Asian Continental 2023 R6: Tenacious Mary topples top seed Munguntuul

by Shahid Ahmed - 09/06/2023

WGM Mary Ann Gomes showed her class as she defeated the top seed IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul (MGL) in Round 6 of Asian Continental Women 2023. There is a reason she has won lots of accolades and laurels over the years. IM Divya Deshmukh won against WIM Alua Nurmanova (KAZ) with ease. Both Mary and Divya are the coleaders in the Women's event with a 5/6 score. They will face each other in the seventh round. In the Open section, GM Arjun Erigaisi could not find a way to break his opponent IM Madaminov Mukhiddin's (UZB) resistance. The All-Indian battle between GM Pranav V and GM Abhimanyu Puranik ended in a draw. Arjun, Abhimanyu, Pranav, IM Aronyak Ghosh along with eight other players are trailing the leader, GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) by a full point at 4.5/6 each. Round 7 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Nursultan Sabdenov

Can Arjun Erigaisi stop Shamsiddin Vokhidov?

WGM Mary Ann Gomes fought tooth and nail to score the victory against the top seed | Photo: Nursultan Sabdenov

Mary - Munguntuul

Position after 56.Kd5

WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2315) found the correct plan of using her king to capture Black's crucial a7 and b6-pawns, while using her queen at d3 to keep her own important pawns guarded. 56...Qxa4 57.f5 Qg4 58.Kc7 Qg4 59.Kb8 Qg5 60.Kxa7 Qe7+ 61.Kxb6 capturing the pawns was not the hardest part, converting her decisive advantage into a win was. Her opponent, IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul (MGL, 2397) eventually got an opportunity to get back in the game. However, it was not that easy. Eventually Mary went on to win the game after her relentless attempts.

Divya - Alua

Position after 29...Qd7

IM Divya Deshmukh (2389) made a positional exchange sacrifice which gave her a decisive advantage against WIM Alua Nurmanova (KAZ, 2102). 30.Bxc5!+- Qxa4 31.Bxd6 Rd8 32.e5 Rf5 33.Qd3 Qd7 eventually Black had to give up material for the passed pawns and went on to lose the game.

IM Divya Deshmukh is the coleader with Mary Ann 5/6 | Photo: Nursultan Sabdenov

GM Arjun Erigaisi tried a lot against IM Mukhiddin Madaminov (UZB) | Photo: Kazakhstan Chess Federation

GM Abhimanyu Puranik - GM Pranav V (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Nursultan Sabdenov

Bakhtiyar Askarov (KAZ) - IM Aronyak Ghosh (pictured): 0-1 | Photo: Nursultan Sabdenov

Round 6 in progress | Photo: Nursultan Sabdenov

A total of 87 players including 17 GMs and 21 IMs in the Open, 38 players including 5 IMs, 5 WGMs and 9 WIMs in the Women, are taking part from 18 countries across the world including India. The nine-round Swiss League Classical Rating tournament is taking place from 4th to 11th June 2023 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is being organized by Ministry of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan, the Asian Chess Federation, and the Kazakhstan Chess Federation with the support of the Akimat of Almaty. The time control of the tournament is 90 minutes / 40 moves + 30 mins / end + 30 seconds increment per move starting from move no.1.

Replay Round 6 Open games

Replay Round 6 Women games

Round 6 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
6	2	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2702	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Madaminov Mukhiddin	UZB	2431	28
6	3	5	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2602	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Pranav V	IND	2608	3
6	5	22	IM	Suleymenov Alisher	KAZ	2463	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2606	4
6	6	24	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	IND	2436	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Tin Jingyao	SGP	2570	8
6	7	42		Askarov Bakhtiyar	KAZ	2337	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2534	10
6	8	13	GM	Das Sayantan	IND	2508	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Nogerbek Kazybek	KAZ	2493	18
6	11	33	FM	Isanzhulov Arystan	KAZ	2408	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Samant Aditya S	IND	2503	15
6	12	44	FM	Nurgaliyev Sauat	KAZ	2319	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	IND	2498	16
6	14	19	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	IND	2490	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Ansat Aldiyar	KAZ	2384	34
6	23	40	IM	Dushyant Sharma	IND	2345	2½	0 - 1	2½		Kenbeilov Timur	KAZ	1879	71

