8th Sunway Sitges Open R2: Mary and Soumya stun Cornette and Fier

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/12/2021

WGM Mary Ann Gomes and IM Soumya Swaminathan score fantastic wins against GM Matthieu Cornette (FRA) and GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) respectively in the second round of 8th Sunway Sitges Open 2021 Group A. IM Moksh Amit Doshi and FM Manu David Suthandram R held GM Nihal Sarin and GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER) to a draw each respectively. Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman, Abhimanyu Puranik, Sankalp, Harsha, Neelotpal are the Indian GMs at 2.0/2. Among the Indian women, Vaishali, Mary and Soumya are the only three who are at 100% score. Round 3 starts tonight at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Moksh holds Nihal to a draw

CM Aaditya Dhingra defeated IM Muhammad Lutfi Ali (INA). FM Aaditya S Samant, Niharika Challa and Gugan Govindan drew with GM Karthik Venkataraman, IM Thomas Dionisi (FRA) and GM Susanto Megaranto (INA) each respectively.

Mary Ann Gomes scores a fantastic victory | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Moksh - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

IM Moksh Amit Doshi had a solid draw with GM Nihal Sarin.

Moksh held Nihal to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

FM Manu David Suthandram R drew with GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Mary - Cornette: 1-0

WGM Mary Ann Gomes defeated GM Matthieu Cornette (FRA) in an interesting game.

Position after 32...h4

For the better part of the game, White was trying to create some chances on the queenside which her opponent managed to thwart and started launching an attack of his own with 32...h4. With the threat of h3 seeming to set upon a doom for White, Mary decided to take it 33.gxh4. Black should have taken the pawn to keep things in balance. Instead, he opted for 33...Qf5. It was time for White to go for counterplay before Black could wreck White's kingside via Ra2. 34.Ng3 Qf3 35.Qb3 Kf7 36.hxg5 and now Black is in deep trouble. The g3-knight is firmly placed and White just needs to play Rf1 when Black attacks the f2-pawn with Ra2.

Final position after 42.Rb6

The final position is a beautiful one. All Black's attacks are dealt with and the lack of harmony in Black's pieces caused its demise as e6 cannot be defended and no black pieces can come to the aid of the king.

Soumya - Fier: 1-0

GM Alexandr Fier made a questionable choice of retreating his knight unprovoked 18...Nd7 when he needed to move it on the rim 18...Nh5 against IM Soumya Swaminathan early in the middle game.

Position after 18...Nd7

18...Nd7 created an opening for White 19.f5 and 19...gxf5 worsened things for Black. 20.exf5 opens the long diagonal for the bishop. Even 20.Ng5 which was played in the game is also fine as White gains exchange via 21.Ne6. After a lot of back and forth play where the evaluation swayed towards both sides, eventually Fier blundered in the final moments of the endgame, probably under time scramble.

Position after 37...Nxd5

Black had to sidestep 37...Qd7 and things would have been fine. Find out why 37...Nxd5 is a big mistake and the winning continuation for White.

Soumya Swaminathan had a very nice tactical finish | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Karthik Venkataraman - FM Aditya S Samant: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Muhammad Lutfi Ali (INA) - CM Aaditya Dhingra: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Thomas Dionisi (FRA) - Niharika Challa: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Manu David and Rajarishi claim podium positions in Blitz 1

GM Daniel Dardha scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win the first Blitz event yesterday in 8th Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival. FM Manu David Suthandram R scored 7.5/9 to secure second place. CM Rajarishi Karthi and GM Iniyan P scored 7.0/9 each. They were placed third and fourth respectively. CM Prraneeth Vuppala 6.5/9 and IM Arghyadip Das 6.0/9 are the only two other Indians to make it in top ten as they secured fifth and tenth place. The top three prizes are €200 + trophy, €100 and €50 each respectively.

