Western Asian R03+04: Srijit Paul squanders a decisive advantage against Mohamed Anees M

by Satanick Mukhuty - 08/09/2019

In round three of the ongoing Western Asian Youth and Junior Championship Srijit Paul missed multiple opportunities against compatriot Mohamed Anees M and ultimately lost from a completely winning position to be ousted from the lead. In the same category Arjun Gupta kept up his stellar form to cause yet another upset by beating Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali of Uzbekistan. Elsewhere, 14-year-old Divya Deshmukh, who is boldly competing in the under-20 open section, got the better of Harshal Shahi. In under-20 girls Vantika Agrawal was defeated by Sakshi Chitlange, while in under-18 girls group Mrudul Dehankar took a full point lead over the rest of the field scoring a fabulous 4.0/4. In this report we bring you photos, games, analyses, and much more from the third day of the event.

Srijit Paul goes down against Mohamed Anees M after a staggering 81 moves long topsy-turvy battle!

A tough loss for Srijit at the end of a long struggle | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Double rounds of classical chess is being played everyday from the 6th to 9th of September at the Western Asian Youth and Junior Chess Championships 2019 taking place in Hotel Tivoli resorts, New Delhi. In the first half of the third day of the event Srijit Paul was up against compatriot Mohamed Anees M with the black pieces. The former chose the Leningrad system of the Dutch defense against the latter's queen's pawn opening and the game soon turned in favour of Black who had the opportunity to give up an exchange and cripple White's structure.

Mohamed Anees M - Srijit Paul, Round 3

Srijit could have seized the advantage right away in this position on move 18 by going 18...Rxe3 19.fxe3 Bh6 and irreparably damaging White's structure. He had the chance to take on e3 even later in the game but he eschewed this possibility altogether.

Position after 24.Nc6 - Here 24...Rxe3 would have been almost decisive but Black played the move 24...Bxc6 and after 25.Bxc5 bxc5 26.dxc6+ Kf8 the balance was returned but perhaps it was now White who was on the better side of equality.

Position after 33...Reb8: White could break here immediately with 34.e4 but Mohamed adopted a more subtle positional plan.

He improved his king's position first, bringing it to a more active square c4, and next, when Black played 40.Rb8, he pushed e3-e4.

42.Re1?! was once again a slip that tilted the evaluation in Black's favour. Instead, simply 42.gxf4 Bxh4 would have left even chances.

With 46...Rxa2 Black grabbed a pawn seizing a clear edge.

Subsequently Black even managed to infiltrate White's camp with his king. It is hard to imagine that the tables were actually turned from here.

62...Re7 was a mistake. The point is White could now go 63.Bd7 and grab the c7 pawn. Black could have avoided this with 62...Be5 (check annotations below for details)

From above the game followed 63.Bd7 Be5 (Be5 only a move earlier was better) 64.Kxc7 and here Black pushed 64...d5+ - the final blunder which sealed his fate!

White was completely winning after 64...d5+ ... Can you see why?

65.Kd8 Rg7 66.exd5 came next and now White's c and d pawns were simply monsters.

The game continued till move 81 but at this point it was clear that Black's position was irredeemable.

Arjun Gupta's charm worked again!

The under-18 open category is being led by Arjun Gupta who is on 3.5/4 along with Vatsal Singhania and Mohamed Anees M | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

The in-form Arjun Gupta of under-18 open delivered another victory in round four of the event, this time against the Uzbekistani player Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali. In this encounter Arjun actually recovered from a worse position to register his win. Let's have a look at the critical moments.

Arjun Gupta - Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali, Round 4

White was already slightly worse when he pushed 16.f4 - Can you find how Black could have taken initiative here?

In the game 16.Nxc4 was played but the correct continuation would have been 16...exf3 17.N4xf3 Nxc4 18.Nxc4 Rc8 where Black gets a very pleasant position to play.

Analysis diagram

In this position Black's pair of bishops cut nicely across the board and White's pawn on e3 is a soft spot that can potentially become vulnerable.

