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1st Guwahati GM Open R6: The GM Slayers - Kaustuv Kundu and Aradhya Garg

by Shahid Ahmed - 18/03/2022

IM Sayantan Das had a great opportunity to win against IM Ratnakaran K in the sixth round of 1st Guwahati International GM Open 2022. The Indian Tal managed to make a great escape and salvage a draw from a completely lost endgame. Iniyan and Ponkratov drew their game. Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR) and Cristhian Camilo Rios (COL) defeated Azer Mirzoev (AZE) and Stany G A to join the four-way lead 5.5/6. Kaustuv Kundu and FM Aradhya Garg registered big victories against GM Visakh N R and GM Karthik Venkataraman respectively. A dozen players in pursuit at 5.0/6 each. Round 7 starts today at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Neuris, Ratnakaran, Sayantan and Cristhian in the lead 5.5/6

Assam's very own, 11-year-old Mrinmoy Rajkhowa (1634) held IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh J (2316) to a draw. Arpan Das and Siddhant Tamhankar drew with IM P Shyam Nikhil and IM Rahul Sangma respectively. WCM Bristy Mukherjee defeated IM Manish Anto Cristiano F.

Kaustuv Kundu and FM Aradhya Garg are at 5.0/6 each | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sayantan - Ratnakaran: 0.5-0.5

IM Sayantan Das (2459) got a significant advantage out of the opening against IM Ratnakaran K (2316).

Position after 21...Qe8

22.Rxf8 Rxf8 23.Rxf8 Qxf8 24.Qxe6+ Kb7/8 25.Bxd8 Qxd8 26.Qxg6 should have been good enough for White to push for a win. However, White opted for the relatively safer 22.Ne2, 23.Nf4 maneuvering. Ratnakaran eventually fought back in the endgame and managed to escape with a draw by perpetual check.

Ratnakaran's great escape against Sayantan | Video: ChessBase India

Sayantan had a real chance to win this game and take sole lead | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Iniyan P - GM Pavel Ponkratov: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
How Grandmasters analyze | Video: ChessBase India

Neuris - Mirzoev: 1-0

GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR, 2622) beat GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE, 2476) with a very nice attack on the kingside.

Position after 20...Qh4

Find out the winning combination for White after 20...Qh4.

GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR) is one of the four leaders 5.5/6 | Photo:  Aditya Sur Roy

Cristhian - Stany: 1-0

GM Stany G A (2517) was substantially better for the majority of the game against GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (COL, 2449).

Position after 32.Qh2

What Stany needed to do but didn't was to seize his advantage in the game. For e.g. 32...h4 is completely winning here for Black. After shuffling pieces for a few moves, he exchanged the queens and then the bishops which evaporated his advantage. In the final moments of the game, Stany tried too hard to win in an equal position, resulting in a blunder probably time pressure and lost.

GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (COL) is one of the leaders 5.5/6 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Visakh - Kaustuv: 0-1

Kaustuv Kundu (2281) opted for a line where he sacrificed a piece in the opening against GM Visakh N R (2522).

Position after 12...d4

It shows that Black was certainly well-prepared in this line. Eventually, the pawn mass at the center of the board played a crucial role.

Position after 29.Bxb7

Exchanging the light square bishops only helped Black. 29.Bxb7 Rxb7 30.Nf3 c3 31.Re1 Rb8 Back rank is now covered. 32.Re4 f5 33.Re5 Nd3 34.Rxf5 Since Black had four pawns for a piece, he could afford giving up an insignificant double pawn. It only helped in his king safety. 34...Rb6 35.Rg5+ Rg6 36.Rxg6+ fxg6 now that the rooks are exchanged, only Black can go for a win here and that is exactly what he did.

Kaustuv Kundu is certainly in a great form | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Deepan - Kian: 1-0

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2520) won a very nice opposite color bishop endgame against FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi (IRI, 2229).

Position after 52...Re1+

White was completely winning with the rooks present on the board. Black thought it might be possible to defend the position after the exchange of rooks. Well, he was facing the mighty Deepan for whom these wins are just cakewalks. Find out the winning plan for White after 53.Kxe1 Bxf3.

Deepan shows his endgame mastery against Kian | Video: ChessBase India

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy moves to 5.0/6 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Dhananjay S - GM Masoud Mosadeghpour (IRI): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Aradhya - Karthik: 1-0

FM Aradhya Garg (2236) had a back and forth game against GM Karthik Venkataraman (2485). The latter initially missed a couple of opportunities. Then his opponent got some and probably could have finished the game much earlier.

