MPL 59th National Senior R4: Abhijeet Gupta and Koustav Chatterjee emerge early coleaders

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/12/2022

GM Iniyan P (TN) drew with his statemate and top seed GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) in the fourth round of MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship 2022. FM Vedant Panesar (MAH) also shared the point with IM Aronyak Ghosh (WB). GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) defeated the reigning Asian Junior 2022 Open champion, IM Harshavardhan G B (TN) and IM Koustaav Chatterjee (WB) prevailed over IM Nitin S (TN). Abhijeet and Koustav will inevitably clash in the fifth round which starts today at 2 p.m. IST today. There are still nine rounds left. Will we see a sole leader at the conclusion of Round 5? Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

Untitled players continue to impress

It seems like IMs and GMs are not safe against untitled players. While no GM suffered a loss in the fourth round, GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP) was held to a draw by Subhayan Kundu (WB). Pushkar Dere (MAH) and Shet Prajwal P (KAR) defeated their respective IM opponents.

GM Abhijeet Gupta and IM Koustav Chatterjee are at 4/4 each | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

Harshavardhan - Abhijeet: 0-1

The new Asian Junior 2022 Open champion, IM Harshavardhan G B (2434) put up a very good fight against the five-time Commonwealth champion, GM Abhijeet Gupta (2601). He only made an incorrect decision to defend an expendable pawn in the final moments of the double rook and minor piece endgame

Position after 41.Rh2

White can certainly afford losing the h3-pawn. However, the absolute pin on the b-file against the b5-knight can prove to be fatal and it did. White's remedies were 41.Ra3 and Kb2. Both would have been fine for him and the game probably would have ended in a draw. However, 41.Rh2 cost him dearly. 41...Nd4 42.Kb4 Rba8 43.Bb3 Bxb5 and now even if White had recaptured on b5, material loss was unavoidable.

Koustav - Nitin

Position after 28...d5

In an already difficult position, Black made an incorrect pawn break 28...d5. It only enabled White to gain a pawn majority on the queenside which eventually played a key role in White getting the victory by promoting his c-pawn into a queen.

Ayush - Neelotpal

Position after 15.Qc1

The trend of queen sacrifice at this event continues. GM Neelotpal Das (2384) made a beautiful queen sacrifice to gain positional advantage against FM Ayushh Ravikumar (1994). 15...Nxd4 16.Bxd4 Qxd4 17.Rxd4 Bxd4 18.Qd2 Bc3 19.Qe2 0-0 Black is not winning immediately. Computer gives White a decisive advantage by just considering the material imbalance. However, only a human can understand the long-term positional advantage Black has. He had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.

Some notable results

GM Iniyan P (TN) - GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM Harshavardhan G B (TN) - GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB): 0-1

FM Vedant Panesar (MAH) - IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM Koustav Chatterjee (WB) - IM Nitin S (RSPB): 1-0

GM Karthik Venkataramana (AP) - Subhayan Kundu (WB): 0.5-0.5

Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (ODI) - IM P Shyam Nikhil (ODI): 0.5-0.5

Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri (TEL) - IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

IM Vignesh N R (RSPB) - Akshit Kumar J (AP): 0.5-0.5

IM Ajay Krishna S (TN) - Pushkar Dere (MAH): 0-1

IM Shahil Dey (ASM) - Shet Prajwal P (KAR): 0-1

CM Sahib Singh (DEL) - IM Avinash Ramesh (TN): 0.5-0.5

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 4 games

Round 4 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	9	GM	Iniyan P	2507	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	1	PGN
2	22	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	3	PGN
3	30	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	7	PGN
4	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Nitin S.	2372	37	PGN
5	42	IM	Utsab Chatterjee	2350	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Visakh N R	2544	5	PGN
6	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	2½	½ - ½	2½		Subhayan Kundu	2319	51	PGN
7	46		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2333	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	13	PGN
8	14	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	2329	47	PGN
9	50	IM	Raahul V S	2325	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	15	PGN
10	16	IM	Krishna C R G	2480	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2212	65	PGN
11	52	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2316	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	17	PGN
12	56	FM	Krishnan Ritvik	2266	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	23	PGN
13	26	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Rajesh V A V	2314	53	PGN
14	60		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2243	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	27	PGN
15	92		Imocha Laishram	2054	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2390	29	PGN
16	98	FM	Ayushh Ravikumar	1994	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Neelotpal Das	2384	33	PGN
17	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	2	1 - 0	2½		Shreyansh Daklia	2165	74	PGN
18	6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	2	1 - 0	2		Surendran N	2168	73	PGN
19	12	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	2	½ - ½	2		Akshit Kumar J	2158	75	PGN
20	77	FM	Srinivasa Rao M.	2142	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	19	PGN

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	4		4	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	8
2	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	3½		3½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	15
3	5	GM	Visakh N R	2544	3½		3½	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	30
4	7	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	3½		3½	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	23
5	29	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2390	3½		3½	GM	Iniyan P	2507	9
6	33	GM	Neelotpal Das	2384	3½		3½	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	14
7	45	GM	Sriram Jha	2337	3		3	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	4
8	46		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2333	3		3	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	6
9	48	CM	Soham Kamotra	2329	3		3	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	10
10	13	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	3		3	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2316	52
11	51		Subhayan Kundu	2319	3		3	IM	Krishna C R G	2480	16
12	17	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	3		3	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2244	59
13	19	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	3		3		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2243	60
14	53	IM	Rajesh V A V	2314	3		3	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	22
15	25	IM	Srihari L R	2429	3		3		Sai Vishwesh.C	2219	64
16	55	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2304	3		3	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	26
17	27	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	3		3		Anadkat Kartavya	2147	76
18	63	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2237	3		3	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	28
19	65	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2212	3		3		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	32
20	69		Garv Rai	2181	3		3	GM	Laxman R.R.	2372	36

Details

Links

Delhi Chess Association

Tournament Regulations

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