Singapore Open R1-4: Ilamparthi and Karthik Venkataraman in an eight-pack lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/12/2024

Eight players are currently leading Singapore Open Group A with an unbeaten 3.5/4. There are two Indians among them - IM Ilamparthi A R and GM Karthik Venkataraman. The former World Under-14 champion, Ilamparthi defeated GM Kacper Piorun (POL) in the fourth round. The teenager showed fantastic positional understanding as he seized his opportunity when his opponent ignored back-rank weakness, resulting in a doubled pawn. Karthik had an interesting draw in the third round against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy. He defeated IM Muthaiah Al comfortably in the following fourth round. Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 12:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

A strong field of 277 players in Group A

One of the many side events of the ongoing FIDE World Championship Match 2024 is, Singapore Open. Group A (>1800) witnesses the participation of 277 players including 37 GMs, 46 IMs and 16 WIM from 33 countries across the world. Group B (<1900) witnesses the participation of 279 players from 24 countries. The top three prizes in Group A are SGD 15000, 12000 and 10000. For Group B, they are SGD 2000, 1800 and 1600 each.

IM Ilamparthi A R and... | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

GM Karthik Venkataraman are two Indians at 3.5/4 | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

Round 3: Sethuraman - Ilamparthi: 0.5-0.5

In Round 3, IM Ilamparthi A R (2457) had an exciting draw against GM Sethuraman S P (2586).

Round 4: Ilamparthi - Kacper: 1-0

The former World Under-14 champion, Ilamparthi defeated GM Kacper Piorun (POL, 2587) a few months ago at Riga Technical University Open 2024. This time also he repeated the same result.

Position after 13...Nf4?

Black made one minute positional mistake 13...Nf4? ignoring the back-rank weakness. 14.Bxf6 forcing double pawns gxf6 15.Ne2 Ng6 16.Ng3 Bf4 17.Qd1 Be6 18.Nh5 Bh6 19.c3 Bg7 20.Nh2 White maneuvered his knights well to gain a pawn, eventually utilizing it in the opposite color bishop endgame to win the game.

Karthik - Deepan, Round 3

Position after 43...Bxg5

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2408) was forced to take the g5-pawn after GM Karthik Venkataraman (2603) captured the bishop on b5 43.Nxb5. Black could not play 43...axb5 as 44.Nh5+ would have dropped his lone bishop at f4. The game continued 43...Bxg5 44.Ne4 Bc1 45.Nbd6 and eventually the game ended in a draw. Computer recommends 44.Ne8+ Kf8 45.Nbd6 to have the decisive advantage for White.

In Round 4, Karthik defeated IM Muthaiah Al (2477) comfortably.

Asia's first Grandmaster Eugene Torre (PHI)... | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

Singapore Chess Federation CEO - GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming and... | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

FIDE CEO - GM Emil Sutovsky (ISR) at the inauguration ceremony | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

The tournament hall at Resorts World Sentosa Convention Centre | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

