Gustafsson, Venkataraman and Kunte in a three-way lead in 19th BCC Open 2019

by Shahid Ahmed - 09/04/2019

Jan Gustafsson, Karthik Venkataraman and Abhijit Kunte are in a three-way lead at the conclusion of round 4. Gustafsson defeated his compatriot Gerhard Schebler in 35 moves. Karthik defeated IM Duong The Anh after the miscalculated an exchange sacrifice. WIM Luong Phuong Hanh declined a threefold repetition and eventually she lost against Kunte. Total 15 rounds of Blitz matches took place in 8 groups of 15 players each. Top two from each group advanced to the next stage where another round-robin match will determine the finalists. This report contains positions, games, photos. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Three share a lead after round 4

The second seeded Gustafsson got a slight advantage in Queen's Indian Defence. He increased his advantage gradually and converted into a favorable minor piece endgame which he won eventually.

Second seed GM Jan Gustafsson defeated his compatriot GM Gerhard Schebler in just 35 moves | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

IM Duong The Anh faced stiff challenge in the form of GM Karthik Venkataraman in Grunfeld Exchange. A tactical error cost Duong the entire game.

IM Duong The Anh went down against GM Karthik Venkataraman after Karthik declined Queen exchange multiple times to press for advantage | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

White's last move was 34.Qd5. Find out why it is a blunder

WIM Luong Phuong Hanh declined a threefold repetition which did not turn out in her favor and eventually she lost.

GM Abhijit Kunte is among the leaders with 4.0/4 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

A draw was agreed after 36 moves in an uneventful game where both Deep and Sriram blew the battle horn but only a minor piece became the casualty from each side.

Deep and Sriram's game left a lot to be desired | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Viji continues her terrific form. She played some fantastic chess and drew with GM Zhao Zong-Yuan in well fought draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Ly Moulthun was held to a draw by IM Neelash Saha | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Black has a strong pawn mass on the Queen-side. What is the best continuation for Black here?

It seems like Short is on a mission to play some beautiful chess in this tournament | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Find out the best continuation for Black here

Blitz Group Stage Gallery:

Tournament Organizer IO Kai Tuorila announces the rules and regulations for 19th BCC Open 2019 Blitz and participants listen eagerly | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The qualifiers draw their numbers for the final stage. GM Karthik Venkataraman, Dhrupad Kashyap and Sarthak Dutta are among the Indians who have qualified into the final 16 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Organizer vs. Organizer: Nerves, tension and time pressure! Sushrutha draws with Kai | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Round 4 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2633	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Schebler Gerhard	2385	17
2	4	GM	Sengupta Deep	2551	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Sriram Jha	2381	18
3	20	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2345	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Zhao Zong-Yuan	2529	5
4	6	GM	Stella Andrea	2512	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel	2343	21
5	24	IM	Duong The Anh	2302	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2505	7
6	8	GM	Ly Moulthun	2490	3	½ - ½	3		Neelash Saha	2303	23
7	26	WIM	Luong Phuong Hanh	2273	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Kunte Abhijit	2485	11
8	33		Langreck John	2203	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Short Nigel D	2636	1
9	34	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2197	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2577	3
10	48		Saptorshi Gupta	2051	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Horvath Jozsef	2479	13
11	38		Looi Xin Hao	2145	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Barua Dibyendu	2409	15
12	16	GM	Villamayor Buenaventura	2398	2½	1 - 0	2½	WIM	Dhar-Barua Saheli	2038	53
13	69		Tobor Mick	1949	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Roy Prantik	2374	19
14	22	FM	Menkinoski Riste	2306	2½	½ - ½	2½		Adarsh Tripathi	1840	99
15	98		Laohawirapap Prin	1844	2½	0 - 1	2½	FM	Susilodinata Andrean	2296	25
16	86		Silva Winston Joseph R	1880	2½	½ - ½	2½	WFM	Cholleti Sahajasri	2232	31
17	72		Nguyen Le Minh Phu	1934	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2488	9
18	10	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2487	2	1 - 0	2		Runarsson Gunnar	1927	73
19	12	IM	Lou Yiping	2482	2	1 - 0	2		Yutithamnon Surapole	1914	77
20	14	IM	Pascua Haridas	2426	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Ismail Ahmad	1887	83

