2nd Namma Bengaluru GM R5-6: Pranav Anand scores a double hat-trick, gains sole lead and withdraws

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/04/2025

GM Pranav Anand scored a double hat-trick of wins, emerged sole leader and withdrew from 2nd Namma Bengaluru GM 2025. The decision to play only six rounds was informed to the organizers before the start of the tournament as he had already committed to major tournaments in Spain this month. In the fifth and sixth round, he defeated GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and GM Levan Pantsualaia (GEO) in two contrasting battles. The first one was a sharp encounter while the second one was a positional skirmish. Pranav's withdrawal resulted in, IM Ethan Vaz, GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) and IM Padmini Rout gaining the lead 5.5/6. Tomorrow is the sole rest day. Round 7 starts at 3 p.m. IST on Tuesday 15th April. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Ethan Vaz, Manuel Petrosyan and Padmini Rout in a three-way lead

The fourth day of the tournament witnessed lots of exciting games, a surprising withdrawal and the winner of Category B (<2000) Rating tournament was crowned in the form of Aditya Dileepraj. It will be mentioned in detail in a separate report.

Round 5: Pranav and Pantsulaia become coleaders

IM Viani Antonio Dcunha and GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) signed a quick 15-move draw

Pranav - Deepan

Position after 26.Nh5!

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2394) 25...Qe3+ instead of taking on g6 immediately 26.Kb1 Nd2+ 27.Ka1 fxg6 would have been fine for Black. He was low on time and it was certainly not easy to calculate all the lines in such a sharp position. 25...hxg6?? allowed 26.Nh5! Be7 27.Nf6+ Bxf6 28.gxf6 Qe3+ 29.Kb1 Nd2+ 30.Ka2 Nxf1 31.Bxg6!! it definitely takes a lot more than calculation to sacrifice a bishop after giving up a rook. 31...fxg6 32.Rxg6+ Kf7 33.Qh7+ Ke6 34.f7+ Kd5 35.Rg8 Rb7 36.Qg6 b4 37.Qg2+ Re4 38.Qg5+ and Black had to resign as White promotes a new after the trade of the current one. What an amazing game. Pranav mentioned in a post-game interview that it was one of the most craziest games he has ever played so far.

Final moments - GM Pranav Anand vs GM Deepan Chakkravarthy | Video: ChessBase India

Interview with GM Pranav Anand | Video: ChessBase India

GM Pranav Anand won a cracker against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy

IM Sanket Chakravarty had a momentary blind spot which cost him the game against GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO)

IM Nitish Belurkar - FM Suyog Wagh (pictured): 0.5-0.5

IM Ethan Vaz got the better of FM John Veny Akkarakaran

IM Ayush Sharma - Varun V: 0.5-0.5

Kushal R Jani missed a mate in three at some point and his opponent, IM Neelash Saha showcased his defensive skills

FM Ram Aravind L N - GM Stany G A: 0.5-0.5

Nithin Babu won a nice back and forth battle against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO)

Paras Dilip Bhoir - IM Shahil Dey: 0.5-0.5

Round 6: Pranav outplays Pantsulaia

GM Pranav Anand showed fantastic positional understanding in a queen and minor piece endgame against GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO)

GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) won against IM Manish Anto Cristiano F to join the three-way lead 5.5/6

IM Padmini Rout defeated FM Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy and IM Goutham Krishna H to become one of the three leaders 5.5/6

IM Ethan Vaz scored a convincing win over IM Viani Antonio Dcunha to move to the top of the standings

GM P Karthikeyan - IM Anuj Shrivatri (pictured): 0.5-0.5

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy suffered his second consecutive loss of the day, this time against IM Rajesh Vav

IM Hari Madhavan N B - FM Setumadhav Yellumahanthi: 0.5-0.5

FM Suyog Wagh - IM Sambit Panda: 1-0

Nithin Babu - IM Sammed Shete: 1-0

Viresh Sharnarthi - IM Neelash Saha: 0-1

For more Round 5 and 6 photos, please click at the respective links.

A total of 316 players including 20 GMs, 40 IMs, 2 WGMs and 5 WIMs are taking part from 11 countries across the world in Open A (>1900). The eight-day ten round GM tournament is being organized by The Golden Aura Trust at Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka from 10th to 18th April 2025. The time control of the event is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move. There are no Classical round on 14th April. A Blitz Open tournament will take place on that day.

