61st National Championship R9: Aronyak Ghosh reduces the gap with Surya Sekhar Ganguly
India's highest rated IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) played outstanding positional chess to beat FM Arjun Adireddy (TEL). He is now just a half point behind 7.5/9 the sole leader, GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) 8/9. Surya drew with his unit-mate GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB). Aronyak will face Surya in the penultimate round. IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (MAH) sacrificed an exchange, used his strong knights to stir up trouble and beat GM Pa Iniyan (TN). Currently, 13 players are at 7/9 each. IM Nitin S (RSPB) defeated GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB). Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (ODI) scored a win over IM C R G Krishna (RSPB). Round 10 starts today at 3:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Himank Ghosh
Sammed outwits Iniyan
Aronyak - Arjun Adireddy
FM Arjun Adireddy (TEL, 2308) made a tiny positional inaccuracy 23...f5? His opponent, IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB, 2535) had no trouble seizing his advantage 24.Na4 Qa5 Black cannot take the knight as the c8-rook would fall 25.Nc5 Rc7 once again the knight cannot be taken as b4 fork drops an exchange 26.Qe3 Bc8 27.Nb3 Qa4 28.Nd4 a6 29.Rxc7 Nxc7 30.Rc1 Na8 31.Be2 the idea behind this move becomes clear in the next Bd7 32.b4 moving the bishop allowed a3-pawn to be protected by the queen Bc8 33.b5 Bd7 34.Rb1 Rc8 35.Kg2 Qa5 36.bxa6 bxa6 37.Rc1 Rxc1 38.Qxc1 Qb6 39.Qe3 a5 40.Nb3 Qc7 41.Qc5 Qxc5 42.Nxc5 and White went on to win the minor piece endgame.
Iniyan - Sammed
IM Sammed Shete (MAH, 2386) made a sound exchange sacrifice 30...Rxg5 31.Bxg5 Nxd4 32.Bd2 Rc4 33.Ra3 Nf4! 34.Kf1 Nc2 Black managed to recover the exchange and liquidated into a winning bishop vs knight endgame.
Mitrabha - Aakash G
Black needed to move his knight to d3. Instead CM Aakash G (TN, 2314) played 22...Ng4. GM Mitrabha Guha (RSPB, 2537) pinballed the knight 23.h3 Nh6 24.Be3 Nf5 25.Bf4 Qb6 26.Be5 Nd4 27.Qe3 Nf5 28.Qg5 f6 29.Bxf6! and White won the game in the next few moves.
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Replay Round 9 games
Round 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2571 | PSPB | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 7½ | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2583 | PSPB | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Ghosh, Diptayan | 2568 | RLY | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | IM | Ajay, Karthikeyan | 2401 | TN | 22 |
| 3 | 14 | GM | Lalit, Babu M R | 2494 | AP | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | 2568 | AP | 5 |
| 4 | 9 | IM | Aronyak, Ghosh | 2535 | RLY | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 6½ | FM | Adireddy, Arjun | 2309 | TEL | 31 |
| 5 | 30 | GM | Sriram, Jha | 2309 | LIC | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | IM | Gusain, Himal | 2511 | RLY | 13 |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | 2547 | TN | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | IM | Sammed Jaykumar, Shete | 2386 | MAH | 24 |
| 7 | 20 | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | 2423 | RLY | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Sankalp, Gupta | 2546 | MAH | 7 |
| 8 | 8 | GM | Mitrabha, Guha | 2537 | RLY | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | CM | Aakash, G | 2317 | TN | 29 |
| 9 | 10 | GM | Vignesh, N R | 2526 | RLY | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Neelotpal, Das | 2355 | PSPB | 26 |
| 10 | 12 | GM | Sengupta, Deep | 2516 | PSPB | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | IM | Nitin, S. | 2341 | RLY | 27 |
Standings after Round 9
| 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 | 8 | 50,5 | 55 | 48,00 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6,36 | 1,64 | 10 | 16,4 | |
| 2 | 9 | IM | Aronyak, Ghosh | IND | 2535 | RLY | 7,5 | 51 | 56 | 46,00 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 7,5 | 6,60 | 0,90 | 10 | 9 | |
| 3 | 5 | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | IND | 2568 | AP | 7 | 54 | 57,5 | 43,50 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 6,48 | 0,52 | 10 | 5,2 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | IND | 2571 | PSPB | 7 | 53,5 | 57 | 42,25 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 6,49 | 0,51 | 10 | 5,1 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Ghosh, Diptayan | IND | 2568 | RLY | 7 | 52,5 | 57,5 | 43,25 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 6,85 | 0,15 | 10 | 1,5 | |
| 6 | 16 | IM | Neelash, Saha | IND | 2470 | RLY | 7 | 49 | 53,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6,33 | 0,67 | 10 | 6,7 | |
| 7 | 22 | IM | Ajay, Karthikeyan | IND | 2401 | TN | 7 | 48 | 51,5 | 38,75 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 6,83 | 0,17 | 10 | 1,7 | |
| 8 | 30 | GM | Sriram, Jha | IND | 2309 | LIC | 7 | 47,5 | 52 | 39,25 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 5,60 | 1,40 | 10 | 14 | |
| 9 | 27 | IM | Nitin, S. | IND | 2341 | RLY | 7 | 47 | 51,5 | 38,25 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 6,23 | 0,77 | 10 | 7,7 | |
| 10 | 14 | GM | Lalit, Babu M R | IND | 2494 | AP | 7 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 38,75 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7,20 | -0,20 | 10 | -2 |
Round 10 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2583 | PSPB | 8 | 7½ | IM | Aronyak, Ghosh | 2535 | RLY | 9 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2571 | PSPB | 7 | 7 | IM | Neelash, Saha | 2470 | RLY | 16 | |
| 3 | 18 | IM | Shyaam, Nikhil P | 2442 | RLY | 7 | 7 | GM | Ghosh, Diptayan | 2568 | RLY | 4 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | 2568 | AP | 7 | 7 | IM | Ajay, Karthikeyan | 2401 | TN | 22 | |
| 5 | 24 | IM | Sammed Jaykumar, Shete | 2386 | MAH | 7 | 7 | GM | Mitrabha, Guha | 2537 | RLY | 8 | |
| 6 | 13 | IM | Gusain, Himal | 2511 | RLY | 7 | 7 | Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan | 2300 | ODI | 32 | ||
| 7 | 27 | IM | Nitin, S. | 2341 | RLY | 7 | 7 | GM | Lalit, Babu M R | 2494 | AP | 14 | |
| 8 | 10 | GM | Vignesh, N R | 2526 | RLY | 6½ | 7 | GM | Sriram, Jha | 2309 | LIC | 30 | |
| 9 | 26 | GM | Neelotpal, Das | 2355 | PSPB | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Gupta, Abhijeet | 2583 | PSPB | 2 | |
| 10 | 7 | GM | Sankalp, Gupta | 2546 | MAH | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Laxman, R.R. | 2328 | RLY | 28 |
