Elo rating points | Photo: R Anantharam

The Arbiters' team led by Chief Arbiter IA Srivatsan R (center) | Photo: R Anantharam

Deepan, Karthikeyan P and Vishnu participated in the problem solving competition | Photo: R Anantharam

Tournament Hall | Photo: R Anantharam

The 12th edition of Chennai Open 2020 took place from 18th to 25th January comprising of 10-rounds on Swiss League basis. The tournament witnessed a total participation of 284 players from 21 countries including 29 GMs, 23 IMs, 3 WGMs and 7 FMs, organized by Tamil Nadu Chess Association at Novotel & Ibis OMR, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Total prize fund ₹1500000 was distributed among the prize winners.

Replay all games

Round 10 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	7	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2573	7½	½ - ½	7½	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	1
2	2	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Venkatesh M.R.		IND	2501	14
3	30	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2420	7	0 - 1	7	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	4
4	18	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	5
5	6	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	7	- - +	7	GM	Stupak Kirill		BLR	2506	13
6	8	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2453	23
7	12	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	7	1 - 0	7	IM	Muthaiah Al		IND	2367	38
8	10	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2562	6½	1 - 0	6½	IM	Ameir Moheb		EGY	2363	39
9	40	IM	Ravichandran Siddharth		IND	2358	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	11
10	42	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra		IND	2346	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo		COL	2498	15
11	47	IM	Saravanan V.		IND	2325	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	21
12	24	IM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2448	6½	1 - 0	6½		Harshavardhan G B		IND	2343	43
13	52	FM	Rohith Krishna S		IND	2289	6½	1 - 0	6½	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha		IND	2417	31
14	32	GM	Karthikeyan P.		IND	2416	6½	1 - 0	6½	FM	Srihari L R		IND	2302	50
15	56	GM	Ziatdinov Raset		USA	2203	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2414	33
16	60	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2193	6½	1 - 0	6½	IM	Eraschenkov Denis		RUS	2370	37
17	49	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.		IND	2313	6	½ - ½	6	GM	David Alberto		ITA	2562	9
18	16	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		CHI	2487	6	1 - 0	6		Samant Aditya S		IND	2296	51
19	53		Kunal M.		IND	2288	6	0 - 1	6	IM	Vignesh N R		IND	2472	19
20	20	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Murali Krishnan B T		IND	2202	57
21	22	GM	Saptarshi Roy		IND	2460	6	½ - ½	6		Pranav V		IND	2265	55
22	65	AGM	Lakshmi Narayanan M V		IND	2162	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra		IND	2444	25
23	54	IM	Navin Kanna T.U.		IND	2265	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Rahman Ziaur		BAN	2434	27
24	28	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman		EGY	2429	6	1 - 0	6		Dinesh Rajan M		IND	1741	131
25	114		Mayank Chakraborty		IND	1827	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Czebe Attila		HUN	2392	35

Complete results

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Bdld	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	RUS	2622		8,0	0,0	65,0	70,5	54,75
2	2	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo	PER	2606		8,0	0,0	62,0	67,5	52,75
3	12	GM	Yudin Sergei	RUS	2508		8,0	0,0	62,0	67,0	52,25
4	4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	BLR	2592		8,0	0,0	60,5	66,0	51,50
5	7	GM	Rozum Ivan	RUS	2573		8,0	0,0	60,0	65,0	50,75
6	8	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav	UKR	2562		8,0	0,0	59,5	63,5	49,00
7	13	GM	Stupak Kirill	BLR	2506		8,0	0,0	58,5	63,5	48,75
8	18	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	IND	2474		8,0	0,0	57,0	61,5	44,75
9	11	GM	Visakh N R	IND	2518		7,5	0,0	63,5	68,5	48,75
10	60	FM	Jubin Jimmy	IND	2193		7,5	0,0	62,0	66,0	48,25
11	52	FM	Rohith Krishna S	IND	2289		7,5	0,0	59,5	63,0	45,50
12	24	IM	Mitrabha Guha	IND	2448		7,5	0,0	58,0	62,5	45,50
13	10	GM	Fedorov Alexei	BLR	2562		7,5	0,0	57,0	62,0	45,75
14	21	GM	Neverov Valeriy	UKR	2460		7,5	0,0	57,0	62,0	45,25
15	32	GM	Karthikeyan P.	IND	2416		7,5	0,0	56,0	60,5	43,50
16	5	GM	Goganov Aleksey	RUS	2583		7,0	0,0	62,5	67,5	44,50
17	38	IM	Muthaiah Al	IND	2367		7,0	0,0	59,5	64,5	42,50
18	6	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	GEO	2578		7,0	0,0	59,0	64,0	42,25
19	30	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	TJK	2420		7,0	0,0	58,5	63,0	41,50
20	20	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	INA	2462		7,0	0,0	58,0	63,0	42,50
21	23	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim	RUS	2453		7,0	0,0	56,5	61,0	39,00
22	33	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi	IND	2414		7,0	0,0	56,0	60,5	40,50
23	42	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	IND	2346		7,0	0,0	56,0	60,5	39,25
24	14	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	IND	2501		7,0	0,0	55,5	59,0	39,50
25	16	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	CHI	2487		7,0	0,0	54,5	59,5	40,00
26	28	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman	EGY	2429		7,0	0,0	54,0	58,5	39,00
27	56	GM	Ziatdinov Raset	USA	2203		7,0	0,0	53,5	58,0	39,00
28	19	IM	Vignesh N R	IND	2472		7,0	0,0	53,0	57,5	38,00
29	15	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	COL	2498		7,0	0,0	53,0	57,5	38,00
30	73	FM	Ramakrishna J.	IND	2068		7,0	0,0	51,0	55,0	34,50

Complete pairings

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