Super Heroes Cup Pre QF: Shashikant and Kishan make a strong start

Megha scores an upset win over Naveen

Top seed IM Shashikant Kutwal and Kishan Gangolli had a smooth sailing towards the Quarter-Finals. The biggest upset in Round of 16 was Megha Chakraborty's victory over Naveen Kumar. After losing the first game, Megha won the second game as Naveen's laptop started having issues in a completely winning position. Megha won the roller-coaster Armageddon to advance to the next stage. The sole draw of the day out of 18 games took place between Ashwin Makwana and Soundarya Kumar Pradhan.

Shashikant - Kanishri: 2-0

Shashikant started well against Kanishri in the first game.

Shashikant - Kanishri, Game 1

Here computer suggests 28...Rc4 gives black a decisive advantage because the idea is to grab the d4-pawn. It is not an easy idea to spot especially when the clock is ticking down. The game went on with 28...Qb5. Soon afterwards black exchanged queens and the positional equalized. Shashikant took 1-0 lead.

In the second game, Kanishri was unable to handle the King's Indian Defense which caused her to lose an important central pawn.

Kanishri - Shashikant, Game 2

Find out why 18.Qb3 is a mistake which causes white to lose a pawn. White needed to play 18.b5 instead to avoid losing a pawn. Shashikant had no trouble converting his advantage to a win. Thus he won the match by 2-0 and advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

Kishan - Himanshi: 2-0

Himanshi went wrong early in the opening before blundering her queen and running out of time. Kishan gained a 1-0 lead.

Himanshi once again misplayed in early in the middle game and got a cramped position. A few incorrect decisions led to a completely lost position before she lost on time. Kishan won the match by 2-0 and advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

Naveen - Megha: 1-2*

Megha put her IQP (Isolate queen's pawn) in jeopardy which cost her the pawn and eventually the equilibrium of the position.

Naveen - Megha, Game 1

Instead of 14...Be7, black needed to play 14...Rc8 and things would have been fine. White won the d-pawn and eventually the game with an unstoppable checkmate threat. Thus Naveen took 1-0 lead.

In the second game, Megha misplayed early in the opening and arrived at a very difficult position.

Megha - Naveen, Game 2

White is about to lose the c2-pawn. What should white do to minimize the damage? The game continued with 13.Bd3 which protected the pawn but white's position got heavily compromised. Naveen once again got a winning position by seizing his advantage, however his laptop malfunctioned and he lost the game. Megha leveled the score 1-1. Thus Armageddon was enforced.

Megha once again made a mistake early in the opening but the pressure of Armageddon and qualifying spot at stake caused both players to miss their fair share of chances.

Megha - Naveen, Armageddon

At a first glance, 9.Bd4 may seem to be okay for white until you spot 9...Bb4 which turns white's position into shambles. The game continued with 9...Qb4+.

Black was getting pretty low on time and then blundered with 22...Nb4. The pressure took a toll on both as white missed a win and played 23.a3. What did white miss? Naveen eventually ran out of time and lost the game. Thus Megha advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

Ashish - Yashaswi: 2-0

Ashish played solid in the first game and scored a fine victory.

Ashish - Yashaswi, Game 1

23...Nf6 allows white to gain complete control of the position. How? Find out what black should have done instead. Ashish took a 1-0 lead.

Yashaswi needed to launch a relentless attack on her opponent's kingside but she hesitated and things turned quickly into Ashish's favor.

Yashaswi - Ashish, Game 2

White should continue the attack with 13.h5 because there is no time to waste. Instead 13.a3 slowed things down and black launched an attack of his own before white could do anything. Ashish won the game and the match 2-0 and advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

Karthik - Malika: 2-0

Karthik scored an emphatic victory in the first game against Malika.

Karthik - Malika, Game 1

14...e5 made a permanent weakness in the form of d6. Apart from it blocked the g7-bishop's path as f5 will only worsen things for black which is exactly what white did in the game. The game went on with 15.Nxc6 Bxc6 16.f5 and white has a good positional advantage. Karthik eventually won the game and gained 1-0 lead.

Karthik used his knights beautifully in the second game and finished it with a smothered mate in the end. Thus he won the match 2-0 and setup a clash with IM Shashikant Kutwal in the Quarter-Finals.

Aryan - Vaibhav: 2-0

Aryan scored a solid victory in the first game.

Aryan - Vaibhav, Game 1

The best way for black to defend the f7-pawn is by playing 18...Nd6. However the game went on with 18...Be6 and white took it 19.Bxe6 to create a weakness on e6-pawn. Black lost the a5-pawn in the next few moves and eventually the game too. Aryan took 1-0 lead.

Vaibhav started well in the second game but he was unable to seize the opportunity.

Vaibhav - Aryan, Game 2

What should white do after 13...Bg6 ? The game continued with 14.Kh1 which was not the best way.

White needs to exchange pieces to reduce the attack. 25.c4 was a nice way to achieve that but white played 26.g5 and things turned into black's favor. Black won the game and Aryan won the match 2-0 to advance to the Quarter-Finals.

Subhendu - Samarth: 1-2*

Subhendu lost the first game after he miscalculated and lost material.

Subhendu - Samarth, Game 1

Is 14.Nc4 a big mistake or white can still get out of this pickle? While 13...Ba4 is a strong move, it wouldn't have cost white the game because the queen is neither getting trapped nor white is losing any material. Find out the best continuation for white after 14...Qa6. There are some interesting variations but white misplayed and lost material, thus he decided to resign after 17 moves. Samarth got a 0-1 lead.

Subhendu struck back immediately in the second game by playing some fine chess and leveled the score 1-1 forcing Armageddon.

Samarth - Subhendu, Game 2

23.Kh1 is not the best move in the above diagram. Find out why and what white could have done instead.

Subhendu had a good tactical chance in the Armageddon but unfortunately for him, he missed it.

Samarth - Subhendu, Armageddon

Black has a fantastic tactical opportunity in the above diagram. What is it? After missing this, eventually Subhendu blundered his queen in time scramble in an equal queen and rook endgame. Samarth won the Armageddon and advanced to the Quarter-Finals to clash with Megha.

Ashwin - Soundarya: 1.5-0.5

The closest battle on paper in terms of rating was between Ashwin and Soundarya. Despite starting well in the first game, nerves got the better of Soundarya.

Ashwin - Soundarya, Game 1

White cannot castle because of the b5-bishop. Black just needed to make sure that that bishop does not lose control of the a6-f1 diagonal by playing 13...a5. Instead 13...Re7 was played which allowed white to move the bishop off that diagonal with 14.a4. Soon black made another big mistake which allowed white to expose black's kingside and launch a devastating attack. Ashwin won the game eventually and gained a 1-0 lead.

The only draw of the day happened between Soundarya and Ashwin. It was a well-fought draw, although black had some chances in the final moments of the rook endgame but a draw was enough for him to advance to the next stage and that's what he did. Ashwin will face Ashish in the Quarter-Finals.

* - Won by Armageddon

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