Athens Of The East 1st International Grandmaster Open Chess Tournament begins

by Satanick Mukhuty - 13/08/2019

The Athens Of The East 1st International Grandmaster Open Chess Tournament 2019 has begun from the the 10th of August and will continue till 18th in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The tournament has three categories (A, B, and C) for players rated 1700 and above, below 1700, and below 1600 respectively. Four times Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta is the top seed of the category A event, followed by Boris Savchenko and Pavel Smirnov. Out of the total 180 participants in Category A, 35 are titled players which include 9 Grandmasters and 14 International Masters. This is a ten rounds swiss event following a time control of 90 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move one. In this pictorial report we bring you the glimpses of the first two days of action.

The Inauguration

P Stephen Balasamy, Secretary TNSCA, inaugurated the tournament with the top two seeds Abhijeet Gupta and Boris Savchenko | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Four times commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta inaugurated the B category of the event | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

A total prize fund of Rs. 32,00,000 will be disbursed in the event. With Rs. 12,00,000 in Category A | Source: Tournament circular

Round 1: Exhaustion and not many surprises

In the first round of the event many players found themselves tired having underwent exhausting journeys. Several of them were coming directly from the recently concluded Chess Festival in Abu Dhabi. But despite this the top-seeded players didn't have much difficulty beating their opponents. Abhijeet Gupta had an easy win with black pieces against Koustuv Dash of Odisha, and arriving from Abu Dhabi GM Venkatesh M.R. and IM Shyamnikhil P also defeated their respective opponents Aravind P V S and Shyam Kumar N with ease. The only surprising result came from the 11th board where 1791 rated Bhagyashree Patil from Gujarat held GM Karthikeyan Pandian to a draw.

Bhagyashree Patil didn't allow much chances to her Grandmaster opponent Karthikeyan P. out of the opening and into the middlegame. Although ultimately it came down to an opposite coloured bishop ending where she was down a pawn but this she was able to defend without difficulty | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Abhijeet Gupta defeated Koustuv Dash of Odisha comfortably | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Tired minds and bodies - IM Muhammad Khsenkhojaev of Tajikistan was tired after a long journey with transits in three airports | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Chilean Grandmaster Rodrigo Vásquez Schroder was also arriving from Abu Dhabi Chess Festival | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

GM Venkatesh MR was also able to reach in time for the first round coming from Abu Dhabi | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Boris Savchenko, the second seed of the event, had no problems beating Chilukuri Sai Varshith in the first round | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Adam Tukhaev defeated Merlin Godson of Tamil Nadu | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

GM Masoud Mosadeghpour of Iran won against Rakshith Srinivasan of Karnataka | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Results of first round

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	91		Koustuv Dash	1846	ORI	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	1
2	2	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	0	1 - 0	0		Chilukuri Sai Varshith	1840	AP	92
3	93		Soundarya Kumar Pradhan *)	1831	ORI	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	3
4	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	0	1 - 0	0		Godson Merlin E	1828	TN	94
5	95	WFM	Bidhar Rutumbara	1825	ORI	0	+ - -	0	IM	Triapishko Alexandr	2519	RUS	5
6	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	0	1 - 0	0		Rakshith Srinivasan	1811	KAR	96
7	97		Suganthan S	1807	TN	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	7
8	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	0	1 - 0	0		Aravind P V S	1806	AP	98
9	99		Shyam Kumar M	1806	TN	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	9
10	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	0	1 - 0	0		Krithigga K	1793	TN	100
11	101		Bhagyashree Patil	1791	MAH	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2422	ICF	12
12	13	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	0	1 - 0	0		Subramanian R M	1790	TN-M	102
13	103		Aravinth Shanmugam S	1788	TN-M	0	0 - 1	0		Harshavardhan G B	2391	TN	14
14	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	0	1 - 0	0		Alalwan Sajjad Abbas Khudhair	1784	IRQ	104
15	105		Babul Mollick	1783	BAN	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2383	TN	16
16	17	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	0	1 - 0	0		Sai Kiran Y	1780	AP	106
17	107		Harshit Ranjan Sahu	1778	ORI	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	18
18	19	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	0	1 - 0	0		Dangi Mani Raj	1777	NEP	108
19	109		Avinash Ramesh	1776	TN	0	½ - ½	0	FM	Om Kharola	2357	MAH	20
20	21	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2337	S.Rly	0	1 - 0	0		Shravan Swaminathan	1774	TN	110

Rounds 2-3: The Blitz King Rajaram Laxman joins in!

The Blitz King of India, Grandmaster Rajaram Laxman, wasn't able to play in the first round after returning from Abu Dhabi. He started his tournament from the second round defeating Divyabharathi Masanam of Tamil Nadu | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Abhijeet Gupta found easy victory against seven times Kerala champion O.T.Anilkumar in round two. Gupta was able to first dominate an open c-file and then launch an onslaught against Anilkumar's king stuck in the middle of the board | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Telegana's IM Raja Rithvik R has made a promising start winning all his games in the first three rounds | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

The event's third seed Pavel Smirnov defeated S.Prasanna in round three | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

IM Rathnakaran K. is also on 3.0/3 and faces GM Venkatesh M.R. in round four | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

In round three, IM Shyamnikhil P was held to a draw by CM Nikhil Magizhnan | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Abhijeet Gupta was surprisingly held to a draw in the third round by Odisha's Rajesh Nayak | Photo: IA Rathinam Anantharam

