The biggest gainers at the Sunway Sitges 2019

by Sagar Shah - 24/12/2019

The exciting Sunway Sitges Chess Festival 2019 has come to an end. It was dominated right from the start to the end by Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov, who scored 8.5/10 and with a performance rating of 2845, took home the winner's cheque of 5000 euros. The best performing Indian at the tournament was GM Abhimanyu Puranik, who scored 7.5/10. Also on 7.5 points were Karthikeyan Murali and Nihal Sarin. A total of 10 norms were scored at the event and six of them went to the Indian players. We tell you all about the best performing Indians at the event and also the norm makers. The Sunway Sitges 2019 was well and truly a successful tournament for the Indian contingent.

Anton Korobov reigns supreme

Anton Korobov dominated the event right from the start and won it by a margin of half point with a score of 8.5/10 | Photo: Wadalupe

A performance of 2845, gaining 20 Elo points is quite a commendable performance

Korobov's success can be attributed to the fact that he played well against three big talents - Javokhir Sindarov, R. Praggnanandhaa and Awonder Liang. One of the biggest victories of Korobov's chess career. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Korobov went home richer by 5000 Euors! | Photo: Sunway Sitges Twitter

GM Vasif Durarbayli from Azerbaijan, but currently studying at the Webster university under the SPICE program, finished second, Durarbayli received 3,000 euros for his effort. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Third place went to Rasmus Svane, who took back home 1,500 euros | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Amin Tabatabaei from Iran finished fourth | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The best Indian performers at the Sunway Sitges 2019

Abhimanyu Puranik was the highest finishing Indian with 7.5/10. He was placed fifth and with a performance of 2686, he gained 14.5 Elo points! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Abhimanyu scored two wins over 2600 opponents. One of them was against Amin Tabatabaei in round 7 and the next one was against S.L. Narayanan in round 9.

The interesting thing to note is Abhimanyu, who is a hardcore 1.e4 player also experimented with different openings and beat S.L. Narayanan with 1.c4.

After a pretty slow start with 2.5/4, Karthikeyan Murali scored 5 points in the last six rounds and ensured that he wasn't losing any rating points! In fact he even gained a couple. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In the final round Karthikeyan was facing GM Levan Aroshidze. It was the well known Taimanov and Aroshidze essayed a line which seems to give Black a fine position. But it turns out that Karthikeyan had done his homework and with a series of powerful moves, was able to mate the black king. This game has already put the entire line from Black's perspective in danger. The ball is now in Black's court if players can come up with an improvement. If they cannot, then this win by Karthikeyan might well be the last grandmaster game that we will see in this line.

Daniel King analyzes Karthikeyan's win over Aroshidze

Nihal Sarin with 7.5/10 gained 6 Elo points and was unbeaten! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

It's simply amazing to see how Nihal hardly ever loses his games and at the same time is good enough to gain rating even when he is well past 2600 now. With the six point Elo gain Nihal moves to 2618 on the live Elo rating list. When it comes to objectivity, solidity and pragmatism, very few players can come close to Nihal.

Arjun Erigaisi had one of the best events of his chess career till date, scoring 7.0/10 but gaining 18 Elo points. Arjun's live rating is now 2575. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Arjun played six opponents above his rating in the last six rounds and he scored a +1 against them!

A seven Elo point gain for Gukesh was a fine result. More importantly he played fighting chess and was able to show some of his best skills at the event! It would exciting to see him in action at the World Rapid and Blitz. He starts as the last seed in the rapid section with a rating of 1799! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

This was Raunak's first tournament after becoming a GM. He lived up to the expectations scoring 7.0/10 and gaining 14 Elo points. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Five norm makers

There were a total of six norms that were scored by Indians, but as Raunak has already completed his norm requirements, we do not count his fourth GM norm.

After achieving his maiden GM norm at the Elllobregat Open 2019 in Spain, Harshit took no time for a breather as the youngster scored his 2nd GM norm at the Sunway Sitges International 2019 in nine rounds. The Sunway Sitges was a fine event for the Pune-lad as he beat the second seed Parham Maghsoodloo and GM Harsha Bharathakoti, along with draws against Valentin Dragnev, Levon Aroshidze, S.P. Sethuraman and Srinath Narayanan. Harshit went to Spain rated 2447 with no GM norms. Now he has an Elo of 2482 with two GM norms! With two powerful performances, he is very close to becoming India's next GM.

