Vergani Cup 2022 R3: Lalit Rohit in an eight-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/01/2022

Eight players including GM Lalit Rohit and top seed GM Anton Korobov are at 100% score 3.0/3 at the conclusion of Round 3 in Vergani Cup January 2022. GM Arjun Kalyan and CM Prraneeth Vuppala are at a half point behind, 2.5/3 each. They will face each other in the next round. Untitled Ojas Kulkarni scored the biggest victory of the round as he defeated Romanian legendary and celebrated author GM Mihail Marin. WGM Nandhidhaa P V and FM Mohamed Anees M drew with GM Momchil Nikolov (BUL) and GM Sabino Brunello (ITA). Shantanu Bhambure put up a very good fight against Nigel Short. Round 4 starts today at 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Ojas Kulkarni beats Mihail Marin

It was an eventful day for the Indian players. Apart from the notable results mentioned above, Aniruddh Chatterjee, Hari Charan Sai Kalluri and CM Mrithyunjay Mahadevan drew with IM Alberto Barp (ITA), IM Soumya Swaminathan and IM Manish Anto Cristiano F respectively.

Lalit Rohit 3.0/3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Korobov - Bharath: 1-0

Top seed of the tournament GM Anton Korobov (UKR) is a very strong player. A minute positional mistake can cost you the game which his opponent, IM Bharath Subramaniyam felt in the game.

Position after 29...Rxd4

White has sacrificed an exchanged and a couple of pawns to get a brilliant attack on the kingside. Find out the finish for White after 29...Rxd4.

Korobov was too strong for Bharath | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Tabatabaei - Pranesh: 1-0

Rook endgames are always tricky, add a knight to each side, and we are in a myriad of complexity.

Position after 41.c4

IM Pranesh M opted for 41...h4. At a first glance, it might seem like a good idea to advance the pawn. However, a deeper inspection reveals that White's intention is to solidify his knight at d5, hence 41.c4. So before the knight settles firmly at the central square, Black needed to play either 41...Rc7 or Re7 as suggested by the computer which might be difficult to occur in a human mind especially in a practical game when the clock is ticking down. The game continued 42.Nd5 Rb7 43.a4 and GM M Amin Tabatabaei went on to win the game.

Short - Shantanu: 1-0

Shantanu Bhambure put up a very good fight against GM Nigel Short. Unfortunately a an error in a probable time scramble cost him the game.

Position after 36.Rc1

White has a simple threat of 37.Rc7 to pin the queen against its king. Which is the best way to get out of this predicament for Black? Black played 37...Qd8 and lost the game. Find out why.

Shantanu Bhambure is a very strong player as his rating suggests | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Salimova - Alsina Leal: 0.5-0.5

One of the strangest finish of the day was between Bulgaria no.2 woman, IM Nurgyul Salimova and GM Daniel Alsina Leal (ESP).

Position after 41...Kh7

White is completely winning in the above position. However, the game ended in a draw after 42.Rg1 Nf2+ 43.Kg2 Nd3 44.Kh1 Nf2+ 45.Kg2 Nd3. Try to find what was the winning continuation for White in the above diagram.

GM Momchil Nikolov (BUL) - WGM Nandhidhaa P V: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Sabino Brunello (ITA) - FM Mohamed Anees M: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Mihail Marin (ROU) - Ojas Kulkarni: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Aniruddh Chatterjee - IM Alberto Barp (ITA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Soumya Swaminathan - Hari Charan Sai Kalluri: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Manish Anto Cristiano F - CM Mrithyunjay Mahadevan: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

The tournament is taking place at Hotel Kursaal, Cattolica in Italy from 2nd to 9th January 2021. Time control is 90 mins + 30 seconds increment and 15 minutes each will be added after 40th move in Group A which is for above 1800 FIDE rating.

Replay Round 3 games

Round 3 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Korobov Anton	2699	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2476	21
2	22	IM	Ioannidis Evgenios	2466	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2645	2
3	3	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2643	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Pranesh M	2437	23
4	24	IM	Pantzar Milton	2434	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2632	6
5	26	FM	Sarrau Jelle	2412	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2589	8
6	9	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2548	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Hess Max	2404	30
7	29	IM	Gilevych Artem	2407	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Lodici Lorenzo	2524	13
8	44	IM	Salimova Nurgyul	2353	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Alsina Leal Daniel	2507	15
9	18	GM	Kotronias Vasilios	2485	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Becker Matthias	2311	54
10	34	IM	Sorensen Hampus	2379	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Kozul Zdenko	2639	4
11	5	GM	Short Nigel D	2633	1½	1 - 0	1½		Bhambure Shantanu	2368	38
12	7	GM	Thybo Jesper Sondergaard	2592	1½	1 - 0	1½	IM	Santarius Erik	2346	46
13	35	FM	Ghazarian Kirk	2379	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Iniyan P	2540	10
14	49	FM	Pasztor Balazs	2335	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2532	11
15	14	GM	Nikolov Momchil	2508	1½	½ - ½	1½	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2336	48

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	13	GM	Lodici Lorenzo	2524	3		3	GM	Korobov Anton	2699	1
2	18	GM	Kotronias Vasilios	2485	3		3	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2643	3
3	8	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2589	3		3	IM	Ioannidis Evgenios	2466	22
4	24	IM	Pantzar Milton	2434	3		3	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2548	9
5	17	GM	Dvirnyy Danyyil	2492	2½		2½	GM	Thybo Jesper Sondergaard	2592	7
6	11	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2532	2½		2½	CM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2417	25
7	15	GM	Alsina Leal Daniel	2507	2½		2½	FM	Pasti Aron	2411	27
8	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2645	2		2½	IM	Salimova Nurgyul	2353	44
9	4	GM	Kozul Zdenko	2639	2		2	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2368	37
10	6	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2632	2		2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	43
11	10	GM	Iniyan P	2540	2		2	FM	Siddharth Jagadeesh	2344	47
12	36	FM	Costa Leonardo	2373	2		2	GM	Zelcic Robert	2531	12
13	40	FM	Cumming Rhys	2358	2		2	GM	Nikolov Momchil	2508	14
14	51	WGM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	2324	2		2	GM	Brunello Sabino	2503	16
15	19	GM	Enchev Ivajlo	2477	2		2	WIM	Beydullayeva Govhar	2290	57

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €10000.

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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