Seven players in the lead with 5.0/5 at Shaastra Rapid Rating 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 22/02/2020

Seven players are in the lead with 5.0/5 at the halfway mark of 4th Shaastra Rapid Rating 2020. They are GM Vishnu Prasanna, GM Priyadharshan Kannappan, IM D K Sharma, IM Ravi Teja S, GM Laxman R R, IM P D S Girinath and FM Rohith Krishna S. This is the biggest and strongest edition in this tournament's nascent history. Total 439 players comprising of 7 GMs, 11 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs are taking part in this two-day event at IIT Madras, co-sponsored by Akshayakalpa and nurtr. Total Prize fund ₹300000 is up for grabs with the first prize being ₹45000. The tournament concludes on 23rd February 2020. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

4th Shaastra Rapid Rating witnesses 439 players

GM Vishnu Prasanna, GM Priyadharshan Kanappan, IM D K Sharma, IM Ravi Teja S, GM Laxman R R, IM P D S Girinath and FM Rohith Krishna are in the lead with 5.0/5 at the conclusion of Round 5 of 4th Shaastra Rapid Rating.

The leaders - Vishnu, Kannappan, D K Sharma, Ravi Teja, Laxman and Girinath | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The tournament was inaugurated by award-winning coach GM Ramesh RB and Chief Arbiter IA R Anantharam.

Ramesh delivers the inaugural speech | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Ramesh makes the inaugural move 1.e4 on top seed GM Srinath Narayanan's board | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Award-winning coach GM Ramesh RB talks about budding talents, upcoming candidates and much more | Video: Shahid Ahmed

GM vs CEO in Round 2

Top seeds as expected made a smooth sailing in Round 1. In Round 2, board no.2 witnessed an interesting pairing between GM Vishnu Prasanna and CEO of Akshayakalpa, Shashi Kumar. Akshayakalpa is also the co-sponsor of the tournament.

GM Vishnu Prasanna faces CEO of Akshayakalpa, Shashi Kumar | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Vishnu won the game obviously but his 1301 rated opponent played the opening correctly.

11-year old Vijay Adithya Muthu S (1265) held IM P Konguvel (2216) to a draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Jayachandra held Shyam Sundar to a draw in Round 3

Round 3 witnessed two major upsets, Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki (1518) held GM Shyam Sundar M (2504) to a draw. Tayalan Manikandan (1428) shocked IM P Saravana Krishnan (2310).

GM Shyam Sundar was held to a draw by Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Tayalan Manikandan defeated IM P Saravana Krishnan | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

All participants were given a metallic bottle by Akshayakalpa as seen in the above photo.

Srihari held Srinath to a draw, Nikhil beat Deepan in Round 4

On the top board, FM Srihari L R held top seed of the tournament GM Srinath Narayanan to a draw in what seemed like Srihari missed a win. Of course it was not easy to spot as he was down to few seconds on the clock.

Srihari - Srinath, Round 4

Find out the winning continuation for white after 36...Rf4

Srihari continued with 37.Rd2 and after a couple of mistakes, the game liquidated into a drawn Rook-knight vs. Rook endgame where Srinath was reluctant to take a draw as he wanted to fight till the end. After making two draw offer rejections, Srinath finally accepted draw as the obvious outcome of the game.

Srihari would be unhappy to miss the fantastic opportunity | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

CM Nikhil Magizhnan (1893) showed nerves of steel to beat GM Deepan Chakravarthy (2470) | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Among other upsets, FM Rohith Krishna S (1883) beat GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2418), Vinay R Jumani (1548) beat GM Shyam Sundar M (2504) and Rohit S (1587) held WGM Nandhidhaa P V (2151) to a draw in Round 4.

Nikhil continues his momentum in Round 5

Vishnu, Priyadharshan, D K Sharma, Ravi Teja, Laxman, Rohith Krishna S and Girinath scored a win each respectively to be among the seven leaders at the conclusion of day 1. IM Siddharth Ravichandran (2370) was held to a draw by CM Nikhil Magizhnan (1893), WIM Michelle Catherina P (2039) drew with IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad (2287) and WFM Savith Shri B (1681) held IM Praveen Kumar C (2223) to a draw.

