AICF World Cup Qualifier R1-7: Four-way lead at 5.0/7

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/05/2021

Seven rounds of AICF World Cup Qualifier have been played and there are four players at 5.0/7. They are Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Narayanan S L, Gukesh D and Sethuraman SP. Ten more rounds to go and time control is of Rapid, 15 mins + 10 seconds which means the tournament is open for anyone to win. GM Iniyan P and IM Raja Rithvik R are at 4.5/7 each, followed by GM Deep Sengupta at 4.0/7. Among the top players, Adhiban is struggling a bit as he has scored only 3.5/7. Tomorrow also there will be four rounds. Catch the live commentary by IM Sagar Shah on ChessBase India youtube channel tomorrow from 11:15 a.m. IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ganguly wins four in-a-row

Second day of World Cup Qualifiers had four rounds of games instead of the previous day's three. Surya Sekhar Ganguly won all four of them as he beat IM Raja Rithvik R, IM P Saravana Krishna, GM Deep Sengupta and GM Sethuraman S P. The winning streak came at the heels of a loss against India's youngest GM Gukesh D in Round 3.

Ganguly is poised to qualify for the upcoming FIDE World Cup 2021 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Narayanan S L is close on the heels of Ganguly. He is one of the two players who is still unbeaten and at 5.0/7. The India no.10 has already faced three GMs out of seven possible he can face in the event and scored 2.0/3 which shows that he is in good form.

GM Narayanan S L is definitely a strong contender to win the event

GM Gukesh D is also undefeated and currently shares the four-way lead with 5.0/7. He has already defeated Ganguly in Round 3 and drew with GM Deep Sengupta in Round 7. That definitely shows that he is ready to give all other contenders a run for their money - in this case a spot for the FIDE World Cup 2021.

Gukesh is a favorite to win any event he plays | Photo: Niki Riga

The fourth player who is also at 5.0/7 is GM Sethuraman SP. After winning four games in-a-row, he lost to GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly in Round 7.

Sethuraman thrives in high pressure situations | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Two youngsters GM Iniyan P and IM Raja Rithvik R are at 4.5/7. They are definitely capable of causing any kind of upsets on any given day.

Watch out for India's 61st GM Iniyan P

IM Raja Rithvik R is National Sub-Junior 2019 champion and holds a GM-norm | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Multi-time Hastings Masters winner GM Deep Sengupta is currently at 4.0/7 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

AICF World Cup Qualifiers | Day 1 Live commentary | Video: ChessBase India

AICF World Cup Qualifiers | Day 2 Live commentary | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 1-7 games

