Athens of the East Round 8: Abhijeet Gupta goes down against Pavel Smirnov

by Satanick Mukhuty - 17/08/2019

The Athens of the East International Open 2019 had five players tied for the lead with 6.0/7 points at the end of the seventh round. However, in round eight one of them, the Russian Grandmaster Pavel Smirnov, dashed ahead of the others to emerge as the sole leader. Pavel defeated Abhijeet Gupta in the eighth round to take a half point lead over the entire field with 7.0/8 points. He is closely followed by a pack of six players on 6.5/8 led by West Bengal's Sayantan Das who maintained his solid form to hold GM Adam Tukhaev to a draw in the latest round. Elsewhere, Venkatesh M.R. drew the Chilean GM Rodrigo Vásquez Schroder, while India's Blitz King Rajaram Laxman suffered defeat in the hands of second seed Boris Savchenko. In this report we bring you photos, games, analyses, and more.

Pavel Smirnov takes sole lead with 7.0/8 points

Russia's Pavel Smirnov has so far remained unbeaten in the event, by defeating the top seed Abhijeet Gupta he has now emerged as the sole leader | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

In round eight of the ongoing Athens of the East International Open 2019, the top seed Abhijeet Gupta was pitted against third seed Pavel Smirnov. The game opened with an English and the queens and knights got traded off as early as move 12 to enter into a perfectly even endgamish position. But just as the game seemed dwindling towards a draw, the Russian was able to create small practical chances. The Indian soon found himself in an inferior position after committing slight inaccuracies and failing to coordinate his pieces well.

Pavel Smirnov - Abhijeet Gupta, Round 8

Position after 19.a5: The engine considers this position to be equal but from a human point of view it seems White's pieces are better coordinated, while Black still has some work to do on that front. His rook on e2 particularly seems disconnected and his pawn on a6 is clearly a target which if falls will give White a dangerous passer.

In the above situation 19...Bg4 20.Bb6 Bh6 21.Rb1 Rc2 22.Re1 e6 23.Bb7 Bd2 for instance would have been a good way for Black to create counterplay. In this line even if White has the strong passed a-pawn but advancing it is difficult with Black's bishop pair controlling the whole board. But in the game 19.a5 Be5 20.Bb6 Rc8 21.Bb7 Rxc3 was opted for instead, this wasn't probably the best of judgements. After this White was able to advance his a-pawn and exchange two pairs of rooks and bishops. And of course, this favoured White, as Capablanca had once said, "A passed pawn increases in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes".

31...Bd3 was perhaps the next most critical mistake, keeping the bishop on board would have given Black better chances to defend. After 32.Bxd3 Rxd3 33.a7 White was clearly winning.

All White has to do in this position is to get his king to b8 after which it is game over for Black.

There was no difficulty in executing this standard idea. The a-pawn was queened and Black now had to part with his rook. Resignation came soon after.

Sayantan Das had some winning chances against Adam Tukhaev with an extra pawn but the Ukrainian GM defended well to force the split of points. | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Boris Savchenko beat Rajaram Laxman who opted for the unusual Nimzo-Larsen opening with 1.Nf3 and 2.b3 | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

More Photos

Odisha's Baivab Mishra held IM Nitin S. to a draw | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

IM Murali Krishnan B T beat IM Saravana Krishnan P with the black pieces | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

GM Karthikeyan P defeated FM Aaryan Varshney | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy was held to draw by Lakshmi Narayanan M V of Tamil Nadu | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Iranian Grandmaster Masoud Mosadeghpour beat Nikhil Magizhan with black pieces | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Ram S. Krishnan held IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev to a draw | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Results of round 8

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	1
2	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	8
3	13	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	6	½ - ½	5½	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	4
4	11	GM	Laxman R.R.	2426	ICF	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	2
5	5	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	2519	RUS	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	15
6	51	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	2124	TN	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	6
7	9	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	5	½ - ½	5		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2278	ORI	24
8	32		Ram S. Krishnan	2224	BSNL	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	10
9	12	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2422	ICF	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2272	DEL	25
10	34		Baivab Mishra	2215	ORI	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	19
11	22	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2329	KVB	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Murali Krishnan B T	2192	S.Rly	37
12	16	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2383	TN	4½	½ - ½	4½		Lakshmi Narayanan M V	2166	TN	43
13	42		Siddarth M	2167	TN	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	17
14	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	4½	1 - 0	4½		Marthandan K U	2074	KER	56
15	23		Kunal M.	2306	TN	4½	1 - 0	4½		Rakesh Kumar Nayak	2042	ORI	59
16	54	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2082	LIC	4½	½ - ½	4½		Nayak Rajesh	2250	ORI	27
17	68		Samal Ansuman	1975	ORI	4½	0 - 1	4½		Prasannaa.S	2237	TN	29
18	30		Hari Madhavan N B	2231	TN	4½	1 - 0	4½		Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki	2046	TN	58
19	78		Mohamed Anees M	1910	TN	4½	0 - 1	4½		Patil Pratik	2216	MAH	33
20	82		Saypuri Srithan	1891	TEL	4½	0 - 1	4½		Lokesh N.	2202	TN	35

Standings after round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel			RUS	2574	RUS	7,0	0,0	40,5	37,5	35,50	6
2	13	IM	Das Sayantan			IND	2409	WB	6,5	0,0	43,0	39,5	34,00	6
3	2	GM	Savchenko Boris			RUS	2576	RUS	6,5	0,0	43,0	39,0	33,50	6
4	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.			IND	2480	PSPB	6,5	0,0	42,5	40,0	32,25	6
5	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	S50		CHI	2496	CHI	6,5	0,0	41,5	37,5	33,25	5
6	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud			IRI	2509	IRI	6,5	0,0	40,5	36,0	32,75	6
7	5	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	U20		RUS	2519	RUS	6,5	0,0	38,0	35,0	30,75	6
8	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2616	PSPB	6,0	0,0	44,5	40,0	31,75	5
9	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam			UKR	2541	UKR	6,0	0,0	40,0	37,0	29,75	4
10	12	GM	Karthikeyan P.			IND	2422	ICF	6,0	0,0	38,5	36,0	28,00	5
11	37	IM	Murali Krishnan B T			IND	2192	S.Rly	6,0	0,0	36,5	33,5	26,00	5
12	17	IM	Rajesh V A V			IND	2378	TN	5,5	0,0	44,0	40,5	28,00	4
13	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad			TJK	2442	TJK	5,5	0,0	40,5	36,5	26,25	5
14	51	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	U14		IND	2124	TN	5,5	0,0	40,0	37,5	23,00	4
15	34		Baivab Mishra			IND	2215	ORI	5,5	0,0	39,5	36,0	23,75	5
16	24		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan			IND	2278	ORI	5,5	0,0	39,5	35,5	23,75	5
17	19	IM	Nitin S.			IND	2358	S.Rly	5,5	0,0	39,0	37,5	24,25	4
18	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	U20		IND	2384	TN	5,5	0,0	38,5	35,5	24,25	4
19	29		Prasannaa.S			IND	2237	TN	5,5	0,0	38,5	35,5	23,25	5
20	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	U16		IND	2364	TEL	5,5	0,0	38,5	35,0	24,75	4

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