Madurai tournament comes to conclusion with four players on top

by Satanick Mukhuty - 19/08/2019

The Athens of the East 1st International Grandmaster Open tournament came to conclusion on the 18th of August. After ten rounds the event saw four players - Boris Savchenko, Sayantan Das, Venkatesh MR, and Adam Tukhaev - share the lead with 8.0/10 points. However, based on tie-break scores Boris Savchenko was declared as the champion. The top-seed and four times Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta had a forgettable event as he went down against the Ukrainian Grandmaster Adam Tukhaev in the final round to slip to the eighth place on rank-list. IM Shyaamnikhil P was placed sixth and India's Blitz King Laxman Rajaram, who actually started the event from second round, recovered well and finished seventh. We bring you a detailed report on the last two rounds of the tournament.

Round 9: Sayantan and Venkatesh score fine victories!

GM Venkatesh MR in action against Alexandr Triapishko of Russia in round nine | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

West Bengal's Sayantan Das was 100 Elo points lower rated than Masoud Mosadeghpour yet he was able to outwit the Iranian Grandmaster in what was an exceedingly complex topsy-turvy game | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Both GM Venkatesh MR and IM Sayantan Das performed well in this event. They were placed eighth and thirteenth at the start of the tournament but played some solid bit of chess to climb up the leaderboard and finish on the top. Their victories against Alexandr Triapishko and Masoud Mosadeghpour respectively in the penultimate round of the event were particularly crucial. Let us begin by looking at the highlights of these two games.

Venkatesh MR - Alexandr Triapishko, Round 9

Out of a sideline Caro-Kann the game turned unusually double-edged. Notice, in the above position Black has just played g6 in order to pre-empt f4-f5 ideas but this creates a "pawn hook" which White can potentially exploit by pushing h4 and h5.

Black needed to generate counterplay on the other side of the board. With a7-a5 he created this nice pawn armada on the queenside.

21.Qh3 not only removes the queen out of the rook's line (g-file) but also applies more pressure on e6. Now, h4-h5 had to be stopped by 21...h5

In the above position Alexandr Triapishko was perhaps afraid of 21...h5 22.Bxe6 ideas and hence played 21...Nf8 instead to strengthen e6 but this was a critical error of judgement. White got in 22.h5 immediately and after 22...Qd7 23.Rfb1 Rb8 24.Rxb8 Nxb8 25.Rb1 things gradually started to go downhill for Black.

Position after 25.Rb1: White stands visibly better with unrivalled control over the b-file and also excellent play on the kingside with hxg6 being imminent.

It was a good strategic decision to get the dark-squared bishop exchanged as that would rob off Black from an important defensive piece.

Next, the black king was opened up. With the white rook on the sixth rank it didn't have much chances at survival!

The game continued till twenty more moves. Black resigned on move 58 in a completely lost ending where he was down two pawns. The full game with annotations is presented below:

Sayantan's game against Masoud was relatively more complex and topsy-turvy. But in the end, it was the Indian who had the last laugh. Below is the final critical moment of the game:

Masoud Mosadeghpour - Sayantan Das, Round 9

The tables were turned when Black played the move 40...e2, What would you do if you were in White's shoes here?

Masoud played the move 41.Re1 here, a perfectly natural looking move, but this fell prey to 42.Qd2 Kf2 43.Nc3 after which Black simply broke through (see game below), the right way instead would have been 41.Rxf7 exf1=Q+ 42. Rxf1 Nc7 43. Rf2 Qb1+ 44. Kh2 Qe4 45. Rf4 Qc6 46. Rxb4 after which Black simply doesn't find a way to make progress. White has three extra pawns for a piece and his pieces are far more active.

Boris Savchenko too registered an important victory in the penultimate round against the third seed of the event Pavel Smirnov. This win enabled him to take lead along with Sayantan and Venkatesh at the end of nine rounds | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Results of round 9

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	2	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	6½	1 - 0	7	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	3
2	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	6½	1 - 0	6½	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	2519	RUS	5
3	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	6½	0 - 1	6½	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	13
4	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	6	1 - 0	6½	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	7
5	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2422	ICF	12
6	37	IM	Murali Krishnan B T	2192	S.Rly	6	0 - 1	5½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	9
7	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	5½	½ - ½	5½		Hari Madhavan N B	2231	TN	30
8	29		Prasannaa.S	2237	TN	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Laxman R.R.	2426	ICF	11
9	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	5½	1 - 0	5½		Baivab Mishra	2215	ORI	34
10	17	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	5½	1 - 0	5½		Ram S. Krishnan	2224	BSNL	32
11	33		Patil Pratik	2216	MAH	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	18
12	19	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	5½	1 - 0	5½		Balkishan A.	2173	KAR	38
13	35		Lokesh N.	2202	TN	5½	1 - 0	5½		Kunal M.	2306	TN	23
14	24		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2278	ORI	5½	½ - ½	5½	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	2124	TN	51
15	47		Surendran N	2152	TN	5	1 - 0	5		Harshavardhan G B	2391	TN	14
16	48		Niraj Saripalli	2150	GOA	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2383	TN	16
17	52		Sibi Visal R	2118	TN	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2329	KVB	22
18	25	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2272	DEL	5	1 - 0	5	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2082	LIC	54
19	27		Nayak Rajesh	2250	ORI	5	1 - 0	5		Sa Kannan	2021	TN	62
20	55		Anilkumar O.T.	2079	KER	5	1 - 0	5		Priyanka K	2201	TN	36

Round 10: Adam Tukhaev too joins the lead!

