61st National Championship R8: Diptayan Ghosh halts Surya Sekhar Ganguly's winning streak

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/08/2024

GM Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB) brought an end to GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly's (PSPB) unbeaten streak in Round 8 of 61st National Championship 2024. Both players tried their best to squeeze a win, yet neither budged to slip for a moment. Hence the game ended in a draw. Two of the strongest IMs of the country - Himal Gusain (RSPB) and Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) held GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) and GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) to a draw each respectively. IM Ajay Karthikeyan (TN) outplayed GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB). GM Neelotpal Das (PSPB) missed a win against GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB). GM Sriram Jha (LIC) and IM-elect FM Arjun Adireddy (TEL) scored nice wins over GM Visakh N R (RSPB) and GM Sayantan Das (RSPB). Surya is still a full point ahead 7.5/8. Round 9 starts today at 3:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Himank Ghosh

Ajay Karthikeyan outplays Abhijeet Gupta, Arjun Adireddy stuns Sayantan

IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (KAR) and Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (ODI) held GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB) and GM Swapnil Dhopade (MAH) to a draw each respectively.

GM Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB) halted GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly's (PSPB) winning streak

One of the top IMs of the country - IM Himal Gusain (RSPB) held the defending champion GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) to a well contested draw

GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) - IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

Ajay - Abhijeet

Position after 21.Nxe4

21.Nxe4? needed to be met with 0-0-0 22.Ng5 Qg6 23.Nxh7 Bxb1 24.Rxh4 Bc2 Black is winning as his king is in precarious position and the knight is stuck at h7. The game continued 21...Qg6 22.Rxh4 Rxh4 23.Qxb7 Rb8 24.Qxc6+ Ke7 25.Rb7+ Rxb7 26.Qxb7+ Bd7 27.Kf1 Rh2 28.Kg1 Qh7? 29.Ng3

Position after 29.Ng3

White is winning despite being down by a rook as the h2-rook is not doing much and Black will lose the knight as it neither has any safe square to go nor it can be defended. 29...Rh6 30.Be4 Qh8 31.Nf5+ Kd8 32.Qa8+ Bc8 33.Nxh6 Qxh6 34.Bf5 g3 35.Qxc8+ Ke7 36.Bh3 gxf2+ 37.Kxf2 Qh4+ 38.Ke2 Qh5+ 39.Qg4 and White won.

IM Ajay Karthikeyan (TN) played fantastic to beat GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB)

Neelotpal - Mitrabha: 0.5-0.5

GM Neelotpal Das (PSPB, 2355) had a huge advantage in the middlegame against GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB, 2537).

Position after 35...f5

36.Nb6 was the best way to continue for White in the above position. 36.Bg2 Kh7 37.Nb6 Qc7 38.Rd7 Qb8 39.Rb7 Qd8 after repeating one more time White went 42.Nxc4 bxc4 43.Qxc4 Qd1+ 44.Kh2 Rf6 45.exf6 Nxf6 46.Rxg7+ Kxg7 47.Qc3 Qe2 48.Kg1 Qd1+ 49.Qe1 Qd6 50.Qe5 Qd1+ 51.Kh2 Kf7 52.Qc7+ Kg8 53.Bc5? Nxc5 54.Qxc5 Qe2 and now White cannot avoid perpetual checks.

Position after 54...Qe2

White cannot avoid perpetual checks as Ng4 is unstoppable. Neelotpal missed his chance and Mitrabha's resiliency paid off.

GM Neelotpal Das (PSPB) missed his chance as GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB) salvaged a draw

Visakh - Sriram

Position after 31.Ba7

GM Sriram Jha (LIC, 2309) made a nice exchange sacrifice 31...Rxa7 32.Rxa7 Bb6 33.Qa3 Bxf2 and Black used his minor pieces beautifully to win the game against GM Visakh N R (RSPB, 2517).

GM Sriram Jha (LIC) scored a nice win by sacrificing an exchange against GM Visakh N R (RSPB)

IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (KAR) - GM Deep Sengupta (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

Arjun Adireddy - Sayantan

Position after 31...Kc8?