Winner - GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) 8.5/9 | Photo: Sunway Chess Open

Runner-up - FM Manu David Suthandram R 7.5/9

Second Runner-up - CM Rajarishi Karthi 7.0/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Replay Round 2 games

Round 2 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
2	2	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2664	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2360	83
2	3	80	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2368	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	3
2	7	82		Roebers Eline	2365	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	7
2	8	8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Salimova Nurgyul	2353	89
2	9	84	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2360	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2622	9
2	11	86	IM	Ervan Mohamad	2356	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	11
2	12	12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	1	1 - 0	1		Grebeniuk Semen	2346	93
2	13	88	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Cornette Matthieu	2583	13
2	14	14	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2579	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Padmini Rout	2345	95
2	15	90	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Fier Alexandr	2572	15
2	16	16	GM	Kadric Denis	2572	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Srijit Paul	2340	97
2	23	28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2506	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	107
2	24	106	FM	Kapitanchuk Tomas	2323	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	29
2	26	108	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2313	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Priasmoro Novendra	2502	31
2	27	32	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	1	1 - 0	1		Ortega Serra Marc	2292	113
2	28	110	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2312	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2484	33
2	30	36	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	1	0 - 1	1	FM	Dalaud Dorian	2275	117
2	36	122		Utsab Chatterjee	2255	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Quintiliano Pinto Renato R.	2466	45
2	38	124	WIM	Sihite Chelsie Monica Ignesias	2252	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	47
2	40	126	FM	Sreyas Payyappat	2250	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard	2448	49

Details

Round 3 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	2	47	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	2		2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2664	2
3	4	7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	2		2	IM	Pranesh M	2437	50
3	6	11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	2		2	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	58
3	7	53	IM	Boyer Mahel	2427	2		2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	12
3	11	21	GM	Maze Sebastien	2541	2		2	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	62
3	12	23	GM	Suleymanli Aydin	2537	2		2	IM	Vaishali R	2401	66
3	15	29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	2		2		Bhambure Shantanu	2377	78
3	17	31	GM	Priasmoro Novendra	2502	2		2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	88
3	18	77	CM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2377	2		2	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	32
3	19	33	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2484	2		2	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	90
3	21	41	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2469	2		2		Devnani Kush	1934	239
3	24	211	CM	Aaditya Dhingra	2038	2		2	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2460	46
3	25	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	1½		1½	FM	Aranha Filho Alvaro Z.	2283	116
3	28	87	IM	Santarius Erik	2355	1½		1½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	8
3	30	107	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	1½		1½	GM	Kelires Andreas	2543	20
3	32	111	FM	Kenneskog Theodor	2307	1½		1½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2506	28
3	34	35	IM	Di Berardino Diego Rafael	2480	1½		1½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2240	130
3	36	51	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	1½		1½	CM	Crevatin Leo	2238	132
3	40	192	CM	Nurgaliyev Sauat	2102	1½		1½	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2368	80
3	41	212		Dahale Atul	2037	1½		1½	IM	Aulia Medina Warda	2367	81

Details

Final Standings in Blitz 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Dardha Daniel	BEL	2489	8,5	50,5	55,5	52,00
2	10	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	IND	2173	7,5	47,5	50,5	38,50
3	8	CM	Rajarishi Karthi	IND	2196	7,0	50,0	53,0	39,25
4	2	GM	Iniyan P	IND	2450	7,0	47,0	51,0	36,50
5	39	CM	Prraneeth Vuppala	IND	1759	6,5	45,0	46,5	28,75
6	9		Jafarli Babak	AZE	2188	6,5	44,0	47,5	32,25
7	11	FM	Samoun Florent	FRA	2142	6,0	48,5	52,0	32,75
8	7	FM	Macias Pino Diego	ESP	2207	6,0	46,5	47,5	27,00
9	3	IM	Fernandez Guillen Ernesto J.	CUB	2401	6,0	43,0	46,5	27,50
10	4	IM	Das Arghyadip	IND	2382	6,0	41,0	44,0	28,50

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

13th - 22nd December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

23rd December - 1:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

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