How to win a closed BB vs BN endgame by GM Priyadharshan Kannappan | Video: Shahid Ahmed

How to win Rook and Opposite Color Bishop endgame by IM Ravi Teja S | Video: Shahid Ahmed

For more photos, click here.

The two-day Rapid Rating Open observes the total participation of 439 players comprising of 7 GMs, 11 IMs, a WGM, 2 WIMs, 3 FMs and a WFM. It is the strongest edition in this tournament's nascent history and perhaps one of the strongest rapid rating tournament in the country of this year. The tournament is organized by Shaastra IIT Madras at IIT Madras on 22nd and 23rd February, co-sponsored by Akshayakalpa and nurtr.

Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	20	IM	Ravi Thandalam Shanmugam	2193	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2512	2
2	21		Raahul V S	2172	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Kannappan Priyadharshan	2482	4
3	22		Karthik Rajaa	2167	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2422	6
4	8	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2377	4	1 - 0	4		Pranav V	2063	24
5	9	IM	Ravichandran Siddharth	2370	4	½ - ½	4	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	1893	32
6	25	IM	Ramnathan Balasubramaniam	2062	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Laxman R.R.	2353	10
7	27	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2039	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2287	14
8	15	IM	Muthaiah Al	2276	4	0 - 1	4	FM	Rohith Krishna S	1883	34
9	29		Barath L	1916	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Girinath P.D.S.	2275	16
10	46	WFM	Savitha Shri B	1681	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2223	18
11	1	GM	Narayanan Srinath	2530	3½	1 - 0	3½	AGM	Rathneesh R	1866	36
12	11		Kunal M.	2320	3½	1 - 0	3½		Rohit S	1587	60
13	13		Ashwath R.	2289	3½	1 - 0	3½		Selvabharathy T	1783	40
14	19	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2216	3½	1 - 0	3½		Vinay R Jumani	1548	65
15	23	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2151	3½	1 - 0	3½		Narendhiran R	1503	73
16	51		Krithigga K	1636	3½	0 - 1	3½		Sai Vishwesh.C	2052	26
17	64		Sanjay Thiruvengadam	1555	3½	0 - 1	3½	FM	Srihari L R	1910	30
18	116		Rakshith Srinivasan	1315	3½	0 - 1	3	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2470	5
19	7	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi	2418	3	1 - 0	3	AIM	Kaushik G Iyer	1414	94
20	96	AIM	Ashwin Sairam	1406	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2310	12

Complete results

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2512	5		5	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2377	8
2	4	GM	Kannappan Priyadharshan	2482	5		5	GM	Laxman R.R.	2353	10
3	6	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2422	5		5	IM	Girinath P.D.S.	2275	16
4	34	FM	Rohith Krishna S	1883	5		4½	GM	Narayanan Srinath	2530	1
5	23	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2151	4½		4½	IM	Ravichandran Siddharth	2370	9
6	26		Sai Vishwesh.C	2052	4½		4½		Kunal M.	2320	11
7	30	FM	Srihari L R	1910	4½		4½		Ashwath R.	2289	13
8	14	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2287	4½		4½	WFM	Savitha Shri B	1681	46
9	18	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2223	4½		4½	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2039	27
10	32	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan	1893	4½		4½	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2216	19
11	5	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2470	4		4		Marimuthu K	1593	59
12	61		Rajesh Vasanthakumar	1576	4		4	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi	2418	7
13	12	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2310	4		4		Tamizh Selvan Ganesan	1539	66
14	72		Sivan S Roshan	1505	4		4	IM	Muthaiah Al	2276	15
15	77		Nandha Visakan	1477	4		4		Vignesh B	2273	17
16	80		Balaprashanth M	1461	4		4	IM	Ravi Thandalam Shanmugam	2193	20
17	81		Tejaswini G	1461	4		4		Raahul V S	2172	21
18	83		Thrish Karthik	1456	4		4		Karthik Rajaa	2167	22
19	24		Pranav V	2063	4		4		Gowrichander U	1452	84
20	87		Sriram Suresh	1439	4		4	IM	Ramnathan Balasubramaniam	2062	25

Complete pairings

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