Results of second round

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	1	1 - 0	1		Anilkumar O.T.	2079	KER	55
2	56		Marthandan K U	2074	KER	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	2
3	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	1	1 - 0	1		Rakesh Kumar Nayak	2042	ORI	59
4	58		Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki	2046	TN	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	4
5	60	CM	Kadam Om Manish	2028	MAH	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	6
6	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	1	1 - 0	1		Alan Diviya Raj	2026	TN	61
7	64		Ilamparthi A R	1984	TN	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	8
8	9	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	1	1 - 0	1		Aditya Varun Gampa	1999	TEL	63
9	66		Mushini Ajay	1980	AP	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	10
10	69		Arnav Maheshwari	1966	TN	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	13
11	14		Harshavardhan G B	2391	TN	1	½ - ½	1		Pattnayak Nilsu	1979	ORI	67
12	74		Jain Kashish Manoj	1937	MAH	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	15
13	16	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2383	TN	1	1 - 0	1		Gias Uddin Ahmed	1961	BAN	71
14	75		Sooraj M R	1934	KER	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	17
15	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	1	1 - 0	1		Ayushh Ravikumar	1907	TN	79
16	76		Shivasubramanian R	1916	MAH	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	19
17	78		Mohamed Anees M	1910	TN	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2337	S.Rly	21
18	80		Shreyash Shuvam Patnaik	1903	ORI	1	0 - 1	1		Kunal M.	2306	TN	23
19	24		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2278	ORI	1	1 - 0	1		Manthan Kashyap Datta	1893	ASM	81
20	86		Nikhil M	1865	AP	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2272	DEL	25

Results of third round

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	27		Nayak Rajesh	2250	ORI	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	PSPB	1
2	2	GM	Savchenko Boris	2576	RUS	2	1 - 0	2		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2278	ORI	24
3	29		Prasannaa.S	2237	TN	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Smirnov Pavel	2574	RUS	3
4	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	UKR	2	1 - 0	2		Hari Madhavan N B	2231	TN	30
5	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2509	IRI	2	1 - 0	2		Patil Pratik	2216	MAH	33
6	35		Lokesh N.	2202	TN	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2496	CHI	7
7	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	PSPB	2	1 - 0	2		Baivab Mishra	2215	ORI	34
8	51	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	2124	TN	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	ICF	9
9	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2442	TJK	2	1 - 0	2		Priyanka K	2201	TN	36
10	13	IM	Das Sayantan	2409	WB	2	1 - 0	2		Balkishan A.	2173	KAR	38
11	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	2384	TN	2	½ - ½	2		Dusthageer Ibrahim M.	2156	TN-M	44
12	53		Manigandan S S	2100	TN-M	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2383	TN	16
13	17	IM	Rajesh V A V	2378	TN	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Ramakrishna J.	2155	AP	45
14	117		Kalyani B	1736	TN	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	TEL	18
15	19	IM	Nitin S.	2358	S.Rly	2	½ - ½	2		Niraj Saripalli	2150	GOA	48
16	21	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2337	S.Rly	2	1 - 0	2		Rathneesh R	2136	TN	50
17	23		Kunal M.	2306	TN	2	0 - 1	2	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2082	LIC	54
18	47		Surendran N	2152	TN	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2422	ICF	12
19	65		Gokhale Rishabh Chandrashekhar	1981	MAH	1½	½ - ½	1½		Harshavardhan G B	2391	TN	14
20	67		Pattnayak Nilsu	1979	ORI	1½	½ - ½	1½	FM	Om Kharola	2357	MAH	20

Standings after third round

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	13	IM	Das Sayantan			IND	2409	WB	3,0	0,0	5,5	4,0	6,00	3
2	3	GM	Smirnov Pavel			RUS	2574	RUS	3,0	0,0	5,0	4,0	5,00	3
	18	IM	Raja Rithvik R	U16		IND	2364	TEL	3,0	0,0	5,0	4,0	5,00	3
4	2	GM	Savchenko Boris			RUS	2576	RUS	3,0	0,0	5,0	3,5	5,50	3
5	21	IM	Rathnakaran K.			IND	2337	S.Rly	3,0	0,0	4,5	4,0	4,50	3
6	8	GM	Venkatesh M.R.			IND	2480	PSPB	3,0	0,0	4,5	3,5	4,50	3
	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad			TJK	2442	TJK	3,0	0,0	4,5	3,5	4,50	3
8	16	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy			IND	2383	TN	3,0	0,0	4,0	4,0	4,00	3
9	17	IM	Rajesh V A V			IND	2378	TN	3,0	0,0	4,0	3,0	5,00	3
10	6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud			IRI	2509	IRI	3,0	0,0	4,0	3,0	4,00	3
11	4	GM	Tukhaev Adam			UKR	2541	UKR	3,0	0,0	3,5	3,5	3,50	3
12	54	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty		w	IND	2082	LIC	3,0	0,0	3,5	3,0	4,50	3
13	1	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2616	PSPB	2,5	0,0	6,5	4,5	5,25	2
	27		Nayak Rajesh			IND	2250	ORI	2,5	0,0	6,5	4,5	5,25	2
15	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	U20		IND	2384	TN	2,5	0,0	5,0	4,5	3,75	2
16	19	IM	Nitin S.			IND	2358	S.Rly	2,5	0,0	5,0	4,0	3,75	2
17	162		Sarath Chandra K	U18		IND	1594	TEL	2,5	0,0	5,0	4,0	2,75	2
18	44		Dusthageer Ibrahim M.			IND	2156	TN-M	2,5	0,0	4,5	4,0	3,25	2
19	43		Lakshmi Narayanan M V			IND	2166	TN	2,5	0,0	4,5	3,5	3,75	2
20	7	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	S50		CHI	2496	CHI	2,5	0,0	4,5	3,5	3,25	2

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