Rakshitta Ravi scores her 2nd WGM norm at the Sunway Sitges International Open 2019. Rakshitta played a high class event and needed just one point out of the last three rounds to score her maiden IM norm. It was not to be as she managed to score only 0.5/3. Yet her performance was powerful enough to get her a WGM norm. One of Rakshitta's best result at the event was her win against GM Kaido Kulaots. Kulaots had won the Aeroflot Open 2019 earlier this year. To beat a player of this stature speaks volumes about this girl's talent.

Kushager Krishnater achieved his final IM norm. With a rating of 2386, he is just 14 Elo points away from becoming India's next IM | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Ajay Krishna from Tamil Nadu scored 5.5/9 and scored an IM norm | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A great result for B. Sekar, who is rated just 2176. He gained 70 Elo points and scored an IM norm | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 10

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3	GM	Korobov Anton				UKR	2668	0		8,5	0	61,5	66,0
2	18	GM	Durarbayli Vasif				AZE	2609	0		8,0	0	60,0	65,0
3	22	GM	Svane Rasmus				GER	2597	0		8,0	0	56,5	60,5
4	11	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin				IRI	2635	0		7,5	1	59,0	63,5
5	26	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu				IND	2580	0		7,5	2	60,0	64,5
6	14	GM	Heimann Andreas				GER	2617	0		7,5	3	58,0	62,5
7	35	GM	Li Di	H			CHN	2543	0		7,5	4	59,5	64,5
8	21	GM	Gareyev Timur				USA	2598	0		7,5	5	58,5	63,5
9	17	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	H			IND	2611	0		7,5	0	57,0	61,5
10	6	GM	Lagarde Maxime				FRA	2655	2596	C.E. Barcelona	7,5	0	57,0	61,5
11	16	GM	Nihal Sarin	H16			IND	2612	0		7,5	0	56,5	61,0
12	19	GM	Adly Ahmed				EGY	2607	0		7,5	0	56,5	60,5
13	34	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	16			IND	2544	0		7,0	0	60,0	65,5
14	9	GM	Donchenko Alexander				GER	2644	0		7,0	0	60,0	64,0
15	27	GM	Wagner Dennis				GER	2578	0		7,0	0	59,5	63,5
16	1	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily				UKR	2690	0		7,0	0	59,0	63,0
17	37	GM	Moradiabadi Elshan				USA	2539	0		7,0	0	57,5	62,5
18	23	GM	Liang Awonder	16			USA	2593	0		7,0	0	57,0	62,0
19	33	GM	Nasuta Grzegorz				POL	2545	0		7,0	0	57,0	61,0

Complete list

Overview of Indian performances:

