D K Sharma clinches MP Masters 2021 Classical, Rapid and Blitz
IM D K Sharma won MP Masters 2021 in all three events - Classical, Rapid and Blitz, scoring 5.0/7, 3.5/5 and 9.5/12 respectively. He played 24 games in five days, including 12 Blitz games on 25th November 2021. Earlier in September he won the 1st Zenith Challenger Cup by winning all eight games and finishing a full point ahead 8.0/8 at Mathura. The stalwart of Uttar Pradesh, D K Sharma won the National Blitz championship in 2018, with a fractured arm. That should definitely give you an inkling of his prowess. Trophies, software products and books were the prizes for the prize winners. Photo: Niklesh Jain
A trifecta triumph
Indrajeet Mahindrakar secured second position in both Rapid and Blitz scoring 3.5/5 and 9.0/12. A last round loss cost WIM Franco Valencia Angela (COL) the championship, and she was placed second in the Classical event. IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni also scored 9.0/12 in Blitz, he was placed third according to the tie-breaks. Saurabh Choubey secured 3rd position in Classical 3.5/5 and Aishwin Daniel was placed third in Rapid 3.0/5.
Round 4: Vikramaditya - Aanjaneya: 0-1
Aanjaneya Phatak scored a nice win against IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni who avoided theory in all games with white pieces by starting with 1.a3.
A good position allows you to play moves like 14...e3. The idea is simple Black wants to play Ne4, get rid of the protector of the b1 square so that he can play Qb1 and gain material. Another idea is to bring the queen to e4 after exchanging the knights and then open h-file. Aanjaneya did both of them to score a victory.
Aishwin - Siddhant: 1-0
Aishwin Daniel made a good recovery from a difficult position and then launched an attack of his own successfully.
33.Nxg6 gives a clear idea of White's intentions 33...Kxg6 34.Re6+ Kxf7 35.Rxc6 Rxc6 36.Qd5+ and it's all over for Black.
Round 5: Angela - Vikramaditya: 0-1
WIM Angela Franco Valencia (COL) went for a trick against IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni.
21.e5 was played with the idea of 22.Bxf5. However, Black stopped the threat 21...Ne4 22.exd6 Bxd6 23.f3 Re5 24.fxe4 Rxa5 and suddenly Black is in the game. 25.Kb1 worsened things for White after 25...Bg3. White eventually lost the game, which was her first loss of the event.
Saurabh - D K Sharma: 0-1
IM D K Sharma joined the lead by beating Saurabh Choubey.
30.Bxf6 would have kept White afloat a bit longer. After a few moves, White decided to take the a7-pawn and Black got 35...c4+ which gave him the decisive advantage.
Round 6: Vikramaditya - Saurabh: 1-0
Saurabh Choubey won arguably the most exciting game of the tournament against IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni where the equilibrium shifted back and forth between the players.
Aishwin - Angela: 0-1
Angela bounced back with a clinical victory against Aishwin.
How do you defend this position as White? It turns out 19.Kg2 is the only way for White to stay in the game. However, 19.Qd1 was played 19...Qf6 20.Kg2 Rf8 21.Be2 Qg6+ and the white king fell into a mating net.
Round 7: Angela - Siddhant: 0-1
Angela lost her final round game against Sidhant after she lost a valuable pawn in the middlegame.
D K Sharma - Vikramaditya: 1-0
In the battle among IMs, D K Sharma prevailed over Vikramaditya Kulkarni.
The above position gives us a clear idea about who is in control. However, after 30...Rd8 White played 31.h3 which allowed Black to take the d4-pawn which he did not take. White managed to convert his advantage into a win, thus clinched the tournament too.