Round 4-7 results

Round 4 on 2021/05/27 at 1000 hrs
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	12	2408	IM	Rithvik R Raja	0 - 1	GM	Sekhar Ganguly Surya	2625	10
2	13	2312	IM	Krishnan P Saravana	0 - 1	IM	Krishna Crg	2478	9
3	14	2527	GM	Sengupta Deep	1 - 0	FM	Singhania Vatsal	2371	8
4	15	2644	GM	S.p Sethuraman	1 - 0	GM	Vasanthan Perumal Vishnu Prasanna	2476	7
5	16	2660	GM	Baskaran Adhiban	1 - 0	IM	Swaminathan Soumya	2351	6
6	17	2305	FM	Vinay Kumar Matta	0 - 1	GM	S.L Narayanan	2624	5
7	1	2463	IM	Srivatshav Peddi Rahul	1 - 0	GM	P Iniyan	2506	4
8	2	2381	IM	S. Nitin	1 - 0	IM	Mittal Aditya	2438	3
9	11	2578	GM	Gukesh D	0		bye	0	-1
Round 5 on 2021/05/27 at 1100 hrs
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	2506	GM	P Iniyan	1 - 0	IM	S. Nitin	2381	2
2	5	2624	GM	S.L Narayanan	½ - ½	IM	Srivatshav Peddi Rahul	2463	1
3	6	2351	IM	Swaminathan Soumya	1 - 0	FM	Vinay Kumar Matta	2305	17
4	7	2476	GM	Vasanthan Perumal Vishnu Prasanna	1 - 0	GM	Baskaran Adhiban	2660	16
5	8	2371	FM	Singhania Vatsal	0 - 1	GM	S.p Sethuraman	2644	15
6	9	2478	IM	Krishna Crg	½ - ½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2527	14
7	10	2625	GM	Sekhar Ganguly Surya	1 - 0	IM	Krishnan P Saravana	2312	13
8	11	2578	GM	Gukesh D	½ - ½	IM	Rithvik R Raja	2408	12
9	3	2438	IM	Mittal Aditya	0		bye	0	-1
Round 6 on 2021/05/27 at 1200 hrs
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	13	2312	IM	Krishnan P Saravana	0 - 1	GM	Gukesh D	2578	11
2	14	2527	GM	Sengupta Deep	0 - 1	GM	Sekhar Ganguly Surya	2625	10
3	15	2644	GM	S.p Sethuraman	1 - 0	IM	Krishna Crg	2478	9
4	16	2660	GM	Baskaran Adhiban	1 - 0	FM	Singhania Vatsal	2371	8
5	17	2305	FM	Vinay Kumar Matta	1 - 0	GM	Vasanthan Perumal Vishnu Prasanna	2476	7
6	1	2463	IM	Srivatshav Peddi Rahul	0 - 1	IM	Swaminathan Soumya	2351	6
7	2	2381	IM	S. Nitin	½ - ½	GM	S.L Narayanan	2624	5
8	3	2438	IM	Mittal Aditya	0 - 1	GM	P Iniyan	2506	4
9	12	2408	IM	Rithvik R Raja	0		bye	0	-1
Round 7 on 2021/05/27 at 1300 hrs
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	5	2624	GM	S.L Narayanan	1 - 0	IM	Mittal Aditya	2438	3
2	6	2351	IM	Swaminathan Soumya	0 - 1	IM	S. Nitin	2381	2
3	7	2476	GM	Vasanthan Perumal Vishnu Prasanna	0 - 1	IM	Srivatshav Peddi Rahul	2463	1
4	8	2371	FM	Singhania Vatsal	1 - 0	FM	Vinay Kumar Matta	2305	17
5	9	2478	IM	Krishna Crg	½ - ½	GM	Baskaran Adhiban	2660	16
6	10	2625	GM	Sekhar Ganguly Surya	1 - 0	GM	S.p Sethuraman	2644	15
7	11	2578	GM	Gukesh D	½ - ½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2527	14
8	12	2408	IM	Rithvik R Raja	1 - 0	IM	Krishnan P Saravana	2312	13
9	4	2506	GM	P Iniyan	0		bye	0	-1

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	10	GM	Sekhar Ganguly Surya	IND	2625	5,0	0,0	18,00	5	3
2	5	GM	S.L Narayanan	IND	2624	5,0	0,0	15,25	3	1
3	11	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2578	5,0	0,0	14,75	4	3
4	15	GM	S.p Sethuraman	IND	2644	5,0	0,0	11,25	4	2
5	4	GM	P Iniyan	IND	2506	4,5	0,0	13,00	4	2
6	12	IM	Rithvik R Raja	IND	2408	4,5	0,0	9,00	4	2
7	14	GM	Sengupta Deep	IND	2527	4,0	0,0	8,00	3	1
8	1	IM	Srivatshav Peddi Rahul	IND	2463	3,5	0,0	11,50	3	1
9	2	IM	S. Nitin	IND	2381	3,5	0,0	8,50	3	1
10	16	GM	Baskaran Adhiban	IND	2660	3,5	0,0	8,25	2	0
11	3	IM	Mittal Aditya	IND	2438	2,5	0,0	6,25	2	1
12	6	IM	Swaminathan Soumya	IND	2351	2,5	0,0	5,75	2	1
13	13	IM	Krishnan P Saravana	IND	2312	2,5	0,0	3,25	2	1
14	9	IM	Krishna Crg	IND	2478	2,0	0,0	6,25	1	1
15	7	GM	Vasanthan Perumal Vishnu Prasanna	IND	2476	1,0	0,0	3,50	1	0
16	8	FM	Singhania Vatsal	IND	2371	1,0	0,0	1,00	1	0
	17	FM	Vinay Kumar Matta	IND	2305	1,0	0,0	1,00	1	0

Details

Related news:

	कैसे दिग्गजों को पीछे छोड़ इनियन पहुंचे विश्व कप ? @ 04/06/2021 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Iniyan wins AICF World Cup Qualifier and qualifies to the FIDE World Cup 2021 @ 30/05/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	AICF World Cup Qualifier R12-14: Iniyan takes sole lead 10.5/14 @ 29/05/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	AICF World Cup Qualifier R8-11: Gukesh and Iniyan share the lead 8.5/11 @ 28/05/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)