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Krishna Teja scores his maiden GM norm with a round to spare at Sunway Sitges 2018

by Sagar Shah - 22/12/2018

Sunway Sitges has turned out to be an amazing event for a lad from Andhra Pradesh - IM Krishna Teja. Rated just 2340, he had already beaten big names like Beliavksy and Vincent Keymer. In round 8 he scalped another big fish when he got the better of GM Nihal Sarin. It was a street fight where Krishna Teja was worse out of the opening but did not give up. Nihal tried hard to create some imbalance in the position, and Krishna managed to play sublimely in the endgame to get the full point. With this performance he made a GM norm with one round to spare. In this article we tell how GM norms are calculated and also show you a brilliant position from the game of Soumya Swaminathan.

Krishna Teja has scored 6.0/8 and with his last round win over Nihal Sarin, has scored his maiden GM norm | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Let's have a look at how Krishna was able to beat Nihal:

Already out of the opening, Black was clearly better with the bishop pair

...Rxc3 by Nihal was not a bad move, but it was not required, especially because Black had many different way to strengthen the position

A few moves later Krishna Teja returned the favour!

Nihal's final mistake was ...Qxb5 exchanging the queens which gave White a risk free edge. Instead Black should have played ...Qa7!

The knight was clearly superior to the bishop. As you can see the bishop was cornered and trapped on a3

Krishna Teja interviewed by Rupali Mullick after his win over Nihal Sarin

How to find out if a player has scored a GM norm:

Step 1: Open FIDE Handbook - click on International title regulations and then regulations effective from 1st of July 2017. Now go to the table where it is shown how many points need to be scored at a particular rating average to make a GM norm in 9 rounds. 

This is the table for 9 rounds with four columns of GM, IM, WGM and WIM norm

Step 2:

Find out the rating average of the opponents. This can be done from Chess-results website. Mind you, for GM norm, you should upgrade one of the players rating to 2200.

If you changed the first opponent of Krishna Teja to 2200 and then took the average of all nine opponents, you will find that it comes to 2474.55

As you can see if the rating average of the opponents is 2475-2519, then six points is enough for a GM norm. As Krishna's rating average if 2474.55, it will be rounded off to 2475 and hence six points are enough for the GM norm! What a close shave!

 

On other boards Indians didn't have a great day. Overnight leader Sasikiran lost his game to top seed Dmitry Andreikin, Pragg drew his game and moves to 5.5/8, Raunak Sadhwani's GM norm chances came to an end after he lost the game. Gukesh drew his game against Jamie Santos Latasa and has to compulsorily score 2.0/2 to have any chances of making his third norm. This might not even be enough if he doesn't get an extremely higher rated opponent in the tenth round. It seems as if Karjakin's record of youngest GM ever will stand.

Soumya drew her eighth round against Justin Sarkar, but she got a position that was good enough for her to tweet about it, which is very rare! | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Solution:

Performance of Indian players

SNoNameRtgIRtgNFED123456789Pts.Rk.RpGroup
4GMSasikiran Krishnan26730IND111½½1106,052686Group A
16GMNihal Sarin25760IND1111½½005,0272571Group A
25GMPraggnanandhaa R25300IND½111½½½½5,5222552Group A
35IMGukesh D24660IND1101½01½5,0322535Group A
41IMSadhwani Raunak24340IND111010½04,5472503Group A
42WGMSoumya Swaminathan24280IND110½10½½4,5552377Group A
45IMVardaan Nagpal24150IND½½½½10½½4,0972144Group A
46IMRaja Rithvik R24150IND11½0½½1½5,0362364Group A
48IMArjun Kalyan24060IND1100½½½14,5712177Group A
49CMRohith Krishna S23990IND10011½½½4,5662297Group A
59IMRoy Prantik23820IND1½010½1½4,5542392Group A
68IMKrishna Teja N23400IND1011½1½16,0112621Group A
73WGMVaishali R23290IND11001½0½4,0762347Group A
74IMDhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad23280IND1010101½4,5652296Group A
81WIMPriyanka Nutakki22930IND1½010½½½4,0832147Group A
85CMMullick Raahil22760IND101011004,0802231Group A
86FMPranav Anand22740IND101½1½0½4,5512343Group A
90Sreeshwan Maralakshikari22440IND101½½0½14,5522392Group A
95CMBharath Subramaniyam H22340IND0111½½0½4,5532385Group A
96Moksh Amit Doshi22330IND011½½½003,51032275Group A
106Alok Sinha21870IND010101003,01292154Group A
108Natarajan C21770IND01½00½114,01002200Group A
115CMDev Shah21590IND001½0½1½3,51241961Group A
116Manu David Suthandram R21530IND½½½01½½½4,0812329Group A
120Ajay Karthikeyan21430IND01½½1½014,5682347Group A
121Rakshitta Ravi21410IND0½½½01½½3,51181927Group A
139WFMCholleti Sahajasri20690IND½½001½½14,0842235Group A
148Shyam Prasad Reddy K20300IND010½11003,51092286Group A
160Aarav Dengla19550IND00½½010½2,51561998Group A
164Mahitosh Dey19310IND01½½½0½½3,51162155Group A
167Arjun C Krishnamachari18950IND010½½½½½3,51222144Group A
177Ilamparthi A R17960IND½01010½14,0952224Group A
179AGMVignesh B17400IND0½½01½½14,01012140Group A

Standings after round 8

Rk.SNo NameTypsexGrFEDRtgIRtgNClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 Rp
127
GMAlonso Rosell Alvar2550ESP25242514C.E. Gerunda6,539,042,032,52767
21
GMAndreikin DmitryRUS271906,538,041,529,52756
32
GMIvanchuk VassilyUKR271706,534,037,525,02595
417
GMPetrosyan ManuelARM256506,039,042,031,52692
54
GMSasikiran KrishnanIND26730Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd6,038,542,030,52686
626
IMHarutyunian Tigran K.ARM252806,037,541,028,52651
73
GMInarkiev ErnestoRUS269306,036,040,026,52625
88
GMIndjic AleksandarSRB262006,036,039,529,52662
95
GMEdouard RomainFRA26442614Club de Ajedrez Sestao6,036,039,028,02661
1012
GMLiang AwonderH16USA25890Wisconsin6,035,540,028,02648
1168
IMKrishna Teja NAIND234006,035,037,526,02621
1232
IMSosa TomasARG248824516,032,536,026,02551
1315
GMLopez Martinez Josep ManuelESP258025815,537,540,529,02626
1411
GMRomanov EvgenyRUS261405,537,040,528,02560
1528
GMSantos Ruiz MiguelESP25232506And5,537,040,527,02574
166
GMVocaturo DanieleITA262926225,537,040,028,02589
1719
GMKulaots KaidoHEST255505,537,040,027,52598
187
GMAdly AhmedEGY262605,536,541,027,52599
1934
GMDragnev ValentinHAUT248305,536,539,526,52619

Follow the games live at 9 p.m. IST:


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