MPL 59th National Senior R11: Karthik, Aronyak and Hari Madhavan score superb victories

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/01/2023

GM Karthik Venkataraman, IM Aronyak Ghosh and Hari Madhavan N B scored sensational victories to throw the tournament wide open. Karthik defeated GM Abhijeet Gupta in an thrilling encounter. IM Aronyak Ghosh just simply played outstanding chess against GM Sethuraman S P. India's latest International Master, Hari Madhavan N B defeated GM Mitrabha Guha to join the four-way lead with Karthik, Koustav and Aronyak. The MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship 2022 is undoubtedly heading for a close and exciting finish. Five players - Abhijeet, GM Visakh N R, IM Srihari L R, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and IM Sayantan Das are trailing by a half point at 8/11 each. Round 12 starts today at 9 a.m. IST today. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Hari Madhavan N B becomes the first International Master of India in 2023

The first day of 2023 got India's latest International Master in the form Hari Madhavan N B of Tamil Nadu. He had already crossed 2400 in the live ratings few days ago. He became an International Master by winning against GM Mitrabha Guha in Round 12. The teenager is also leading the tournament with a score of 8.5/11.

GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) won an exhilarating game against GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Abhijeet - Karthik: 0-1

GM Abhijeet Guptta (PSPB, 2601) suffered his third loss of the event, against GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP, 2503). It was an extremely complicated arising out of QGD Ragozin Defence. Abhijeet got quite a few good opportunities against Karthik in the middlegame.

Position after 29...Kh7

Both 30.Ng5+ and Qe3 are promising for White, having the same intention of extracting the black king out in the open and then take advantage of its weakness. 30.Qe3 Qc4 31.Ng5+ Kg6 32.Qg3 Qf4 33.Rxd3 Qxg3 34.Rxg3 is winning for White. However, it is not easy figure it out over the board during time scramble. The game continued 30.Rab1 Qc4 31.Qg5 Nf4 32.Rbc1 Nc2 33.Kh1 Bh6 34.Qh4 Nd3 things started turning in Black's way. 35.Qh5? Nxf2+ 36.Kg1 Ng4 37.Ng5+ Kf8 38.Rd2 Qd4+ and we get the following position:

Position after 38...Qd4+

38...Nce3 instead of 38...Qd4+ would have been fine for Black. It has the same idea of attacking on White's weak back-rank. The difference is, after 38...Qd4+ White can just take it 39.Rxd4 Nxd4 40.Qxg4 Rxc1+ 41.Kh2 and now White is winning as his king is relatively safer than his opponent's. White decided against taking the queen and went 39.Kh1 Qxd2 40.Qxg4 Qxc1+ 41.Kh2 and it's over as Ne3, Nf1+ is coming.

Srihari L R - Koustav

IM Srihari L R (TN, 2429) continues his good form. He was on the verge of victory against India's latest GM Koustav Chatterjee (WB, 2508).

Position after 26.c5

The best time to play Bxg3 was right now after 26.c5. There is nothing definite but Black would have had enough compensation after 27.hxg3 Rxg3 28.Qf1 Qg5. Black went Bxg3 after six more moves and by that time the white king has already marched halfway towards the queenside. Needless to say, the desired effect for Black was a far cry from optimal.

Position after 38...fxe3

White needed to play 39.Rxh7+ first Kxh7 40.Qb7+ or if Black declines the sacrifice 39...Kg8 is met by 40.Bd3. In both cases, White is winning. The volataile nature of the position combined with less time than required, can easily confuse the move order. Moreover, the stakes and pressure of the situation also need to be factored in. Hence, White first went 39.Qb7 exd2+ 40.Kb2 Qg8 and after a back and forth play, the game ended in a draw.

IM Srihari L R (TN) is playing excellent 8/11 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Aronyak - Sethuraman: 1-0

GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB, 2642) got into trouble against IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB, 2521) when the former ran out of options.

Position after 35...Bg7

White made the correct decision of taking the b6-knight, create a weakness there and gain the c4-pawn too. 36.Bxb6 axb6 37.Nxc4 Qc7 38.Rc1 Qc5+ 39.Kg2 Qb4 40.Qe2 Qc5? 41.Red1 Rc7 Black is running out of moves. 42.Qd2 f6 43.d6 e6 44.Ne5+- now Black is completely lost.

IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) scored a sublime victory | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Mitrabha - Hari Madhavan: 0-1

GM Mitrabha Guha (WB, 2487) was forced to give up his bishop for two pawns against Hari Madhavan N B (TN, 2385).

Position after 34.e4

34.b3 would have kept the fight going. 34.e4? opens up the position and weakens White's pawns which is exactly what Black wants from the position, to use his extra piece and neutralize its compensation. 34...dxe4 35.Rb3 Rb6 36.Rxb6 axb6 37.Nxe4 Ng8 38.d5 Rxh5 and Black is winning now. Hari earned his final IM-norm with this win and he had crossed 2400 in the live ratings a few days ago.

