Deep Sengupta's Regret
Grandmaster Deep Sengupta started off strongly against the Biel Masters Champion Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei but things went very wrong for him in the end as he was unable to contain his opponent's counterplay on the kingside | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Out of a mainline Canal attack of the Sicilian, the game entered uncharted territory as early as move 9. The Indian Grandmaster was able to keep Black effectively cramped up with a well-cemented knight on b5 and pawns on c4 and e4 which eternally prevented any ideas of d5 break. Let's check out how eventually the dynamics of the position changed.
Deep Sengupta - Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei, Round 5
Black went 24...exf4 in the above position but this allowed White to break through the d-file. Perhaps, Black's best chance would have been to keep things locked up with a move like 24...Qb6
Now, after 28.Rfd1, Black was tied down to the defense of the backward d6 pawn.
Next came the thrustful 29.b4! seizing more space on the queenside. White's edge was decisive at this moment.
31.Nd6+ forced the win of an exchange with 31...Rexd6 32.cxd6 Rxd6
But after 32...dxe4 Black's pawn mass on the kingside started to look dangerous, f3 could now potentially be a strong threat. At least psychologically, it is not easy to deal with a situation like this.
40.Qd5+? - Deep goes wrong! 40.Rf1! was the only move to preserve the edge and stop the pawn onslaught. After 40...Qxd5 41.R6xd5 f2 Black was winning!
The march of these monstrous pawns wasn't possible to stop anymore and White crumbled in no time.
An unfortunate loss for the Indian Grandmaster who was even an exchange up at one point with a better position! The full game along with the computer generated analysis is given below:
Karthikeyan's Cake Walk!
Karthikeyan Murali's opponent Santos Ruiz Miguel surprisingly made multiple blunders and lost quickly to the Indian GM!
Playing the black side of the Sicilian Ritcher-Rauzer Karthikeyan was able to win a pair of pawns by move 19. White had reasonable compensation but this was given away completely in the next few abysmal moves. What happened?
Miguel Santos Ruiz - Karthikeyan Murali, Round 5
Position after 19...Bxa4: The best course for White in this position would have been 20.Qh6! Bxb3 21.Nxf6+ Bxf6 22.Qxf6 with excellent counterplay. But in the game, the meek 20.Qd5 was played - this was first of many slips.
21.g4? - a pointless pawn push on the kingside when there are far more serious issues to attend to on the queenside.
Black retorted with the strong 21...Bxb3 22.Qxb3 and in came the final nail on the coffin 22...a4!
a4-a3 followed by Rfb8 were now devastatingly imminent! If this wasn't enough White blundered blundered yet again after 23.Qg3 a3 with 24.Rd3? inexplicably allowing 24...a2
The game was resigned after just five moves from here.
Photo Gallery
Jobava Baadur registered his fifth consecutive win against Salem A.R.Saleh to stay in the sole lead | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Aravindh Chithambaram drew Sanal Vahap in the fifth round and is on 3.5/5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Vaibhav Suri drew Sindarov Javokhir | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Vignesh N R drew the top seed of the event Yuriy Kryvoruchko | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Senthil Maran K. drew GM Petr Kiriakov | Photo: Rupali Mullick
FM Rathanvel V S surprisingly upsetted IM Raunak Sadhwani in the fifth round | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Praggnananddhaa R. held the strong Turkish GM Mustafa Yilmaz. The game was agreed to a draw in just 19 moves | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Aditya Mittal drew GM Bai Jinshi | Photo: Rupali Mullick
IM Akash Pc Iyer lost to Grandmaster Vladimir Onischuk | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Srija Seshadri lost to IM Nguyen Anh Khoi | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Vantika Agrawal beat Lee Jun Hyeok with the black pieces | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Vaishali R. defeated FM Eynullayev Altay | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Nandhidhaa P V held IM Alavi Sayed Javad to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick
Results of Round 5
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 3 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2668 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 4 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2584 | 26 | ||
| 2 | 23 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | 2592 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Ni Hua | 2668 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 21 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2594 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2656 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 7 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | 2636 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | 2571 | 29 | ||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2650 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2574 | 28 | ||
| 6 | 9 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | 2625 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2571 | 30 | ||
| 7 | 25 | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | 2586 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Socko Bartosz | 2625 | 10 | ||
| 8 | 11 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | 2617 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Paichadze Luka | 2570 | 31 | ||
| 9 | 32 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2569 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | 2614 | 12 | ||
| 10 | 13 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2612 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2553 | 36 | ||
| 11 | 33 | GM | Santos Ruiz Miguel | 2567 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2612 | 14 | ||
| 12 | 15 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2607 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2535 | 38 | ||
| 13 | 34 | GM | Istratescu Andrei | 2561 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Zubov Alexander | 2607 | 16 | ||
| 14 | 37 | GM | Sengupta Deep | 2546 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | 2601 | 17 | ||
| 15 | 39 | GM | Xu Yi | 2531 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Petrov Nikita | 2595 | 20 | ||
| 16 | 45 | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | 2507 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2591 | 24 | ||
| 17 | 1 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2686 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | IM | Vignesh N R | 2466 | 52 | ||
| 18 | 6 | GM | Onischuk Vladimir | 2640 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | IM | Akash Pc Iyer | 2443 | 58 | ||
| 19 | 53 | IM | Shyaamnikhil P | 2457 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | 2632 | 8 | ||
| 20 | 60 | GM | Socko Monika | 2436 | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 2599 | 18 |
Standings after round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 26 | GM | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2584 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 2555 | 15,0 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | IRI | 2656 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2569 | 17,0 | |
| 3 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2574 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2573 | 13,5 | |
| 4 | 23 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2592 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2564 | 16,5 | |
| 5 | 29 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2571 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2558 | 16,5 | |
| 6 | 11 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | SRB | 2617 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2551 | 17,0 | |
| 7 | 10 | GM | Socko Bartosz | POL | 2625 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2523 | 13,5 | |
| 8 | 7 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | UKR | 2636 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2505 | 14,0 | |
| 9 | 14 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2612 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2503 | 13,0 | |
| 10 | 17 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | IRI | 2601 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2501 | 12,5 | |
| 11 | 2 | GM | Ni Hua | CHN | 2668 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2466 | 14,0 | |
| 12 | 3 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2668 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2568 | 18,5 | |
| 13 | 21 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | UZB | 2594 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2548 | 16,5 | |
| 14 | 12 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | TUR | 2614 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2547 | 15,5 | |
| 15 | 16 | GM | Zubov Alexander | UKR | 2607 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2528 | 14,0 | |
| 16 | 13 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2612 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2522 | 15,5 | |
| 17 | 34 | GM | Istratescu Andrei | ROU | 2561 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2520 | 14,5 | |
| 18 | 30 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | RUS | 2571 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2506 | 14,5 | |
| 19 | 15 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2607 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2504 | 14,0 | |
| 20 | 36 | GM | Aryan Chopra | IND | 2553 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 2488 | 13,5 |
Today (6th August) is a rest day of the event. The sixth round begins tomorrow (7th July) at 6:30 p.m IST. You could follow the event live on the official YouTube Channel.
