4th Athens of the East R1-8: Srihari L R and Nitin in a four-way lead

by R Anantharam - 30/12/2024

IM Srihari L R, IM Nitin S, IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg (MGL) and IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) are sharing the lead 7.5/8 at 4th Athens of the East GM Tournament 2024. Agibileg drew with Srihari on the top board. Thus allowing two more players to catch up. Nitin defeated IM Raahul V S and Semetei won against GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE) to move to the top. Nithin Babu held the top seed and India's highest rated IM Aronyak Ghosh to a draw. The total cash prize fund in the festival is ₹4400000 + two cars, six bikes and 100 cycles, for Category A (>2000) it is ₹2000000. The top three prizes were ₹300000, ₹200000 and ₹150000 each. Round 9 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photos: IA R Anantharam

Six in pursuit at 6/8

International Masters Srihari L R, Nitin S of India, Uurtsaikh Agibileg (MGL) and Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) share the lead with 6.5 points each at the end of the eighth round of the Athens of the East 4th International GM Chess tournament, organised by Ananthi Chess Academy, Madurai. Six players including the top seed IM Aronyak Ghosh and GM Alexei Fedorov are at a half a point behind the leaders.

In the seventh round, the clash between the top seeds Aronyak and Srihari ended in a quick draw, both players repeating the moves. But Agibileg defeated the other IM Srihari (Srihari L) to move to the forefront.

IM Srihari L R defeated IM Raahul V S to emerge sole leader after six rounds

IM Agibileg of Mongolia defeated IM Srihari L to join the lead with Srihari L R after seven rounds

The sixth and seventh rounds on the fifth day witnessed two contrasting games from the former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakkravarthy, the sixth round game exhibiting his best techniques against Allayar Shirliyev (TKM) and the seventh one plummeting from completely winning to a drawn and then to a total lost position against Nithin Babu of Kerala. Nithin moved to second position with the unbelievable win.

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy played a good game to beat Allayar Shirliyev (TKM)

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy lost a won game against Nithin Babu

After conceding two draws in the fourth and fifth rounds, the top seed IM Aronyak Ghosh returned to winning ways by beating GM Manik Mikulas (SVK). He is trailing the leaders by half a point.

Round 6: After two draws, the top seed IM Aronyak Ghosh returned to winning ways by beating GM Manik Mikulas (SVK)

IM Nitin S and GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE) drew their seventh round encounter to keep their chances alive.

Round 7: GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE) and IM Nitin S drew to reach 5.5 points

IM Raahul V S defeated the upcoming youngster from Telangana to collect 5.5 points in seven rounds and join the close followers of the leaders.

IM Raahul V S outwitted Vignesh Advaith Vemula in the seventh round

Reigning National Junior champion FM Arjun Adireddy drew with Vignesh B

IM Ratnakaran K lost to Pondicherry’s first and only IM Srihari L in the sixth round and fought a losing battle to V Sarveshwaran, with a bishop and three connected pawns against the latter’s queen.

Round 5: GM Attilla Czebe (HUN) lost to Naitik R Mehta

Round 4: IM Harsh Suresh - M Barath Kalyan: 0-1

A total of 156 players including 10 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 19 countries across the world in Category A (>2000). The tournament is being organized by Ananthi Chess Academy at Amika Hotel in Madurai, Tamil Nadu from 24th to 31st December 2024. The ten-round Swiss league Rating tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 1-8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	9	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	2392	MGL	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Srihari, L R	2484	TN	3
2	1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2547	RSPB	5½	½ - ½	5½		Nithin, Babu	2282	KER	29
3	18	IM	Nitin, S.	2341	S.Rlys	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Raahul, V S	2378	TN	11
4	16	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	2358	KGZ	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2358	VIE	15
5	57	CM	Sarveshwaran, V	2150	TN	5	0 - 1	5	FM	Md, Imran	2430	AP	5
6	10	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2385	BLR	5	1 - 0	5		Saurabh, Anand	2223	BIH	39
7	14	IM	Srihari, L	2360	PUD	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Buscara, Sevan	2185	FRA	48
8	20		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	2340	TEL	5	1 - 0	5		Vignesh, B	2196	TN	45
9	28	GM	Karthikeyan, P.	2290	ICF	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Adireddy, Arjun	2336	TEL	21
10	145		Vaidyanathan, Kannan	1900	USA	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2299	UP	24

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	3	IM	Srihari, L R			IND	2484	TN	6,5	40,5	42,5	33,00	0	5	8	6,5	5,58	0,92	10	9,2
2	18	IM	Nitin, S.			IND	2341	S.Rlys	6,5	38	39,5	30,25	0	5	8	6,5	4,55	1,95	10	19,5
3	9	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh			MGL	2392	MGL	6,5	37,5	40,5	31,00	0	5	8	6,5	5,11	1,39	10	13,9
4	16	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei			KGZ	2358	KGZ	6,5	33	36,5	29,75	0	5	8	6,5	5,85	0,65	10	6,5
5	1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh			IND	2547	RSPB	6	39,5	41	28,75	0	4	8	6	6,25	-0,25	10	-2,5
6	28	GM	Karthikeyan, P.			IND	2290	ICF	6	36	38,5	26,75	0	5	8	6	5,07	0,93	10	9,3
7	5	FM	Md, Imran			IND	2430	AP	6	35,5	38	26,00	0	5	8	6	6,14	-0,14	10	-1,4
8	29		Nithin, Babu			IND	2282	KER	6	34,5	37,5	27,25	0	5	8	6	4,73	1,27	20	25,4
9	20		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala			IND	2340	TEL	6	34	37,5	27,50	0	5	8	6	6,11	-0,11	20	-2,2
10	10	GM	Fedorov, Alexei			BLR	2385	BLR	6	33	35	29,25	0	5	8	6	6,63	-0,63	10	-6,3

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	3	IM	Srihari, L R	2484	TN	6½		6½	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	2358	KGZ	16
2	5	FM	Md, Imran	2430	AP	6		6½	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	2392	MGL	9
3	10	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2385	BLR	6		6½	IM	Nitin, S.	2341	S.Rlys	18
4	1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2547	RSPB	6		6		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	2340	TEL	20
5	29		Nithin, Babu	2282	KER	6		6	GM	Karthikeyan, P.	2290	ICF	28
6	11	IM	Raahul, V S	2378	TN	5½		5½		Gaikwad, Manas	2047	MAH	92
7	91		Mehta, Naitik R	2053	GUJ	5½		5½	IM	Srihari, L	2360	PUD	14
8	15	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2358	VIE	5½		5½		Vaidyanathan, Kannan	1900	USA	145
9	48	IM	Buscara, Sevan	2185	FRA	5½		5½	FM	Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2299	UP	24
10	125		Jval, Saurin Patel	2002	GUJ	5½		5	GM	Rios Gomez, Cristhian Camilo	2448	COL	4

Details

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed

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