Replay Round 1-4 games

Round 4 Results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	2	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2664	2½	1 - 0	3	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2561	15	PGN
2	27	IM	Aswath, S	2491	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	2672	1	PGN
3	28	IM	Seemann, Jakub	2491	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Pichot, Alan	2649	3	PGN
4	29	IM	Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav	2484	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Lu, Shanglei	2609	5	PGN
5	6	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2605	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Muthaiah, Al	2477	31	PGN
6	35	GM	Bilguun, Sumiya	2470	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Nesterov, Arseniy	2599	7	PGN
7	37	GM	Rozum, Ivan	2466	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Tin, Jingyao	2588	8	PGN
8	39	GM	Zhao, Zong-Yuan	2452	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2586	9	PGN
9	38	IM	Ilamparthi, A R	2457	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Piorun, Kacper	2580	11	PGN
10	12	GM	Gumularz, Szymon	2579	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Poh, Yu Tian	2444	41	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	2	GM	Murzin, Volodar		FID	2664	3,5	0	9	10,5	9,00	9	2790	10	4,6
2	38	IM	Ilamparthi, A R		IND	2457	3,5	0	8,5	11	9,75	9	2737	10	12,5
3	25	IM	Klimkowski, Jan		POL	2495	3,5	0	8	10,5	9,00	8,5	2533	10	2,6
4	6	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman		IND	2605	3,5	0	8	10	8,50	8,5	2739	10	4,8
	46	IM	Injac, Teodora	w	SRB	2429	3,5	0	8	10	8,50	8,5	2614	10	10,9
6	22	GM	Gordon, Stephen J		ENG	2506	3,5	0	7,5	9,5	8,50	8	2494	10	1
7	3	GM	Pichot, Alan		ESP	2649	3,5	0	7,5	9	8,25	8	2727	10	2,6
8	39	GM	Zhao, Zong-Yuan		AUS	2452	3,5	0	7	8,5	7,25	8	2538	10	5,5
9	27	IM	Aswath, S		IND	2491	3	0	9,5	12,5	9,25	8,5	2682	10	10
10	7	GM	Nesterov, Arseniy		FID	2599	3	0	9,5	12	8,75	8	2594	10	0,1
11	15	GM	Sanal, Vahap		TUR	2561	3	0	9,5	11	7,50	9	2598	10	2,4
12	20	GM	Iniyan, Pa		IND	2513	3	0	9	11,5	8,50	8,5	2459	10	0,2
13	134	WIM	Karimova, Guldona	w	UZB	2115	3	0	9	11,5	8,50	8	2653	40	100,8
14	14	GM	Jumabayev, Rinat		KAZ	2571	3	0	9	11	8,00	8,5	2585	10	0,8
15	52	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2408	3	0	9	11	7,75	8	2627	10	13,2
16	37	GM	Rozum, Ivan		FID	2466	3	0	9	10,5	7,50	8,5	2565	10	5,8
17	35	GM	Bilguun, Sumiya		MGL	2470	3	0	8,5	11	8,00	8,5	2592	10	6,8
18	26	IM	Yeoh, Li Tian		MAS	2492	3	0	8,5	10,5	7,75	7,5	2405	10	-3
19	95	WGM	Gong, Qianyun	w	SGP	2268	3	0	8,5	10,5	7,50	8	2539	20	29,6
20	8	GM	Tin, Jingyao		SGP	2588	3	0	8,5	10	7,25	8,5	2625	10	1,8

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	25	IM	Klimkowski, Jan	2495	3½		3½	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2664	2
2	3	GM	Pichot, Alan	2649	3½		3½	IM	Ilamparthi, A R	2457	38
3	6	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2605	3½		3½	GM	Zhao, Zong-Yuan	2452	39
4	46	IM	Injac, Teodora	2429	3½		3½	GM	Gordon, Stephen J	2506	22
5	1	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	2672	3		3	IM	Garcia, Jan Emmanuel	2397	58
6	5	GM	Lu, Shanglei	2609	3		3	IM	Subhayan, Kundu	2395	59
7	7	GM	Nesterov, Arseniy	2599	3		3	IM	Laohawirapap, Prin	2386	62
8	8	GM	Tin, Jingyao	2588	3		3	GM	Neelotpal, Das	2356	70
9	67	IM	Raahul, V S	2360	3		3	GM	Gumularz, Szymon	2579	12
10	13	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo	2575	3		3	IM	Novita, Anjas	2350	72

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

Related news:

	Singapore Open R6-7: Klimkowski gains sole lead, Karthik, Iniyan and Ilamparthi in pursuit @ 04/12/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Singapore Open R5: Ilamparthi outplays Pichot, emerges sole leader @ 03/12/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Magnus Carlsen escapes with a draw against Fabiano Caruana, wins Freestyle Exhibition @ 23/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Freestyle Exhibition G1: Carlsen wins a crazy game against Caruana @ 22/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Carlsen and Caruana set to play two Freestyle games to promote Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025 @ 21/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	सिंगापुर में होगी गुकेश - डिंग की विश्व चैंपियनशिप @ 01/07/2024 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Singapore Chess Federation CEO Kevin Goh Wei Ming teaches chess at Singapore Prison Services @ 27/11/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Diptayan Ghosh wins Professor Lim Kok Ann Open 2023 @ 19/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)