Round 4 Complete results

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	7	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2505	4		4	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2633	2
2	11	GM	Kunte Abhijit	2485	4		3½	GM	Short Nigel D	2636	1
3	3	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2577	3½		3½	GM	Villamayor Buenaventura	2398	16
4	21	GM	Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel	2343	3½		3½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2551	4
5	18	GM	Sriram Jha	2381	3½		3½	GM	Zhao Zong-Yuan	2529	5
6	23		Neelash Saha	2303	3½		3½	GM	Stella Andrea	2512	6
7	25	FM	Susilodinata Andrean	2296	3½		3½	GM	Ly Moulthun	2490	8
8	15	GM	Barua Dibyendu	2409	3½		3½	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2345	20
9	9	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2488	3		3		Saptorshi Gupta	2051	48
10	43		Sonkalan Bharati	2092	3		3	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2487	10
11	54		Armstrong Malcolm J	2035	3		3	IM	Lou Yiping	2482	12
12	13	GM	Horvath Jozsef	2479	3		3		Sarbojit Paul	1984	62
13	57	WCM	Vishwa Vasnawala	2018	3		3	IM	Pascua Haridas	2426	14
14	17	GM	Schebler Gerhard	2385	3		3		Savige Colin B	1952	68
15	19	IM	Roy Prantik	2374	3		3		Sanket Chakravarty	1887	84
16	63		Mueller Jens	1981	3		3	FM	Menkinoski Riste	2306	22
17	24	IM	Duong The Anh	2302	3		3		Tobor Mick	1949	69
18	86		Silva Winston Joseph R	1880	3		3	WIM	Luong Phuong Hanh	2273	26
19	27		Salvador Louie	2270	3		3		Meenal Gupta	1878	88
20	29	IM	Deshmukh Anup	2253	3		3		Avinash Ramesh	1834	101

Round 5 complete pairings

Round 2 Challengers results

Bo.	No.	Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	29	Wong Zi Yue	1619	1	0 - 1	1		Sacar Mohamad	2092	1
2	31	Rohan Nag Chowdhury	1598	1	0 - 1	1		Portugalera Ric	2075	3
3	4	Chirananthavat Theemathas	2042	1	1 - 0	1		Gaitan Jose Edmundo	1604	30
4	35	Veer Sethi	1559	1	0 - 1	1	WFM	Nguyen Thi Thuy Trien	2002	5
5	37	Kuich Gero	1533	1	0 - 1	1		Lozano Arvie	1989	7
6	8	Lysakov Anton	1987	1	0 - 1	1		Kunnavakkam Sudarshanagopal Vin	1562	34
7	39	Burbach Bruno	1497	1	0 - 1	1		Tushar Anand	1953	9
8	45	Buhagiar Melita Sunan	1360	1	0 - 1	1		Samrat Ghorai	1933	11
9	12	Brasoy Aksel	1900	1	1 - 0	1		Nicolas Liagre	1535	36
10	47	Langendoen Aad	1357	1	0 - 1	1		Shahid Ahmed S.K.	1900	13

Round 2 Challengers complete results

Round 3 Challengers pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1		Sacar Mohamad	2092	2		2		Nguyen Trong Hung	1853	17
2	3		Portugalera Ric	2075	2		2		Calacday Henry	1820	20
3	22		Borigas Edgardo	1745	2		2		Chirananthavat Theemathas	2042	4
4	5	WFM	Nguyen Thi Thuy Trien	2002	2		2		Schmidt Stephan	1731	23
5	7		Lozano Arvie	1989	2		2		Maunders Myiesha	1695	24
6	9		Tushar Anand	1953	2		2		Kapoor Satvik	1674	26
7	11		Samrat Ghorai	1933	2		2		De Jesus Normel Benigno	1648	27
8	34		Kunnavakkam Sudarshanagopal Vin	1562	2		2		Brasoy Aksel	1900	12
9	13		Shahid Ahmed S.K.	1900	2		2	WCM	Kong Zi Yau Bernadette	1357	46
10	48		Lian Kai En Gerard	1355	2		2		Lovejoy David	1877	14

Round 3 Challengers complete pairings

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