In the final round as the encounters in the first two boards ended in draws, Adam Tukhaev of Ukraine dashed ahead to join the leaders by beating top seed Abhijeet Gupta in the third board! Thus the tournament found four leaders tied on 8.0/10 points.

Adam Tukhaev slowed down from rounds four to six drawing against lower rated opponents but he recovered well to defeat Grandmasters Karthikeyan Pandian and Abhijeet Gupta in the last two rounds of the event | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

An overview of Tukhaev's performance

Sayantan Das was a bit worse against Pavel Smirnov in the last round but he defended resourcefully to force the split of point in the end by means of a perpetual | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

An overview of Sayantan's performance. He lost only to Venkatesh in the fifth round and gained 26 Elo points from the event.

Venkatesh MR too was able to hold Boris Savchenko to a draw with the black pieces after a 69 moves long topsy-turvy game | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Venkatesh lost only to Pavel Smirnov in round seven and gained 17.5 Elo points from the event.

Boris Savchenko was declared the champion based on his better tie-break score.

Results of round 10

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	2	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	7½	½ - ½	7½	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	8
2	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	7	½ - ½	7½	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	13
3	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	1
4	5	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	2519	RUS	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	19
5	11	GM	Laxman R.R.	2426	ICF	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	6
6	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	15
7	9	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	6½	1 - 0	6½		Lokesh N.	2202	TN	35
8	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	17
9	37	IM	Murali Krishnan B T	2192	S.Rly	6	0 - 1	6	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	10
10	12	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2422	ICF	6	½ - ½	6		Lakshmi Narayanan M V	2166	TN	43
11	22	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2329	KVB	6	1 - 0	6		Niraj Saripalli	2150	GOA	48
12	24		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2278	ORI	6	1 - 0	6		Surendran N	2152	TN	47
13	51	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	2124	TN	6	½ - ½	6	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2272	DEL	25
14	55		Anilkumar O.T.	2079	KER	6	0 - 1	6		Nayak Rajesh	2250	ORI	27
15	30		Hari Madhavan N B	2231	TN	6	1 - 0	6		Dhanush Ragav N S	1753	TN	116
16	58		Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki	2046	TN	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2337	S.Rly	21
17	59		Rakesh Kumar Nayak	2042	ORI	5½	0 - 1	5½		Prasannaa.S	2237	TN	29
18	32		Ram S. Krishnan	2224	BSNL	5½	1 - 0	5½		Pattnayak Nilsu	1979	ORI	67
19	91		Koustuv Dash	1846	ORI	5½	1 - 0	5½		Patil Pratik	2216	MAH	33
20	34		Baivab Mishra	2215	ORI	5½	1 - 0	5½	WFM	Lakshmi C	1912	TN	77

Complete results of round 10

Final standings after round 10

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Savchenko Boris			RUS	2576	RUS	8,0	0,0	64,0	68,5	53,00	7
2	13	IM	Das Sayantan			IND	2409	WB	8,0	0,0	63,0	67,5	52,25	7
3	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.			IND	2480	PSPB	8,0	0,0	62,0	65,5	48,50	7
4	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam			UKR	2541	UKR	8,0	0,0	58,0	62,5	49,75	6
5	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel			RUS	2574	RUS	7,5	0,0	62,5	66,0	47,50	6
6	9	IM	Shyaamnikhil P			IND	2457	ICF	7,5	0,0	57,0	60,5	39,75	6
7	11	GM	Laxman R.R.			IND	2426	ICF	7,5	0,0	55,0	58,0	41,75	7
8	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2616	PSPB	7,0	0,0	63,0	69,0	46,00	6
9	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	S50		CHI	2496	CHI	7,0	0,0	61,0	66,0	45,25	5
10	17	IM	Rajesh V A V			IND	2378	TN	7,0	0,0	60,0	65,0	42,75	5
11	19	IM	Nitin S.			IND	2358	S.Rly	7,0	0,0	57,5	59,5	38,50	5
12	24		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan			IND	2278	ORI	7,0	0,0	57,0	62,0	39,00	6
13	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad			TJK	2442	TJK	7,0	0,0	57,0	61,5	41,25	6
14	27		Nayak Rajesh			IND	2250	ORI	7,0	0,0	56,5	61,5	41,75	5
15	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	U20		IND	2384	TN	7,0	0,0	56,5	61,0	40,50	5
16	5	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	U20		RUS	2519	RUS	7,0	0,0	56,5	60,0	40,00	6
17	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	U16		IND	2364	TEL	7,0	0,0	55,0	59,0	38,50	5
18	30		Hari Madhavan N B	U16		IND	2231	TN	7,0	0,0	54,0	59,0	39,00	5
19	22	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.			IND	2329	KVB	7,0	0,0	51,5	55,5	37,75	6
20	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud			IRI	2509	IRI	6,5	0,0	58,5	63,5	37,50	6

Complete standings

Related news:

	एथेंस ऑफ द ईस्टः शायांतन -वेंकटेश को सयुंक्त पहला स्थान @ 20/08/2019 by Nitesh srivastava (hi)
	Athens of the East Round 8: Abhijeet Gupta goes down against Pavel Smirnov @ 17/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	Athens of the East Round 7: Sayantan and Abhijeet join the lead @ 16/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	Athens of the East Rounds 5-6: Perfect 6.0/6 score for Venkatesh! @ 15/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	एथेंस ऑफ ईस्ट इंटरनेशनल – वेंकटेश सबसे आगे @ 14/08/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Athens of the East 2019 Round 4: West Bengal's Sayantan Das stuns second seed Boris Savchenko @ 14/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	Athens Of The East 1st International Grandmaster Open Chess Tournament begins @ 13/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)