A huge pictorial report from the Mumbai Mayor's Cup 2018
by Sagar Shah - 05/06/2018
The Mumbai Mayor's Cup is one of the biggest events in the Indian chess calendar and it has lived up to its reputation with some exciting games. 12-year-old WIM Divya Deshmukh has shown some excellent chess and is on 3.5/4. Leading the event with 4.0/4 are three players Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh, top seed from Ukraine Martyn Kravtsiv and talented Indian IM Arjun Erigaisi. In this report we have some very nice games with interesting tactics and also pictures from ace photographer Amruta Mokal. A lot of nice photos! Don't miss them!
The 11th Mumbai Mayor's Cup kicked off from the 3rd of June 2018. The tournament is being played in three different categories: A category (2000+), B Category (1600-2000) and C category (Below 1600). There a huge number of participants playing in the B and C category, but the focus of course is on the A section where there are chances for players from India to make their norms and get their titles.
This video gives you the feel of the A group playing hall at the tournament
The A-group has not been so strict with their above 2000 criteria and half of the players from 216 participants are below the rating of 2000. That's why the organizers have decided to use the accelerated pairing system. This meant that the norm seekers met higher rated opposition in the first two rounds and had a better chance of making their norms. Of course, one can always question the logic of this system because rounds three and four are the ones where the players face lower rated opponents instead of one and two. One player who has made good use of the accelerated pairing system is...
...WFM Divya Deshmukh. She has started off really well and drew her first round against IM Harsha Bharathakoti (2471) and then beat Ojas Kulkarni (2263), Sudarshan Bhat (1808) and IM P. Karthikeyan (2456). She is already gaining 81 Elo points | Photo: Amruta Mokal
GM Diptayan Ghosh is one of those super solid grandmasters of India. It was extremely surprising that he blundered a full rook in a completely winning position against his opponent rated 1910 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
In this position, quite unbelievably Diptayan played his king to d2. You do see how White wins here, don't you?
One player who has been playing highly interesting chess at the event is Sohan Phadke | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Sohan Phadke vs Ziaur Rahman
White has just played Be3. What should Black play?
Sohan also played a fine attacking game against Hrishikesh Chavan in the third round. The knight sacrifice on f2 was thematic but also required a good attacking intuition:
Young Bharat Subramaniyam managed to beat Deepan Chakkravarthy in the first round. The opening was a disaster for the GM, and the youngster from Chennai didn't give his opponent any chances:
After a blistering performance in Bhubaneshwar it seemed as Karthik would start Mumbai Mayor's Cup with a draw. However, that was not the case as Anniruddha Deshpande blundered big time in an equal endgame. | Photo: Sagar Shah
Karthik Venkatraman vs Anniruddha Deshpande
Black has just played f6. How should White win the game?
Karthik Venkatraman speaks about his winning performance in the KIIT Open 2018 and also shows us his win over Chanda
How do you like this hairstyle? | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Om Kadam in deep thought in his game against Vasantha Wettasinghe | Photo: Amruta Mokal
A glittering opening ceremony:
The opening ceremony had many dignitaries on the dais. From left to right: Manoj Itkelwar, Sekhar Sahu, Ravindra Dongre, D.V. Sundar, Harish Mehta, founder member of NASSCOM, Rahul Shah, V. Dhananjay, Divisional manager of LIC, IA R. Ananthram, chief arbiter of the event | Photo: Sagar Shah
Harish Mehta is the founder member of Nasscom - a non-profit organization that is building an ecosystem to bring to fruition – Technology For Good. He was the guest of honour at the opening ceremony of 11th Mumbai Mayor's Cup 2018 and he spoke about the future of Artificial intelligence and how chess players are perfectly positioned to make the best use of this opportunity.
One of the key figures for taking Indian chess to the next level - FIDE Vice President D.V. Sundar
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Mumbai Mayor's Cup, which is one of the most important event in the Indian chess calendar, happens because of the efforts of Mr. Ravindra Dongre.
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Two GMs who have become an inherent part of events all over India - GM Adam Tukhaev and GM Ivan Rozum
| Photo: Sagar Shah
It's so nice to see Mumbai's IM Sharad Tilak coming back to the chess board to fight and play some exciting chess, in spite of being so busy with his chess career
| Photo: Sagar Shah
Coming back from a short break is WIM Rucha Pujari and his mother
| Photo: Sagar Shah
The Mayor's Cup is a great event for Mumbai players. They get to play the best players of India and the world in their backyard!
| Photo: Sagar Shah
Little Kushagra Mohan and his tireless father make sure that they are a part of every big event in India
| Photo: Sagar Shah
ChessBase India Junior editor-in-chief Avathanshu Bhat and his friend Kriti Patel
| Photo: Sagar Shah
All the way from Jammu and Kashmir is Atul Kumar Gupta with his daughter
| Photo: Sagar Shah
Geeting ready for the big clash?! Ziaur Rahman with his son!
| Photo: Sagar Shah
Two pals from Mumbai chess - Hrishikesh Chavan and Rajababu Gajengi
| Photo: Sagar Shah
The famous couple of Indian chess - Karthikeyan and Harini
| Photo: Sagar Shah
The ChessBase India stall had a lot of people visiting it!
| Photo: Sagar Shah
People really loved the all-new "I was winning" design!
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Of course, I made the best use of this opportunity to solve some tactics with the youngsters! Oh, wait there is a super-strong player Nagpur also in there!
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
True to the game is Shubham Kumthekar
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Srija Seshadri and her mother
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Current under-9 national champion and the under-10 Asian Champion Om Kadam
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
How many different nationalities can you count in there?
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Super players of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Tiwari and Ankit Gajwa
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Everyone wants a party from the birthday boy - Deepan Chakkravarthy
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Two pretty WGMs of Indian chess Bhakti Kulkarni and Kiran Manisha Mohanty! And yes, did we tell you, Bhakti has finally made her appearance on social media - Facebook and Twitter.
| Photo: Amruta Mokal
Pride of Mumbai Aditya Mittal makes the opening move against Harish Mehta! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
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