Hari Madhavan N B (TN) becomes India's latest International Master | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

A total of 196 players including 18 GMs and 27 IMs are taking part in this tournament organized by Delhi Chess Association. The event is taking place in New Delhi from 22nd December 2022 to 3rd January 20233. The 13-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds from move no.1

Replay Round 11 games

Round 11 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	8	0 - 1	7½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	10	PGN
2	25	IM	Srihari L R	2429	7½	½ - ½	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	8	PGN
3	7	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	7½	1 - 0	7½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	1	PGN
4	14	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	7½	0 - 1	7½		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	32	PGN
5	5	GM	Visakh N R	2544	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	15	PGN
6	13	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	7	½ - ½	7	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	27	PGN
7	18	IM	Das Sayantan	2475	7	1 - 0	7	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2383	34	PGN
8	20	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2457	7	1 - 0	7	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	19	PGN
9	48	CM	Soham Kamotra	2329	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	4	PGN
10	37	IM	Nitin S.	2372	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	6	PGN
11	9	GM	Iniyan P	2507	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2316	52	PGN
12	42	IM	Utsab Chatterjee	2350	6½	0 - 1	6½	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	12	PGN
13	17	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	6½	1 - 0	6½	FM	Aradhya Garg	2312	54	PGN
14	45	GM	Sriram Jha	2337	6½	0 - 1	6½	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	22	PGN
15	46		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2333	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	23	PGN
16	66		Dhananjay S	2199	6½	0 - 1	6½	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	26	PGN
17	53	IM	Rajesh V A V	2314	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	28	PGN
18	73		Surendran N	2168	6½	0 - 1	6½	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	30	PGN
19	128		Sanjay S Pillai	1799	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Laxman R.R.	2372	36	PGN
20	80		Nagare Kaivalya Sandip	2124	6½	0 - 1	6		Sanket Chakravarty	2367	38	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 11

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	7	IM	Aronyak Ghosh		IND	2521	RSPB	8,5	76	82,5	62,25	0	6
2	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee		IND	2508	West Bengal	8,5	72	77	57,00	0	7
3	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2503	Andhra Pradesh	8,5	69,5	74,5	56,25	0	6
4	32		Hari Madhavan N B		IND	2385	Tamil Nadu	8,5	68,5	73,5	55,50	0	7
5	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet		IND	2601	PSPB	8	73	78	55,00	0	8
6	5	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2544	RSPB	8	72	77,5	56,00	0	6
7	25	IM	Srihari L R		IND	2429	Tamil Nadu	8	66,5	71,5	51,00	0	5
8	20	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2457	RSPB	8	57,5	62	46,00	0	6
9	18	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2475	RSPB	8	56,5	61	43,25	0	7
10	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.		IND	2642	PSPB	7,5	75,5	79,5	51,00	0	6
11	14	GM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2487	West Bengal	7,5	75	81	53,25	0	5
12	9	GM	Iniyan P		IND	2507	Tamil Nadu	7,5	69,5	74,5	48,75	0	5
13	30	FM	Panesar Vedant		IND	2387	Maharashtra	7,5	68	73,5	48,75	0	5
14	27	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.		IND	2405	RSPB	7,5	67,5	72	46,25	0	5
15	26	IM	Anuj Shrivatri		IND	2414	Madhya Pradesh	7,5	67	72	46,25	0	6
16	22	IM	Harshavardhan G B		IND	2434	Tamil Nadu	7,5	65,5	70	45,50	0	5
17	12	IM	Vignesh N R		IND	2493	RSPB	7,5	63,5	68	43,75	0	6
18	17	GM	Chanda Sandipan		IND	2475	West Bengal	7,5	63	68	44,00	0	6
19	13	IM	Shyaamnikhil P		IND	2490	RSPB	7,5	63	67	44,25	0	5
20	37	IM	Nitin S.		IND	2372	RSPB	7,5	61,5	66,5	43,50	0	7

Details

Round 12 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	8½		8½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	10
2	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	8		8½	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	7
3	32		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	8½		8	IM	Das Sayantan	2475	18
4	20	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2457	8		8	GM	Visakh N R	2544	5
5	22	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	7½		8	IM	Srihari L R	2429	25
6	26	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	7½		7½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	1
7	30	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	7½		7½	GM	Iniyan P	2507	9
8	12	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	7½		7½	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	17
9	36	GM	Laxman R.R.	2372	7½		7½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	13
10	27	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	7½		7½	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	14
11	19	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	7		7½	IM	Nitin S.	2372	37
12	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	7		7		Subhayan Kundu	2319	51
13	15	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	7		7	IM	Rajesh V A V	2314	53
14	21	IM	Das Arghyadip	2438	7		7		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2333	46
15	23	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	7		7	CM	Soham Kamotra	2329	48
16	28	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	7		7	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2304	55
17	38		Sanket Chakravarty	2367	7		7	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2390	29
18	34	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2383	7		7		Badrinath S.	1938	105
19	6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	6½		6½		Nagare Kaivalya Sandip	2124	80
20	64		Sai Vishwesh.C	2219	6½		6½	GM	Neelotpal Das	2384	33

Details

Links

Delhi Chess Association

Tournament Regulations

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