MPL 59th National Senior R9: Koustav subdues Sethuraman

by Shahid Ahmed - 31/12/2022

IM Koustav Chatterjee ended GM Sethuraman S P's domination in the ninth round at MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship 2022. The teenager IM exchanged pieces at a regular interval and arrived at a rook and minor piece which was slightly advantageous for him. The seasoned GM made some inaccurate decisions in an already difficult endgame which cost him the point and the lead. GM Abhijeet Gupta scored his second win in-a-row as he defeated GM Deep Sengupta using his tactical alertness to get back in the chase along with Sethuraman, GM Mitrabha Guha and IM Srihari L R. Round 10 starts today at 2 p.m. IST today. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Sethuraman, Abhijeet, Mitrabha and Srihari L R on the hunt

IM Srihari L R (TN) scored an impressive victory over GM Leon Luke Mendonca (Goa) as he seized his opportunity when the GM made an incorrect decision. Both Srihari and Mitrabha are undefeated at 7/9 each.

IM Koustav Chatterjee (WB) is the new sole leader 7/8| Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Sethuraman - Koustav: 0-1

IM Koustav Chatterjee (WB, 2508) opted for the Classical system in the French Defence. He had no trouble equalizing out of the opening against GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB, 2642). Pieces got exchanged at regular interval and after 28 moves, the game arrived at a Rook and Knight vs. Rook and Bishop endgame.

Position after 28...Kxf7

Although Black's bishop might seem undeveloped, the position can be opened whenever he wants. White's isolated pawns on a2 and c2 do not help his case either. 29.c3 Bd7 30.f5 e5 31.Rxd5 Bxf5 32.Ra5 Rc6 the knight is stuck defending the c3-pawn. It is safe to say White is positonally lost. Black made no mistakes and went on to win the game comfortably. Eventually, White fell into an unavoidable mating net.

Final position after 50...f5

Abhijeet - Deep

Position after 24...Nf6

24...Rd8 would have been fine for Black. 24...Nf6 runs into some trouble. Can you find out the tactical shot which GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB, 2601) executed brilliantly against GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB, 2486) in the game?

Srihari - Leon

Position after 24...Ne5

GM Leon Luke Mendonca (Goa, 2566) made an inaccuracy 24...Ne5 which virtually gave up the e6 square. 25.Nxe5 fxe5 26.Ne6 and now Black cannot take the knight due to e7 discover check threat. 24...f5 would have been for Black as Ne6 no longer is dangerous due to the long diagonal being blocked by White's own knight at f3. Black eventually took the knight on e6 and it played a crucial role in White earning the victory. IM Srihari L R (TN, 2429) moved to 7/9.

IM Srihari L R (TN) is undefeated so far 7/9 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Visakh - Mehar

Position after 45.d5

The above pawn endgame seems to be heading towards a draw, right? Well, 45.d5! is one last attempt by GM Visakh N R (RSPB, 2544) against IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H (RSPB, 2405) to trick him and it worked. Both 45...b6 and exd5 leads to a draw. However, 45...e5 loses for Black. Try to find out the difference.

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 9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	7	0 - 1	6½	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	8	PGN
2	14	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	6½	½ - ½	6	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	10	PGN
3	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	15	PGN
4	25	IM	Srihari L R	2429	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	4	PGN
5	7	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	6	½ - ½	6		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	32	PGN
6	9	GM	Iniyan P	2507	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	19	PGN
7	5	GM	Visakh N R	2544	5½	1 - 0	6	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	27	PGN
8	6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2383	34	PGN
9	12	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Avinash Ramesh	2327	49	PGN
10	13	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2244	59	PGN
11	17	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	5½	1 - 0	5½	CM	Mayank Chakraborty	2179	70	PGN
12	51		Subhayan Kundu	2319	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	23	PGN
13	63	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2237	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	26	PGN
14	66		Dhananjay S	2199	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	28	PGN
15	99		Adireddy Arjun	1980	5½	½ - ½	5½	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	30	PGN
16	18	IM	Das Sayantan	2475	5	1 - 0	5		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2243	60	PGN
17	62	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2239	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2457	20	PGN
18	64		Sai Vishwesh.C	2219	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Das Arghyadip	2438	21	PGN
19	78	CM	Borgaonkar Akshay	2135	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	22	PGN
20	29	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2390	5	½ - ½	5		Anadkat Kartavya	2147	76	PGN

Details

Round 10 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2508	7½		7	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2487	14
2	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2642	7		7	IM	Srihari L R	2429	25
3	12	IM	Vignesh N R	2493	6½		7	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2601	3
4	19	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2459	6½		6½	GM	Visakh N R	2544	5
5	26	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2414	6½		6½	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2521	7
6	10	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2503	6½		6½		Dhananjay S	2199	66
7	32		Hari Madhavan N B	2385	6½		6½	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2475	17
8	15	GM	Sengupta Deep	2486	6		6½	GM	Iniyan P	2507	9
9	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2566	6		6	IM	Utsab Chatterjee	2350	42
10	52	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2316	6		6	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	2526	6
11	58		Varun V	2250	6		6	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2490	13
12	59	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2244	6		6	IM	Das Sayantan	2475	18
13	82		Bharadia Yash	2117	6		6	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2457	20
14	22	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2434	6		6	CM	Soham Kamotra	2329	48
15	23	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2433	6		6		Nagare Kaivalya Sandip	2124	80
16	27	IM	Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.	2405	6		6		Subhayan Kundu	2319	51
17	30	FM	Panesar Vedant	2387	6		6		Sanjay S Pillai	1799	128
18	34	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2383	6		6		Adireddy Arjun	1980	99
19	21	IM	Das Arghyadip	2438	5½		5½	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2304	55
20	28	IM	Audi Ameya	2401	5½		5½	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2212	65

Details

Links

Delhi Chess Association

Tournament Regulations

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