MPL 59th National Senior R7: Venkatesh makes it a three-way race

by Shahid Ahmed - 29/12/2022

GM Mitrabha Guha (WB) and GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) had a quick 13-move draw. It allowed, GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB) to catch up as he defeated GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) with a very nice positional play in the Catalan. This was Abhijeet's second consecutive loss at MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship 2022. Sethuraman, Mitrabha and Venkatesh are at 6/7 each. They are followed by eight players - five IMs and three GMs at 5.5/7. Venkatesh vs Sethuraman and Leon vs Mitrabha are the top two clashes of the eighth round, which starts today at 2 p.m. IST today. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Eight-pack in the chase

GM Iniyan P (TN), GM Karthik Venkataraman (AP), GM Leon Luke Mendonca (Goa), IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB), IM Koustav Chatterjee (WB), IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H (RSPB), IM Ameya Audi (RSPB) and IM Vignesh N R (RSPB) are all close by the leaders and ready to catch them at any time.

GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB) joins GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB) and GM Mitrabha Guha (WB) in the lead 6/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Abhijeet - Venkatesh: 0-1

GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB, 2459) played sublime chess to hand GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB, 2601) his second consecutive loss of the event.

Position after 29...c4

Black could have done 26...c4 a couple of moves ago, still 29...c4 is okay from a human perspective, although computer may feel otherwise. The reasonn behind the delay is, he ensured White does not get any counterplay hence 26...g6, 27...h5 and 28...Rd6 before going 29...c4. 30.bxc4 bxa4 31.Rf3 Qg7 32.Bh3 a3 33.Rc1 Na6 34.Kg2 Nc5 35.Rxa3 Bxa3 36.Qxa3 Qxe5 37.Qxc5 a4 simplification only helped Black and he went on to win the game.

Kushagra - Leon

Position after 36.Rg2

GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2566) could have finished the game much earlier. He found the nice 35...g3. After 36.Rg2, he needed to continue the annihilation on the kingside 36...Rah8 37.Rxa6 Rxh2 38.Kf1 Rxg2 and White cannot save the queen. The game continued for another 36 moves after 36...Rxh2.

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 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	14	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	1	PGN
2	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	19	PGN
3	7	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	27	PGN
4	29	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2390	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	4	PGN
5	5	GM	Visakh N R	2544	4½	½ - ½	4½		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	32	PGN
6	43	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2346	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	8	PGN
7	9	GM	Iniyan P	2507	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Ayush Sharma	2341	44	PGN
8	46		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2333	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	10	PGN
9	50	IM	Raahul V S	2325	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	12	PGN
10	51		Subhayan Kundu	2319	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	15	PGN
11	25	IM	Srihari L R	2429	4½	½ - ½	4½		Bharadia Yash	2117	82	PGN
12	99		Adireddy Arjun	1980	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	28	PGN
13	6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	4	½ - ½	4½		Sai Vishwesh.C	2219	64	PGN
14	63	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2237	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Krishna C R G	2480	16	PGN
15	20	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2457	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2304	55	PGN
16	59	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2244	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	22	PGN
17	73		Surendran N	2168	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	23	PGN
18	74		Shreyansh Daklia	2165	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	26	PGN
19	105		Badrinath S.	1938	4	0 - 1	4	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	30	PGN
20	33	GM	Neelotpal Das	2384	4	1 - 0	4		Garv Rai	2181	69	PGN

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	19	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	6		6	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	1
2	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	5½		6	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	14
3	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	5½		5½	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	7
4	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	5½		5½	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	12
5	27	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	5½		5½	GM	Iniyan P	2507	9
6	28	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	5½		5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	3
7	34	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2383	5		5	GM	Visakh N R	2544	5
8	15	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	5		5	GM	Neelotpal Das	2384	33
9	54	FM	Aradhya Garg	2312	5		5	IM	Srihari L R	2429	25
10	26	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	5		5		Subhayan Kundu	2319	51
11	30	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	5		5	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2237	63
12	32		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	5		5		Sai Vishwesh.C	2219	64
13	82		Bharadia Yash	2117	5		4½	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	17
14	53	IM	Rajesh V A V	2314	4½		4½	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	6
15	55	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2304	4½		4½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	13
16	20	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2457	4½		4½	IM	Raahul V S	2325	50
17	22	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	4½		4½		Surendran N	2168	73
18	23	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	4½		4½		Dere Pushkar	2114	83
19	58		Varun V	2250	4½		4½	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2390	29
20	36	GM	Laxman R.R.	2372	4½		4½		Nagare Kaivalya Sandip	2124	80

Details

Links

Delhi Chess Association

Tournament Regulations

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