Replay Round 5-6 games

Round 6 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	5	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan	2532	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Pranav, Anand	2538	4
2	3	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	2544	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	2361	34
3	39	IM	Padmini, Rout	2354	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Goutham, Krishna H	2449	12
4	15	IM	Vaz, Ethan	2430	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2378	30
5	2	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.	2556	4	½ - ½	4½	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat	2352	40
6	14	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2441	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Srihari, L	2377	31
7	17	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu	2407	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim	2370	32
8	37	IM	Subhayan, Kundu	2356	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Audi, Ameya	2404	18
9	19	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy	2404	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty	2317	45
10	48	GM	Karthikeyan, P.	2312	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Anuj, Shrivatri	2400	20
11	21	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2396	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy	2307	50
12	43	IM	Rajesh, V A V	2331	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2394	22
13	23	IM	Hari, Madhavan N B	2393	4	½ - ½	4	FM	Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi	2300	54
14	58	FM	Wagh, Suyog	2289	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Panda, Sambit	2391	24
15	66		Nithin, Babu	2242	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2391	25
16	27	IM	Harsh, Suresh	2389	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Gochelashvili, David	2227	70
17	29		Vignesh, B	2382	4	½ - ½	4		Nandish, V S	2014	181
18	1	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2578	3½	1 - 0	3½	FM	Apoorv, Kamble	2264	61
19	62	FM	Jani, Kushal R	2248	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2525	6
20	7	GM	Chanda, Sandipan	2485	3½	1 - 0	3½	FM	Ram, Aravind L N	2245	64

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	4	GM	Pranav, Anand		IND	2538	KAR	6	20,5	24	24,00	6
2	15	IM	Vaz, Ethan		IND	2430	GOA	5,5	21	22	19,50	5
3	3	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		ARM	2544	ARM	5,5	20,5	23	20,75	5
4	39	IM	Padmini, Rout	w	IND	2354	ODI	5,5	19	21,5	19,75	5
5	5	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		GEO	2532	GEO	5	22,5	24	18,00	5
6	40	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		UZB	2352	UZB	5	21,5	24	19,00	4
7	14	IM	Nitish, Belurkar		IND	2441	GOA	5	21	23,5	18,75	4
8	66		Nithin, Babu		IND	2242	KER	5	20,5	22,5	17,75	4
9	19	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy		VIE	2404	VIE	5	20	22,5	18,25	4
10	58	FM	Wagh, Suyog		IND	2289	MAH	5	20	22	18,00	4
11	43	IM	Rajesh, V A V		IND	2331	SCR	5	19	21,5	17,00	5
12	27	IM	Harsh, Suresh		IND	2389	TN	5	18,5	21,5	17,75	4
13	12	IM	Goutham, Krishna H		IND	2449	KER	4,5	22,5	25,5	18,25	4
14	54	FM	Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi		IND	2300	AP	4,5	21,5	24,5	17,25	4
15	181		Nandish, V S		IND	2014	TN	4,5	21	24	17,25	3
16	2	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		ARM	2556	ARM	4,5	21	23	16,50	4
17	48	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		IND	2312	ICF	4,5	20,5	23,5	16,75	3
18	35	IM	Shahil, Dey		IND	2360	ASM	4,5	20,5	23	15,00	4
19	30	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha		IND	2378	KAR	4,5	20,5	23	14,75	4
20	20	IM	Anuj, Shrivatri		IND	2400	MP	4,5	20	22	14,75	4

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	15	IM	Vaz, Ethan	2430	5½		5½	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	2544	3
2	5	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan	2532	5		5½	IM	Padmini, Rout	2354	39
3	40	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat	2352	5		5	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2441	14
4	43	IM	Rajesh, V A V	2331	5		5	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy	2404	19
5	27	IM	Harsh, Suresh	2389	5		5	FM	Wagh, Suyog	2289	58
6	8	IM	Ayush, Sharma	2485	4½		5		Nithin, Babu	2242	66
7	32	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim	2370	4½		4½	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2578	1
8	34	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	2361	4½		4½	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.	2556	2
9	6	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2525	4½		4½	IM	Shahil, Dey	2360	35
10	41	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran	2350	4½		4½	GM	Chanda, Sandipan	2485	7
11	44	IM	Krishna Teja, N	2321	4½		4½	GM	Stany, G.A.	2454	11
12	12	IM	Goutham, Krishna H	2449	4½		4½	IM	Subhayan, Kundu	2356	37
13	16	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.	2418	4½		4½	GM	Karthikeyan, P.	2312	48
14	50	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy	2307	4½		4½	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu	2407	17
15	18	IM	Audi, Ameya	2404	4½		4½	IM	Utsab, Chatterjee	2299	55
16	20	IM	Anuj, Shrivatri	2400	4½		4½	FM	Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2297	56
17	181		Nandish, V S	2014	4½		4½	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2396	21
18	68		Sharnarthi, Viresh	2232	4½		4½	IM	Hari, Madhavan N B	2393	23
19	54	FM	Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi	2300	4½		4½		Vignesh, B	2382	29
20	30	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2378	4½		4½	FM	Kshatriya, Nitin Vekhande	2133	101

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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