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Round 4-7 results
Round 4 on 2021/11/23 at 04:00 PM | |||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 8 | IND | 2129 | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | 1 - 0 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | IND | 1953 | 6 | |
2 | 7 | IND | 2288 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | ½ - ½ | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | COL | 2089 | 5 |
3 | 1 | IND | 2355 | IM | Kulkarni Vikramaditya | 0 - 1 | Phatak Aanjaneya | IND | 2212 | 4 | |
4 | 2 | IND | 1937 | Aishwin Daniel | 1 - 0 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | IND | 2033 | 3 | |
Round 5 on 2021/11/24 at 10:00 AM | |||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 3 | IND | 2033 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | ½ - ½ | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | IND | 2129 | 8 | |
2 | 4 | IND | 2212 | Phatak Aanjaneya | 0 - 1 | Aishwin Daniel | IND | 1937 | 2 | ||
3 | 5 | COL | 2089 | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | 0 - 1 | IM | Kulkarni Vikramaditya | IND | 2355 | 1 |
4 | 6 | IND | 1953 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | 0 - 1 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | IND | 2288 | 7 |
Round 6 on 2021/11/24 at 04:00 PM | |||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 8 | IND | 2129 | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | ½ - ½ | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | IND | 2288 | 7 | |
2 | 1 | IND | 2355 | IM | Kulkarni Vikramaditya | 0 - 1 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | IND | 1953 | 6 |
3 | 2 | IND | 1937 | Aishwin Daniel | 0 - 1 | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | COL | 2089 | 5 | |
4 | 3 | IND | 2033 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | 1 - 0 | Phatak Aanjaneya | IND | 2212 | 4 | |
Round 7 on 2021/11/25 at 10:00 AM | |||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 4 | IND | 2212 | Phatak Aanjaneya | 0 - 1 | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | IND | 2129 | 8 | ||
2 | 5 | COL | 2089 | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | 0 - 1 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | IND | 2033 | 3 |
3 | 6 | IND | 1953 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | ½ - ½ | Aishwin Daniel | IND | 1937 | 2 | |
4 | 7 | IND | 2288 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | 1 - 0 | IM | Kulkarni Vikramaditya | IND | 2355 | 1 |
Final Standings in Classical
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
1 | 7 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | IND | 2288 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 17,25 | 4 | 2 |
2 | 5 | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | COL | 2089 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 14,50 | 4 | 3 |
3 | 6 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | IND | 1953 | 3,5 | 1,5 | 10,25 | 3 | 2 |
4 | 2 | Aishwin Daniel | IND | 1937 | 3,5 | 1,5 | 10,25 | 3 | 1 | |
5 | 3 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | IND | 2033 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 11,00 | 3 | 1 |
6 | 1 | IM | Kulkarni Vikramaditya | IND | 2355 | 3,0 | 1,0 | 11,00 | 3 | 1 |
7 | 8 | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | IND | 2129 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 9,75 | 2 | 1 | |
8 | 4 | Phatak Aanjaneya | IND | 2212 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 8,00 | 2 | 1 |
Final Standings in Blitz
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
1 | 1 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | IND | 2392 | 9,5 | 0,0 | 45,50 | 9 |
2 | 7 | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | IND | 1983 | 9,0 | 1,0 | 42,50 | 9 | |
3 | 6 | IM | Kulkarni Vikramaditya | IND | 2279 | 9,0 | 1,0 | 39,75 | 8 |
4 | 4 | Aishwin Daniel | IND | 1794 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 23,50 | 5 | |
5 | 5 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | IND | 1848 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 22,25 | 4 |
6 | 3 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | IND | 1838 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 6,50 | 2 |
7 | 2 | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | COL | 2195 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 4,50 | 1 |
Final Standings in Rapid
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
1 | 1 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | IND | 2422 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 8,25 | 2 | 1 |
2 | 2 | Mahindrakar Indrajeet | IND | 1760 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 7,25 | 2 | 0 | |
3 | 4 | Aishwin Daniel | IND | 1752 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 5,75 | 2 | 1 | |
4 | 3 | WIM | Franco Valencia Angela | COL | 2197 | 2,0 | 0,5 | 4,75 | 0 | 0 |
5 | 6 | AFM | Choubey Saurabh | IND | 1719 | 2,0 | 0,5 | 3,75 | 1 | 0 |
6 | 5 | FM | Gaikwad Siddhant | IND | 1941 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 2,75 | 0 | 0 |