SNo		Name	RtgI	RtgN	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	Rk.	Group
5	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2656	0	IND	1	1	0	1	1	½	½	½	½	½	6,5	33	Group A
10	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2638	0	IND	1	1	1	1	0	0	½	1	½	1	7,0	22	Group A
13	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2626	0	IND	1	1	1	1	1	0	½	½	0	½	6,5	27	Group A
16	GM	Nihal Sarin	2612	0	IND	1	½	1	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	7,5	11	Group A
17	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2611	0	IND	1	1	½	0	1	½	1	1	½	1	7,5	9	Group A
24	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2586	0	IND	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	½	½	½	6,5	36	Group A
26	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2580	0	IND	1	½	1	1	1	½	1	0	1	½	7,5	5	Group A
31	GM	Gukesh D	2547	0	IND	1	1	½	1	½	0	1	1	0	1	7,0	20	Group A
34	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2544	0	IND	1	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	7,0	13	Group A
40	GM	Narayanan Srinath	2529	0	IND	1	1	1	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	6,5	29	Group A
44	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2523	0	IND	1	½	½	1	1	½	0	0	1	½	6,0	66	Group A
48	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2507	0	IND	1	1	0	1	0	1	1	½	½	1	7,0	25	Group A
49	GM	Girish A. Koushik	2506	0	IND	1	0	1	1	½	1	½	½	0	½	6,0	67	Group A
55	GM	Iniyan P	2497	0	IND	1	½	½	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	6,5	57	Group A
65	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2470	0	IND	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	½	½	1	7,0	23	Group A
77	IM	Raja Harshit	2447	0	IND	1	1	½	0	1	½	½	1	½	0	6,0	60	Group A
85	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2420	0	IND	½	1	0	½	1	1	0	0	1	1	6,0	85	Group A
87	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2418	0	IND	½	1	0	1	½	0	1	1	0	1	6,0	80	Group A
90	IM	Akash Pc Iyer	2415	0	IND	1	0	½	½	0	1	0	1	1	½	5,5	123	Group A
92	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2414	0	IND	1	0	1	1	½	½	0	1	1	0	6,0	81	Group A
94	FM	Rathanvel V S	2410	0	IND	½	1	0	1	1	½	0	1	0	1	6,0	77	Group A
98	IM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2398	0	IND	1	½	½	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	6,0	71	Group A
102	IM	Krishna Teja N	2383	0	IND	1	0	1	0	½	½	1	½	½	1	6,0	86	Group A
108	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2381	0	IND	1	0	1	0	½	1	½	½	1	½	6,0	82	Group A
109	WGM	Vaishali R	2376	0	IND	1	0	1	0	½	½	1	½	1	½	6,0	90	Group A
113	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2369	0	IND	1	0	½	1	½	0	½	0	1	1	5,5	115	Group A
115	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2365	0	IND	1	½	½	0	1	0	1	0	1	½	5,5	98	Group A
125	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2338	0	IND	1	0	1	0	1	½	0	1	½	½	5,5	121	Group A
128	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2332	0	IND	1	0	1	½	0	½	0	1	1	0	5,0	157	Group A
133		Samant Aditya S	2309	0	IND	1	½	0	1	0	½	1	½	0	½	5,0	138	Group A
134	FM	Krishnater Kushager	2308	0	IND	1	½	½	1	0	0	1	1	½	1	6,5	47	Group A
139		Ajay Krishna S	2302	0	IND	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	½	0	5,5	93	Group A
140	FM	Matta Vinay Kumar	2300	0	IND	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	½	0	5,5	114	Group A
153	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2260	0	IND	1	½	0	1	½	1	0	½	0	0	4,5	172	Group A
159	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2253	0	IND	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	5,0	139	Group A
163	FM	Dushyant Sharma	2247	0	IND	0	½	1	0	1	0	1	½	0	0	4,0	214	Group A
164		Panesar Vedant	2247	0	IND	0	1	0	1	0	1	½	½	0	½	4,5	178	Group A
168		Rohit S	2234	0	IND	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	½	4,5	182	Group A
169	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2229	0	IND	½	0	½	1	½	1	½	0	0	0	4,0	212	Group A
