Commonwealth 2022 R1-4: Mitrabha outwits Aravindh, gains sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 18/11/2022

India's 72nd GM Mitrabha Guha scored a big victory over the top seed of the tournament, GM Aravindh Chithambaram. Their rivalry started over nine years ago and so far they have had only one draw in their nine encounters. Mitrabha won an exciting battle to gain sole lead 4/4. GM-elect IM Pranesh M is one of the six players at 3.5/4. He defeated a former Commonwealth Gold medalist, GM Deep Sengupta in the fourth round. The teenager is also leading the Under-14 Open with a perfect 4/4. WGM-elect Sakshi Chitlange and veteran WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay are currently the top female scorers at 3/4 each. Round 5 in the Open section starts today at 4 p.m. local time and IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Pranesh and Gaurang make an impressive start

13-year-old CM Gaurang Bagwe defeated IM P Shyam Nikhil in Round 2 and GM Enamul Hossain (BAN) in Round 4. He is currently 3/4 in the Open event and sole leader in Under-14 Open with a 3.5/4. It goes without saying that Gaurang has certainly made a great start. Except for Under-14 Girls, Indian kids are in the lead in every age group starting from Under-8 to Under-18, Under-20 also which is merged with the Open section. 48 medals are up for grabs and the total prize fund of the tournament is ₹5325000 (approxx. US$ 15000). The top three prizes in the Open section are ₹750000, ₹600000 and ₹450000 each respectively.

GM Mitrabha Guha is the sole leader 4/4 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Open Round 4: Mitrabha - Aravindh: 1-0

GM Mitrabha Guha (2474) had an exciting game against the top seed GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2625).

Position after 15.g4

There are plenty of choices here for Black but which is the correct one? It is certainly not easy to determine. The reigning National Rapid and Blitz champion, Aravindh was puzzled. He opted for 15...Be6. After mutual inaccuracies 16.Ne4 Nf4 17.Bxf4 exf4 18.c6 Bd5 19.Rc1 White gained a substantial advantage. The correct continuation for Black was 15...dxe3 16.Qxd8 Raxd8 17.gxf5 exf2+ 18.Kxf2 e4 19.Nxe4 gxf5 20.Nd6 Bd4+ 21.Kf3 Bxc5 22.Nxf5 and Black has dodged all trouble.

Deep - Pranesh

Position after 48.Qf2

The above endgame is certainly quite difficult to defend for White. 48.Qe2 is what White needed to play to prevent something which 48.Qf2 does not. Can you find out a nice tactic which Black could have done to finish the game a little earlier?

GM-elect IM Pranesh M defeated GM Deep Sengupta to move to 3.5/4. He is also leading the Under-16 section with a perfect 4/4 | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

CM Gaurang Bagwe defeated GM Enamul Hossain (BAN) in the fourth round of Open event 3/4 and he is also the sole leader in Under-14 Open 3.5/4 and he also | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

World Under-12 Girls Gold medalist Shubhi Gupta is currently leading the Under-12 Girls section with a 100% score 4/4 | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

Reigning National Under-18 Open champion CM Soham Kamotra 3.5/4 is currently sharing the lead with K G T S D Kiriella (SRI) in Under-18 Open | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

WGM-elect WIM Sakshi Chitlange is currently top female scorer 3/4 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay is also at 3/4

Asian Continental 2022 Women Silver medalist WGM Priyanka Nutakki is close on their heels at 2.5/4. She is also leading the Under-20 Girls category | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

World Under-8 Girls Gold medal winner, Charvi A is currently sharing the lead 4/4 with J Vaneesha Oshini Gomes (SRI) in Under-8 Girls

World Under-8 Bronze medalist - Safin Safarullakhan shares the lead with Samar Dayal (ENG) 3.5/4 in Under-8 Open

Under-10 Open: Vivaan Vishal Shah (pictured) and Aarav Sarbalia are the coleaders 4/4 | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

Under-12 Open: Asian Youth Gold and Silver medalist Ethan Vaz and... | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

...the National Under-12 Open champion, Goutham Krishna H are the coleaders 3.5/4 | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

Luxman Wijesuriya, CFSL President delivers his speech | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

India's 3rd GM in history, Pravin Thipsay lights up the lamp | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