Position after 29...Qc3

30.Bh6 followed by Bd5 keeps pressing Black. The game continued 30.Bg5 Qd4+ 31.Rf2 and White won the game in another 31 moves.

FM Aradhya Garg is now 5.0/6 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Arpan Das - IM P Shyam Nikhil: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Rahul Sangma - Sidhant Tamhankar: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

WCM Bristy Mukherjee - IM Manish Anto Cristiano F: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Highlights

A few interesting finishes from Round 6

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy - FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi (IRI): 1-0

FM Aradhya Garg - GM Karthik Venkataraman: 1-0

GM P Karthikeyan - Soram Rahul Singh: 1-0

For more Round 6 photos, please click here.

 

A total of 254 players including 13 GMs, 16 IMs, 2 WGMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 11 federations across the world including India. The tournament is organized by All Assam Chess Association from 14th to 20th March 2022 at Guwahati, Assam. The ten-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1

Replay Round 6 games

Round 6 results

Bo.No. NameGrTypRtgPts.ResultPts.NameGrTypRtg No.
114
IMDas Sayantan24595½ - ½5IMRatnakaran K.2316
26
26
GMIniyan P2516½ - ½GMPonkratov Pavel2641
1
32
GMDelgado Ramirez Neuris26221 - 0GMMirzoev Azer2476
11
415
GMRios Cristhian Camilo24491 - 0GMStany G.A.2517
5
53
GMVisakh N R252240 - 14Kaustuv Kundu2281
31
64
GMDeepan Chakkravarthy J.252041 - 04FMPoormosavi Seyed Kian2229
35
728
Dhananjay S23104½ - ½4GMMosadeghpour Masoud2511
7
88
GMFawzy Adham249041 - 04Imocha LaishramNE2049
47
934
FMAradhya Garg223641 - 04GMKarthik Venkataraman2485
9
1012
IMTahbaz Arash246941 - 04FMGaikwad Siddhant2016
51
1138
WIMPriyanka K221540 - 14IMKrishna C R G2466
13
1240
Arpan Das21664½ - ½4IMShyaamnikhil P2442
17
1342
IMMohota Nisha21474½ - ½4IMNitin S.2427
19
1446
Sri Sai Baswanth P205740 - 14IMGusain Himal2408
21
1548
Praloy Sahoo204740 - 14IMShahil DeyNEU152400
23
1624
GMKarthikeyan P.239741 - 04Singh Soram RahulNE2006
53
1752
Arnav MaheshwariU15201040 - 14IMSidhant Mohapatra2359
25
18103
Mrinmoy RajkhowaNEU1516344½ - ½4IMSai Agni Jeevitesh J2316
27
1916
IMNigmatov Ortik24451 - 04Borgaonkar AkshayU151985
56
2018
IMAbdisalimov Abdimalik24351 - 0Pradip Ghosh1974
59

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.No. NameGrTypRtgPts.ResultPts.NameGrTypRtg No.
126
IMRatnakaran K.2316GMDelgado Ramirez Neuris2622
2
214
IMDas Sayantan2459GMRios Cristhian Camilo2449
15
31
GMPonkratov Pavel264155GMKarthikeyan P.2397
24
423
IMShahil DeyNEU15240055GMDeepan Chakkravarthy J.2520
4
525
IMSidhant Mohapatra235955GMIniyan P2516
6
621
IMGusain Himal240855GMFawzy Adham2490
8
731
Kaustuv Kundu228155IMTahbaz Arash2469
12
813
IMKrishna C R G246655FMAradhya Garg2236
34
95
GMStany G.A.2517Dhananjay S2310
28
107
GMMosadeghpour Masoud2511FMAaryan Varshney2277
32
1111
GMMirzoev Azer2476Arpan Das2166
40
1227
IMSai Agni Jeevitesh J2316IMNigmatov Ortik2445
16
1317
IMShyaamnikhil P2442IMMohota Nisha2147
42
1429
WGMDivya Deshmukh2301IMAbdisalimov Abdimalik2435
18
1519
IMNitin S.2427WCMBristy Mukherjee1788
74
1639
Vaibhav Jayant Raut2198Gholami Orimi Mahdi2420
20
1722
GMSaptarshi Roy2402Mrinmoy RajkhowaNEU151634
103
1853
Singh Soram RahulNE200644GMVisakh N R2522
3
199
GMKarthik Venkataraman248544Borgaonkar AkshayU151985
56
2058
CMThapa Krishna197944IMRaahul V S2478
10

Details