Arjun Erigaisi, Karthikeyan, Gukesh and Abhijeet in search of their first win
The second leg turns out to be stronger than the first one as Arjun Erigaisi, Karthikeyan Murali, D Gukesh and Abhijeet Gupta are yet to register a win in this event. All of them are 2600+ and the average rating of them is 2644.
Round 1: Abhijeet - Mitrabha: 0-3
GM Abhijeet Gupta made some bold choices in the middlegame against GM Mitrabha Guha.
White decided to give up an exchange 19.Rg1 Bxd1. 20.Bxe5 would have been fine to force a draw Bxc2 21.Rxg7+ Kh8 22.Rxf7+ Kg8 23.Rg7+ and Black cannot get out of the perpetual. White went for the ambitious 20.Qf5 Nb3 21.Qxe5 f6 and Black eventually went on to win the game.
Gukesh - Aravindh: 0-3
Reigning National Rapid and Blitz champion, GM Aravindh Chithambaram spiced things up against GM D Gukesh in the middlegame.
White had no other choice but to capture 33.gxf4 Qg4+ now White misplaced his king 34.Kf1. He needed to play 34.Kh2 Qxf3 35.R1e3 Qg4 36.Qe2 and things would have been fine. The game continued 34...Qxf3 35.R1e3 Qh1+ 36.Ke2 king is at the wrong part of the board. Black eventually went on to win the exciting battle.
Round 2: Karthikeyan - Aravindh: 0-3
Aravindh won a cracker against GM Karthikeyan Murali.
Aravindh played like a man on a mission 17...dxe4 18.gxf6 exd3 19.Qg4 dxc2 20.fxe7 Qxd2 21.exf8Q+ Rxf8. Black is down by a whole a rook. His compensations are three pawns including a deadly passed pawn at c2 which decided the fate of the game and the deadly bishop at b7, making some serious threats on the white king. Sure, White had a few chances to save the day, none of them were easy to spot by humans.
Raunak - Ganguly: 3-0
GM Raunak Sadhwani got a substantial advantage against GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly within the first 20 moves of the game.
Raunak does not miss converting these advantages into a win.
Round 3: Ganguly - Karthikeyan: 3-0
Surya was determined to put the previous round loss behind him. He went for an all-out attack against Karthikeyan Murali.
While computer may suggest 16.exf7+ Kd7 17.b4 to be completely over for Black, a human cannot resist the temptation to play 16.exd6 which is more pleasing to the eyes. White eventually won the game after a long rollercoaster ride.
GM Francisco Vallejo Pons also appreciated the beautiful position
twitter.com/i/status/1532336842154119172
Abhijeet - Raunak: 0-3
Once again, a tactical inaccuracy by Abhijeet Gupta cost him the game against Raunak Sadhwani for the second consecutive leg.
Find out the winning continuation for Black after 40.Ne2.
Visakh - Aradhya: 0-3
FM Aradhya Garg scored his sole win of the day against GM Visakh N R.
Should White exchange rooks or decline? Try to find out the answer to this critical decision. White made a wrong call which affected the outcome.
Aravindh - Arjun: 3-0
Aravindh made a short work of Arjun Erigaisi in just 20 moves.
Round 4: Harsha - Aravindh: 3-0
GM Harsha Bharathakoti brought an end to Aravindh's winning streak.
33...c4 would have made things over for White. However, 33...Rea7 allowed White to get back in the game. 34.Qxc5 Rxa2+ 35.Kb1 and White won the game after few inaccuracies by Black.
Diptayan - Gukesh: 3-0
GM Diptayan Ghosh ensured Gukesh ends the day without scoring a win.
Scoring system
Win - 3 points, Draw - 1 point and Loss - 0.
Replay the live stream
Replay Round 1-4 games
Standings after Round 4
All games will start from 3:30 p.m. IST between 2nd and 5th June 2022.