The drawing of colors at the inauguration ceremony | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

A total of 94 players including 12 GMs, 7 IMs, a WGM and 3 WIMs are taking part from Bangladesh, England, India, Maldives, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the Open category. The nine-round Swiss League tournament is organized by Chess Federation of Sri Lanka from 14th to 22nd November 2022 at Citrus Hotel in Waskaduwa, Sri Lanka. The time control of the tournament is 90 Minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 1-4 games

Round 4 results in Open

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	Rtg	No.
4	1	10	GM	Mitrabha Guha		2474	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		2625	1
4	2	4	GM	Iniyan P		2534	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Vignesh N R		2486	9
4	3	8	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		2486	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Venkatesh M.R.		2470	11
4	4	12	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		2461	3	½ - ½	2½	GM	Lalit Babu M R		2550	3
4	5	2	GM	Visakh N R		2566	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Mohammad Fahad Rahman	U20	2380	18
4	6	6	GM	Sengupta Deep		2497	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Pranesh M		2438	15
4	7	16	GM	Neelotpal Das		2400	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Raja Rithvik R		2452	13
4	9	32		Kaluarachchi Achinthya Shamen		1895	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Shyaamnikhil P		2489	7
4	10	14	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh		2439	2	1 - 0	2	CM	Amarasinghe A A C B		1850	33
4	11	30	CM	Bagwe Gaurang	U20	1965	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Hossain Enamul		2392	17
4	12	36	AFM	Shubhi Gupta	F20	1815	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Dushyant Sharma	U20	2370	19
4	13	20	CM	Soham Kamotra	U20	2367	2	1 - 0	2		Liyanage Pesandu Rashmitha		1812	37
4	15	42		Sivathanujan S		1731	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	F20	2320	22
4	16	55		Swara Lakshmi S Nair	F20	1497	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi		2208	23
4	18	59		Maithripala W D P N		1461	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	S60	2072	25
4	19	26	AIM	Vaz Ethan	U20	2049	2	1 - 0	2		Saravanabaavan Brijeash	U20	1627	45
4	21	85		Francis U M Senal Vishmin		1212	1½	½ - ½	1½		Rindhiya V	F20	1971	29
4	23	81		Thilakarathne Adeesha Dinal		1243	1½	½ - ½	1½		Kanishka S	F20	1764	39
4	26	57		Sherali Pattnaik	F20	1489	1½	1 - 0	1½		Abeyrathne K W A M G Dinod Uthsanda	U20	1346	73

Details

Round 5 pairings in Open

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	Rtg	No.
5	1	9	IM	Vignesh N R		2486	3½		4	GM	Mitrabha Guha		2474	10
5	2	15	IM	Pranesh M		2438	3½		3½	GM	Iniyan P		2534	4
5	3	11	GM	Venkatesh M.R.		2470	3½		3½	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		2461	12
5	4	1	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		2625	3		3½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		2486	8
5	5	19	IM	Dushyant Sharma	U20	2370	3		3	GM	Visakh N R		2566	2
5	6	3	GM	Lalit Babu M R		2550	3		3	CM	Soham Kamotra	U20	2367	20
5	7	7	IM	Shyaamnikhil P		2489	3		3	AIM	Vaz Ethan	U20	2049	26
5	8	13	GM	Raja Rithvik R		2452	3		3	CM	Bagwe Gaurang	U20	1965	30
5	9	21	FM	Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan	U20	2331	3		3	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh		2439	14
5	10	23	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi		2208	3		3	GM	Neelotpal Das		2400	16
5	12	25	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	S60	2072	3		2½	GM	Sengupta Deep		2497	6
5	14	22	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	F20	2320	2½		2½	AIM	Arunakirinathan Aruthran		1543	49
5	18	17	GM	Hossain Enamul		2392	2		2½		Sherali Pattnaik	F20	1489	57
5	20	29		Rindhiya V	F20	1971	2		2		Swara Lakshmi S Nair	F20	1497	55
5	23	62	CM	Hansana G Haritha		1445	2		2	AFM	Shubhi Gupta	F20	1815	36
5	25	39		Kanishka S	F20	1764	2		2		Perera H A Lisanda Vinsith		1299	79

Details

Links

Tournament Regulations

Chess Federation of Sri Lanka: Official site and facebook

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