A misplaced king hastened Black's loss 31...Kc8? there are certainly more than one way for White to win 32.Bd3 Qc6 33.Bxc5 Qxc5 34.Rxf7 Rxf7 35.e6 Qc6 36.Be4 d3 37.Qe3 Qd6 38.exf7 and White won the game in the next few moves.

FM Arjun Adireddy (TEL) - GM Sayantan Das (RSPB): 1-0

GM Swapnil Dhopade (MAH) had a prolonged 107-move marathon draw with Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (ODI)

CM Aakash G (TN) - IM Ravi Teja S (AP): 0.5-0.5

Samyak Dharewa (WB) - GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB): 0.5-0.5

Round 8 in progress

For more Round 8 photos, please click here.

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2583	PSPB	7	½ - ½	6	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2568	RLY	4
2	13	IM	Gusain, Himal	2511	RLY	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2571	PSPB	3
3	5	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2568	AP	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2535	RLY	9
4	22	IM	Ajay, Karthikeyan	2401	TN	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2583	PSPB	2
5	26	GM	Neelotpal, Das	2355	PSPB	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2537	RLY	8
6	11	GM	Visakh, N R	2517	RLY	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Sriram, Jha	2309	LIC	30
7	25	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2378	KAR	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2516	PSPB	12
8	28	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2328	RLY	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Lalit, Babu M R	2494	AP	14
9	31	FM	Adireddy, Arjun	2309	TEL	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Das, Sayantan	2491	RLY	15
10	19	GM	Swapnil, S. Dhopade	2433	MAH	5½	½ - ½	5½		Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan	2300	ODI	32

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar		IND	2583	PSPB	7,5	39,5	44	40,75	0	7	8	7,5	5,84	1,66	10	16,6
2	3	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.		IND	2571	PSPB	6,5	41,5	44	34,50	0	5	8	6,5	6,01	0,49	10	4,9
3	4	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan		IND	2568	RLY	6,5	41	45,5	35,50	0	5	8	6,5	6,13	0,37	10	3,7
4	5	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman		IND	2568	AP	6,5	41	43,5	34,25	0	5	8	6,5	5,88	0,62	10	6,2
5	9	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh		IND	2535	RLY	6,5	40,5	44,5	35,00	0	5	8	6,5	5,81	0,69	10	6,9
6	30	GM	Sriram, Jha		IND	2309	LIC	6,5	36,5	40	31,25	0	5	8	6,5	5,36	1,14	10	11,4
7	14	GM	Lalit, Babu M R		IND	2494	AP	6,5	36	40	32,00	0	6	8	6,5	6,80	-0,30	10	-3
8	31	FM	Adireddy, Arjun		IND	2309	TEL	6,5	36	39,5	31,50	0	5	8	6,5	5,38	1,12	10	11,2
9	22	IM	Ajay, Karthikeyan		IND	2401	TN	6,5	35,5	39	31,00	0	5	8	6,5	6,55	-0,05	10	-0,5
10	13	IM	Gusain, Himal		IND	2511	RLY	6,5	35,5	38,5	30,50	0	5	8	6,5	6,61	-0,11	10	-1,1

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	3	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2571	PSPB	6½	7½	GM	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2583	PSPB	1
2	4	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2568	RLY	6½	6½	IM	Ajay, Karthikeyan	2401	TN	22
3	14	GM	Lalit, Babu M R	2494	AP	6½	6½	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2568	AP	5
4	9	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2535	RLY	6½	6½	FM	Adireddy, Arjun	2309	TEL	31
5	30	GM	Sriram, Jha	2309	LIC	6½	6½	IM	Gusain, Himal	2511	RLY	13
6	6	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2547	TN	6	6	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2386	MAH	24
7	20	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2423	RLY	6	6	GM	Sankalp, Gupta	2546	MAH	7
8	8	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2537	RLY	6	6	CM	Aakash, G	2317	TN	29
9	10	GM	Vignesh, N R	2526	RLY	6	6	GM	Neelotpal, Das	2355	PSPB	26
10	12	GM	Sengupta, Deep	2516	PSPB	6	6	IM	Nitin, S.	2341	RLY	27

Details

Links

Tournament Details

Haryana Chess Association

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