172	CM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2221	0	IND	½	0	½	1	0	1	½	1	0	½	5,0	143	Group A
174	WFM	Cholleti Sahajasri	2216	0	IND	0	0	1	½	0	1	½	0	0	0	3,0	268	Group A
175		Karthik Rajaa	2212	0	IND	0	1	0	½	½	1	½	½	0	1	5,0	142	Group A
177	FM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2203	0	IND	½	0	1	½	1	1	0	½	½	0	5,0	132	Group A
183	CM	Tanmay Jain	2193	0	IND	0	1	0	1	0	½	½	1	½	½	5,0	164	Group A
185	IM	Mohota Nisha	2191	0	IND	0	1	½	0	1	½	½	1	½	0	5,0	141	Group A
187		Bartakke Amardeep S.	2190	0	IND	0	1	0	½	1	0	½	½	1	0	4,5	188	Group A
189		Sibi Visal R	2185	0	IND	0	1	0	0	1	½	0	1	½	1	5,0	166	Group A
191		Sekar B	2176	0	IND	0	1	1	½	1	1	½	½	0	1	6,5	41	Group A
198		Natarajan C	2157	0	IND	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0,0	306	Group A
200		Godbole Atharva	2148	0	IND	0	½	1	1	0	½	½	½	0	1	5,0	156	Group A
204	CM	Shahil Dey	2135	0	IND	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4,0	224	Group A
206	WIM	Tejaswini Sagar	2128	2095	IND	0	1	1	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	3,5	244	Group A
210		Darpan Inani	2117	0	IND	0	1	0	½	1	0	0	1	½	0	4,0	225	Group A
211		Arjun C Krishnamachari	2113	0	IND	½	0	1	0	1	½	½	1	½	0	5,0	146	Group A
219		Tanmay Chopra	2100	0	IND	0	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	4,0	215	Group A
220	WCM	Sharma Isha	2099	0	IND	0	1	0	0	1	½	1	0	1	1	5,5	124	Group A
223	CM	Rajarishi Karthi	2093	0	IND	0	0	1	½	0	1	½	0	1	1	5,0	167	Group A
225		Toshali V	2083	0	IND	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	½	1	4,5	206	Group A
227		Kishan Gangolli	2078	0	IND	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	0	1	5,0	165	Group A
229		Dhrupad Kashyap	2073	0	IND	0	½	0	½	1	0	1	1	0	½	4,5	202	Group A
231	CM	Mohamed Anees M	2056	0	IND	0	1	½	1	½	1	0	½	0	0	4,5	173	Group A
246		Jijo Joy	2019	0	IND	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	0	4,5	189	Group A
248		Potluri Saye Srreezza	2013	0	IND	0	0	1	1	0	½	½	1	0	0	4,0	216	Group A
255		Ayushh Ravikumar	1982	0	IND	½	0	½	½	½	½	1	0	0	1	4,5	186	Group A
260	WFM	Savitha Shri B	1968	0	IND	0	½	½	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	4,0	220	Group A
267		Manukonda Arun	1923	0	IND	0	½	½	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3,0	264	Group A
273	AIM	Komal Srivatsav Sajja	1907	0	IND	0	½	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3,5	255	Group A
274		Nawin J J	1907	0	IND	0	0	1	1	0	1	½	0	0	1	4,5	194	Group A
281		Gugan G	1843	0	IND	1	0	0	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	4,5	185	Group A
282		Srimathi R	1842	0	IND	0	0	½	½	1	½	½	1	0	0	4,0	226	Group A
283	CM	Gopal K.N.	1840	0	IND	0	0	½	1	½	1	0	1	1	0	5,0	168	Group A
284		Devnani Kush	1829	0	IND	0	0	½	1	0	0	½	½	½	1	4,0	238	Group A
289		Krithigga K	1812	0	IND	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	0	½	1	3,0	284	Group A
291		Niharika Ch	1803	0	IND	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	½	4,5	200	Group A
292		Sawant Akshay	1793	0	IND	0	0	0	0	½	1	1	½	1	½	4,5	210	Group A
293		Kabhilan S	1789	0	IND	0	½	0	½	1	0	0	½	0	0	2,5	286	Group A
295		Morvekar Kedar	1777	0	IND	0	1	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	4,5	197	Group A
298		Aryan B Joshi	1770	0	IND	0	0	1	½	0	0	0	½	0	1	3,0	273	Group A
300		Sagar Siya	1754	1408	IND	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	1	1	0	2,5	292	Group A
301		Shivika Rohilla	1744	0	IND	0	0	½	0	1	0	1	½	1	0	4,0	236	Group A
302		Mrithyunjay Mahadevan	1735	0	IND	0	0	½	0	0	1	1	0	½	0	3,0	274	Group A
304		Ankitha Goud Palle	1724	0	IND	0	1	0	½	0	½	½	0	½	0	3,0	266	Group A
305		Raghu Ram Reddy Seelam	1717	0	IND	½	0	1	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	2,0	296	Group A
308		Rosh Jain	1697	0	IND	0	½	0	1	0	0	1	0	½	0	3,0	279	Group A
309		Varsha Ramesh	1669	0	IND	0	0	½	0	1	1	½	0	0	1	4,0	231	Group A

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