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Neelash defeats top seed, three-way lead after round 4 in Kathmandu Open 2018

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/04/2018

Reigning West Bengal State Champion, 16-year old Neelash Saha defeated top seed GM Sergey Volkov of Russia in round 4 of Kathmandu Open 2018. It was the biggest upset of the day. At the end of round 4, there is a three-way tie between GM Tarlev Konstantin of Ukraine, GM Sergey Kasparov of Belarus and GM Alon Greenfeld of Israel. Among round 3 upsets, untitled Patil Pratik drew with GM Deep Sengupta, Harshita Guddanti drew with IM Harsha Bharathakoti, Anustoop Biswas drew with GM Sriram Jha and Nepali Badrilal defeated IM Alina L'ami. In this report we bring you games, photos and videos from round 3 and 4 of Kathmandu Open 2018. Photo: Nongsha Angom

Rough patch for top seed Sergey Volkov continues

Neelash Saha after defeating the top seed of the tournament, former Russia champion, GM Sergey Volkov

Neelash sacrificed his Knight in 19th move, arising out of Catalan Opening. To capitalize on the initiative, he offered another Knight in 23rd move which his opponent declined, but he had to give up his Queen in the next move, making him get a Queen for three pieces. Neelash converted the attack brilliantly and with a sharp play won the game in 44 moves convincingly.

Round 3 highlights

Patil Pratik drew with GM Deep Sengupta in Modern Defence | Photo: Nongsha Angom

Harshita Guddanti drew with IM Harsha Bharathakoti in a sharp tactical game from Open Catalan opening

GM Sriram Jha managed to save the game after losing an exchange in Albin-Counter Gambit

Nepali Badrilal shocked Alina L'ami in English Opening and defeated her

Round 4 highlights

Battle of the generations: GM Alexander Fominyh drew with GM Sandipan Chanda in Dutch Defence

Padmini gave up a pawn in Giuco Piano which Tarlev recovered and gave it away, eventually he won in a Rook-Pawn ending
GM Tarlev Konstantin is among the leaders at the end of round 4

GM Azer Mirzoev drew with IM P Shyam Nikhil in 4.5+ hours long, 110 moves marathon game

Pairings/Results

Round 5 on 2018/04/15 at 09:00 NST

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
14
GMTarlev Konstantin254944GMKasparov Sergey2462
7
26
GMGreenfeld Alon24904GMSandipan Chanda2579
2
314
IMShyaamnikhil P2385GMSengupta Deep2579
3
430
Harshavardhan G B2119GMMirzoev Azer2504
5
58
IMHarsha Bharathakoti2424GMFominyh Alexander2391
13
610
IMGusain Himal2413Neelash Saha2212
25
723
Patil Pratik2258IMPrince Bajaj2409
11
812
GMSriram Jha2392IMDeshmukh Anup2282
21
936
Subhayan Kundu207933IMLlaneza Vega Marcos2422
9
1015
Kaustuv Kundu238133FMHamal Manish2058
38
1144
Puri Rajan199433IMPadmini Rout2360
16
1218
IML'ami Alina231633Sonkalan Bharati2050
39
1319
FMGajwa Ankit229233Nepali Badrilal2020
41
1420
Navalgund Niranjan228633Kavinda Akila1996
42
1522
CMThing Bibek226333CMNiraula Bhupendra1994
43
1645
Panta Sumit199333IMSuvrajit Saha2234
24
1726
Ramaraju N217533CMRajbhandari Rijendra1959
50
1827
FMMohammed Abdul Malek217133WFMLakshmi C1942
53
1928
FMShantharam K.V.216333Jati Bikram1830
68
2051
Tamang Thendup195333FMJaiswal Rupesh2121
29