Athens of the East 2019 Round 4: West Bengal's Sayantan Das stuns second seed Boris Savchenko

by Satanick Mukhuty - 14/08/2019

It was round four at the Athens of the East International Open 2019. IM Sayantan Das of West Bengal shocked the Russian Grandmaster and second seed of the event Boris Savchenko by checkmating him in a mere thirty-eight moves. It was a double-edged Sicilian game where the Indian player managed to heavily punish his opponent's slow and dubious plans. WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty also created a stir by beating the Tajikistani IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev. Elsewhere, Rajesh V A V, Konguvel Ponnuswamy, and Raja Rithvik R. held their higher rated adversaries Pavel Smirnov, Adam Tukhaev, and Masoud Mosadeghpour respectively to draws. All in all, after four rounds, three players - Sayantan Das, Venkatesh M R, and Kiran Manisha Mohanty - lead the event with 4.0/4. In this report we bring you photos, games, and more.

Sayantan, Venkatesh, and Kiran lead after round 4 of Athens of the East Open

Sayantan Das is more than 150 points lower rated than Boris Savchenko but causing upsets have become a norm with Indian players these days! | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Playing with the Black pieces, Savchenko chose a somewhat offbeat variation of the Sicilian defense with an advance development of queen. The game soon turned sharp with White castling queenside and lashing out with a pawn storm on the opposite side. The Russian GM couldn't quite react with the most effective counterplay and found himself on the receiving end of a deadly onslaught in no time. Let us begin by looking at the highlights of this encounter.

Sayantan Das - Boris Savchenko, Round 4

4...Qb6 introduces the so-called Godiva variation. Black seeks to remove White's d4 knight early and then proceed with development.

With 13.Kb1 White prepares for a full-fledged pawn storm on the kingside with g5 and h4. Black's best bet here perhaps would have been 13...Nb4 followed by Bb7 but in the game Savchenko opted for 13...Nb6 instead which seemed a tad slow.

The game turned double-edged very soon!

22...f5 was a mistake and led to further weakening of the kingside. White now had an unstoppable onslaught in store!

e5 is Black's only way to prevent mate on g7 but this results in a dangerous central liquidation that allows other white pieces to join the foray.

Can you guess White's final breakthrough move in the above position?

Here's the full game for you to peruse:

What happened in Kiran Manisha Mohanty versus Muhammad Khusenkhojaev is rather unfortunate as the latter had a decisive edge at one point of the game. The IM from Tajikistan blundered, first to blow away his advantage and then to end up in a lost position.

Sometimes you play well, sometimes you get a bit lucky! Kiran Manisha Mohanty in action against Muhammad Khusenkhojaev | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Some more photos

IM Rajesh V A V held third seed GM Pavel Smirnov to a draw with the black pieces | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy drew fourth seed GM Adam Tukhaev | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

IM Raja Rithvik R. played solidly against GM Masoud Mosadeghpour to force the split of point | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

The Indian Tal K.Rathnakaran couldn't hold his own against compatriot GM Venkatesh M.R. and lost in just 26 moves | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Top seed Abhijeet Gupta registered victory against Tamil Nadu's N.Lokesh to stay at the heels of the leaders | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Results of round 4

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	13	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	2
2	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	17
3	16	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2383	TN	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	4
4	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	6
5	21	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2337	S.Rly	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	8
6	54	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2082	LIC	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	10
7	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	2½	1 - 0	2½		Lokesh N.	2202	TN	35
8	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	2½	1 - 0	2½		Lakshmi Narayanan M V	2166	TN	43
9	9	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	2½	1 - 0	2½		Sarath Chandra K	1594	TEL	162
10	12	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2422	ICF	2½	½ - ½	2½	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	2124	TN	51
11	32		Ram S. Krishnan	2224	BSNL	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	15
12	44		Dusthageer Ibrahim M.	2156	TN-M	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	19
13	48		Niraj Saripalli	2150	GOA	2½	0 - 1	2½		Nayak Rajesh	2250	ORI	27
14	86		Nikhil M	1865	AP	2½	0 - 1	2	GM	Laxman R.R.	2426	ICF	11
15	62		Sa Kannan	2021	TN	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	2519	RUS	5
16	14		Harshavardhan G B	2391	TN	2	0 - 1	2		Arnav Maheshwari	1966	TN	69
17	20	FM	Om Kharola	2357	MAH	2	1 - 0	2		Gokhale Rishabh Chandrashekhar	1981	MAH	65
18	22	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2329	KVB	2	1 - 0	2		Pattnayak Nilsu	1979	ORI	67
19	74		Jain Kashish Manoj	1937	MAH	2	0 - 1	2		Kunal M.	2306	TN	23
20	24		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2278	ORI	2	1 - 0	2		Gias Uddin Ahmed	1961	BAN	71

Standings after round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	13	IM	Das Sayantan			IND	2409	WB	4,0	0,0	10,5	8,0	11,00	4
2	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.			IND	2480	PSPB	4,0	0,0	9,5	8,0	9,50	4
3	54	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty		w	IND	2082	LIC	4,0	0,0	7,5	7,0	8,50	4
4	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2616	PSPB	3,5	0,0	11,0	9,0	9,25	3
5	27		Nayak Rajesh			IND	2250	ORI	3,5	0,0	11,0	8,5	9,25	3
6	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel			RUS	2574	RUS	3,5	0,0	10,0	8,5	8,25	3
	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	U16		IND	2364	TEL	3,5	0,0	10,0	8,5	8,25	3
8	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam			UKR	2541	UKR	3,5	0,0	9,5	9,0	7,75	3
9	9	IM	Shyaamnikhil P			IND	2457	ICF	3,5	0,0	9,0	7,0	8,00	3
10	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	S50		CHI	2496	CHI	3,5	0,0	9,0	7,0	7,75	3
11	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud			IRI	2509	IRI	3,5	0,0	8,5	7,5	6,75	3
12	16	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy			IND	2383	TN	3,5	0,0	8,0	8,0	6,25	3
13	19	IM	Nitin S.			IND	2358	S.Rly	3,5	0,0	8,0	7,0	6,75	3
14	17	IM	Rajesh V A V			IND	2378	TN	3,5	0,0	8,0	6,5	7,25	3
15	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad			TJK	2442	TJK	3,0	0,0	11,0	9,5	7,00	3
16	2	GM	Savchenko Boris			RUS	2576	RUS	3,0	0,0	11,0	9,0	7,50	3
17	34		Baivab Mishra			IND	2215	ORI	3,0	0,0	10,0	8,5	6,00	3
18	30		Hari Madhavan N B	U16		IND	2231	TN	3,0	0,0	10,0	8,0	6,50	3
19	12	GM	Karthikeyan P.			IND	2422	ICF	3,0	0,0	9,5	8,0	6,75	2
20	23		Kunal M.			IND	2306	TN	3,0	0,0	9,5	8,0	4,00	3

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