Odisha Open R1-7: Neelash Saha in a three-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/12/2024

FM Quoc Hy Nguyen (VIE), IM Neelash Saha and GM Alexei Fedorov are the three leaders with a score 6/7 each at Odisha Open 2024 Category A. Quoc drew with Alexei. Neelash defeated GM Sayantan Das to join the lead. Neelash is now 2.4 Elo rating points away from becoming India's next Grandmaster as gaining those will take his live rating to 2500. Former National School Under-15 Open champion, Vignesh Advaith Vemula is playing fantastic chess. He has scored an unbeaten 5.5/7 so far, including victories over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and GM Pa Iniyan. Neelash will face Alexei in Round 8 and Vignesh will be up against IM Sambit Panda. Round 8 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Vignesh Advaith Vemula impresses

Vignesh Advaith Vemula, GM P Shyam Nikhil, GM Cristhian Camilo Rios Gomez (COL), GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J, IM Sambit Panda and IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) are at 5.5/7 each. WIM Mrudul Dehankar is currently the top female scorer 4.5/7.

IM Neelash Saha is in a three-way lead 6/7 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Neelash - Sayantan, Round 7

Position after 18.g5

IM Neelash Saha (2458) launched a devastating attack on GM Sayantan Das' (2437) kingside 18.g5 hxg5 19.fxg5 Ne4 20.Nxe4 Nxe5 21.Nf6+ gxf6 22.dxe5 fxe5 23.Qh5 e4 24.Rf6 and there was no way for Black to save the game.

Neelash - Venkatesh, Round 5

Position after 26.Qxe4

White has a space advantage and his pieces are better placed. GM Venkatesh M R (2365) made an incorrect decision to trade his bishop with White's knight 26...Bxb5 27.Bxb5 Bd4+ 28.Kh1 Ng7 29.Rf3 Rf5 30.g4 Rf7 31.Bd3 Ne8 32.Rbf1 Nf6 33.Qg6 Rh7 34.Bg3! a nice finish. Even if Black takes the h3-pawn, it won't change the outcome.

Iniyan - Vignesh Advaith, Round 4

Position after 38...Kh7

In a sharp position, the top seed, GM Pa Iniyan (2513) blundered 39.R7d6 threatening Rxh6#. Find out the winning continuation which Vignesh Advaith Vemula (2276) played in the game.

Vignesh Advaith Vemula scored an unbeaten 5.5/7 so far | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 7 notable results

IM Kushagra Mohan - FM Ankit Ray: 0.5-0.5

FM Dhananjay S - IM Shahil Dey: 0.5-0.5

CM Vivaan Vijay Saraogi - GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE): 0.5-0.5

IM Nayaka Budhidharma (INA) - Arpith S Bijoy: 0-1

IM Ratnakaran K - Dinesh Kumar Jaganathan: 0.5-0.5

IM Amrou Sobh (EGY) - Vignesh B: 0.5-0.5

IM Mohsen Elgabry (EGY) - Jai Sankar Subramanian: 0-1

A total of 176 players including 14 GMs, 22 IMs and 4 WIMs are taking part from 18 countries across the world including India in Category A (≥1900). The tournament is organized by All Odisha Chess Association in association with SOA University from 15th to 22nd December 2024 at SOA University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The ten-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 1-7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	PGN
1	FM	Nguyen Quoc Hy	2373	VIE	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2385	BLR	PGN
2	IM	Neelash Saha	2458	RSPB	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Das Sayantan	2437	WB	PGN
3	IM	Tologon Tegin Semetei	2358	KGZ	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Rios Gomez Cristhian Camilo	2448	COL	PGN
4	GM	Shyaam Nikhil P	2445	ICF	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2408	ICF	PGN
5	FM	Md Imran	2430	AP	4½	½ - ½	5		Vignesh Advaith Vemula	2276	TG	PGN
6	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2365	TN	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Iniyan Pa	2513	TN	PGN
7	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2507	WB	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Podolchenko Evgeniy	2360	BLR	PGN
8	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2417	TG	4½	½ - ½	4½	FM	Ankit Ray	2320	WB	PGN
9	IM	Gochelashvili David	2268	RUS	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Audi Ameya	2412	GA	PGN
10	WIM	Mrudul Dehankar	2055	MH	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Panda Sambit	2381	OR	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	19	FM	Nguyen Quoc Hy	VIE	2373	VIE	6	30	33	27,00
2	5	IM	Neelash Saha	IND	2458	RSPB	6	29,5	32,5	27,00
3	16	GM	Fedorov Alexei	BLR	2385	BLR	6	27,5	30,5	24,75
4	47		Vignesh Advaith Vemula	IND	2276	TG	5,5	30	32,5	24,25
5	7	GM	Shyaam Nikhil P	IND	2445	ICF	5,5	28	30,5	22,50
6	6	GM	Rios Gomez Cristhian Camilo	COL	2448	COL	5,5	27,5	31	24,00
7	14	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	IND	2408	ICF	5,5	27	30	21,75
8	18	IM	Panda Sambit	IND	2381	OR	5,5	25,5	28,5	22,00
9	25	IM	Tologon Tegin Semetei	KGZ	2358	KGZ	5,5	24,5	27	21,25
10	20	IM	Shahil Dey	IND	2368	AS	5	28,5	31,5	20,50
11	21	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	IND	2365	TN	5	28,5	31,5	20,25
12	44	GM	Karthikeyan P.	IND	2290	TN	5	28,5	31	20,00
13	8	GM	Das Sayantan	IND	2437	WB	5	28	31,5	21,50
14	51	FM	Dhananjay S	IND	2233	CT	5	28	29,5	18,25
15	1	GM	Iniyan Pa	IND	2513	TN	5	27,5	31	20,75
16	11	IM	Kushagra Mohan	IND	2417	TG	5	27,5	30	18,75
17	9	FM	Md Imran	IND	2430	AP	5	27	30,5	21,50
18	13	IM	Audi Ameya	IND	2412	GA	5	26,5	29	19,75
19	30	IM	Avinash Ramesh	IND	2333	TN	5	26,5	29	17,50
20	48	IM	Gochelashvili David	RUS	2268	RUS	5	26	27,5	17,50

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City
1	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2385	BLR	6		6	IM	Neelash Saha	2458	RSPB
2	GM	Rios Gomez Cristhian Camilo	2448	COL	5½		6	FM	Nguyen Quoc Hy	2373	VIE
3	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2408	ICF	5½		5½	IM	Tologon Tegin Semetei	2358	KGZ
4	IM	Panda Sambit	2381	OR	5½		5½		Vignesh Advaith Vemula	2276	TG
5	GM	Iniyan Pa	2513	TN	5		5½	GM	Shyaam Nikhil P	2445	ICF
6	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2507	WB	5		5	IM	Srihari L	2360	PY
7	GM	Das Sayantan	2437	WB	5		5	FM	Adireddy Arjun	2335	TG
8	GM	Podolchenko Evgeniy	2360	BLR	5		5	FM	Md Imran	2430	AP
9	FM	Setumadhav Yellumahanthi	2341	AP	5		5	IM	Kaustuv Kundu	2427	WB
10	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2417	TG	5		5	IM	Avinash Ramesh	2333	TN

Details

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