Details

Round 6 Women results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Gr	Rtg	No.
6	1	7	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann		2315	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag		2397	1
6	2	2	WGM	Divya Deshmukh		2389	4	1 - 0	4	WIM	Nurmanova Alua		2102	20
6	3	11	WGM	Munkhzul Turmunkh		2259	3½	1 - 0	3½	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V		2363	4
6	5	6	WGM	Alinasab Mobina		2347	3	1 - 0	3½	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi		2225	13
6	8	8	IM	Soumya Swaminathan		2293	2½	1 - 0	2½		Mohammadi Melika		2062	21
6	11	16	IM	Mohota Nisha		2185	2½	1 - 0	2½	WFM	Noshin Anjum		1963	25
6	13	32		Ahlam Rashed		1637	2½	0 - 1	2½	WIM	Makhija Aashna		2126	19

Details

Standings after Round 6 in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	7	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	UZB	2583	5,5	2478	19	21,5	0
2	28	IM	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	UZB	2431	4,5	2588	21	24	0
3	9	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	IRI	2555	4,5	2511	20,5	22,5	0
4	6	GM	Jumabayev, Rinat	KAZ	2590	4,5	2506	22	25,5	0
5	22	IM	Suleymenov, Alisher	KAZ	2463	4,5	2489	18	20	0
6	18	IM	Nogerbek, Kazybek	KAZ	2493	4,5	2484	18	21	0
7	5	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	IND	2602	4,5	2463	19,5	22,5	0
8	27		Utegaliyev, Azamat	KAZ	2432	4,5	2431	19	21	0
9	11		Pour Agha Bala, Amirreza	IRI	2523	4,5	2424	19,5	22	0
10	3	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2608	4,5	2421	18,5	21	0

Details

Standings after Round 6 in Women

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	7	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	IND	2315	5	2262	19	21,5	0
2	2	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2389	5	2199	18	20,5	0
3	11	WGM	Munkhzul, Turmunkh	MGL	2259	4,5	2199	19	21,5	0
4	20	WIM	Nurmanova, Alua	KAZ	2102	4	2309	19,5	22	0
5	1	IM	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	MGL	2397	4	2247	21	24	0
6	5	WIM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	KAZ	2350	4	2205	18,5	20	0
7	15	WIM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	KAZ	2186	4	2150	18	19,5	0
8	6	WGM	Alinasab, Mobina	IRI	2347	4	2149	15,5	17,5	0
9	10	WFM	Khamdamova, Afruza	UZB	2260	4	2025	16,5	17,5	0
10	13	WIM	Chitlange, Sakshi	IND	2225	3,5	2218	17,5	20	0

Details

Round 7 Open pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
7	1	7	GM	Vokhidov Shamsiddin	UZB	2583	5½		4½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2702	1
7	2	10	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2534	4½		4½	GM	Pranav V	IND	2608	3
7	3	18	IM	Nogerbek Kazybek	KAZ	2493	4½		4½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2602	5
7	7	16	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	IND	2498	4		4½	IM	Madaminov Mukhiddin	UZB	2431	28
7	8	29	IM	Mohammad Fahad Rahman	BAN	2424	4		3½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2606	4
7	10	34	IM	Ansat Aldiyar	KAZ	2384	3½		3½	GM	Das Sayantan	IND	2508	13
7	11	15	IM	Samant Aditya S	IND	2503	3½		3½	IM	Zhalmakhanov Ramazan	KAZ	2414	32
7	13	35	IM	Kazakov Konstantin	KAZ	2380	3½		3½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	IND	2490	19
7	17	39	FM	Suyarov Mukhammadzokhid	UZB	2347	3½		3½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	IND	2436	24
7	27	60		Assylov Miras	KAZ	2017	2½		2½	IM	Dushyant Sharma	IND	2345	40

Details

Round 7 Women pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Gr	Rtg	No.
7	1	2	WGM	Divya Deshmukh		2389	5		5	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann		2315	7
7	6	4	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V		2363	3½		3½	WIM	Nurgali Nazerke		2210	14
7	7	19	WIM	Makhija Aashna		2126	3½		3½	IM	Soumya Swaminathan		2293	8
7	8	9	FM	Kurmangaliyeva Liya		2264	3½		3½	IM	Mohota Nisha		2185	16
7	9	13	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi		2225	3½		3½	WGM	Gong Qianyun		2257	12

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

Related news:

	Divya Deshmukh Golden, Silver for Mary Ann Gomes at Asian Continental Women 2023 @ 12/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Divya Deshmukh eyes Gold at Asian Continental Women 2023 @ 11/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Asian Continental 2023 R7: Divya Deshmukh takes a full-point lead @ 09/06/2023 by Himank Ghosh (en)
	Asian Continental 2023 R5: Mary Ann joins Divya at the top @ 08/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Asian Continental 2023 R1-4: Abhimanyu Puranik and Divya Deshmukh in the lead @ 07/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Pranav Venkatesh and Divya Deshmukh clinch Silver at Asian Continental Blitz 2023 Open and Women @ 05/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)