Arjun was spared of this testing variation and the position soon returned to equilibrium. Next it was the Uzbek player's turn to blunder.

Black's kingside was already weakened when 25...Ra2?? was played - this rook was key to the defense of seventh and eighth ranks.

After 26.Nc3 Nxc3 27.bxc3 Black couldn't defend the c7 pawn due to the royal fork on f7 and thus White crashed through with 27...Bf8 28.Qxc7

Standings after round 4 in under-18 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	16		Arjun Gupta	U18		IND	2024	3,5	0,0	3	9,0	10,0	8,25	1,98
2	9	FM	Vatsal Singhania	U18		IND	2159	3,5	0,0	3	8,0	9,0	7,25	0,41
3	14		Mohamed Anees M	U16		IND	2038	3,5	0,0	3	7,5	9,0	7,50	1,14
4	1	FM	Thilakarathne G M H	U18		SRI	2397	3,0	0,0	3	7,5	9,0	5,50	-0,66
	2		Srijit Paul	U18		IND	2310	3,0	0,0	3	7,5	9,0	5,50	-0,43
6	10		Soham Kamotra	U16		IND	2139	3,0	0,0	2	8,5	9,5	6,50	-0,12
7	6	FM	Abdilkhair Abilmansur	U16		KAZ	2189	3,0	0,0	2	7,0	9,0	6,50	-0,26
8	5	FM	Ajay Karthikeyan	U16		IND	2206	3,0	0,0	2	6,0	7,5	5,50	-0,29
9	3	FM	Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali	U18		UZB	2288	2,5	0,0	2	8,5	10,0	5,25	-0,99
10	18		Tanmay Chopra	U16		IND	2016	2,5	0,0	2	8,0	10,0	5,25	0,18

Under-18 Girls: Mrudul Dehankar takes a massive lead!

Mrudul Dehankar has taken a full point lead over the rest of the field after beating Srishti Pandey in the last round | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Standings after round 4 in under-18 girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	1	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	w	IND	2198	4,0	0,0	4	8,0	9,5	9,50	0,80
2	2		Priyanka K	w	IND	2169	3,0	0,0	3	8,5	9,5	5,50	-0,15
3	4	WCM	Jyothsna L	w	IND	1989	3,0	0,0	2	6,5	8,5	6,25	0,37
4	6		Pandey Srishti	w	IND	1928	2,5	0,0	2	8,5	9,5	4,25	0,05
5	12		Rindhiya V	w	IND	1753	2,5	0,0	2	8,0	10,0	5,75	1,53
6	8		Toshali V	w	IND	1823	2,5	0,0	2	7,5	8,5	3,25	0,28
7	3	WFM	Sanskriti Goyal	w	IND	2030	2,5	0,0	2	6,5	7,5	3,50	-0,73
8	5		Srimathi R	w	IND	1972	2,5	0,0	1	7,5	8,5	4,75	-0,46
9	7		Ghosh Samriddhaa	w	IND	1863	2,0	0,0	2	7,0	8,0	2,00	-0,29
10	13		Shriya R Revankar	w	IND	1751	2,0	0,0	1	7,5	9,0	4,00	0,44

Under-20 Open: Rajdeep Sarkar takes sole lead, Divya Deshmukh keeps up her solid performance

14-year-old Divya Deshmukh is competing solidly in the under-20 open group. In round four she defeated Harshal Shahi and registered her second consecutive victory | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Standings after round 4 in under-20 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	7	FM	Rajdeep Sarkar		IND	2364	4,0	0,0	4	8,0	9,0	9,00	1,23
2	2	FM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik		UZB	2409	3,5	0,0	3	7,5	9,5	8,00	0,32
3	10	IM	Vardaan Nagpal		IND	2346	3,5	0,0	3	7,0	8,0	6,75	0,75
4	11		Raahul V S		IND	2278	3,0	0,0	3	7,5	8,0	4,00	0,00
5	13		Ritviz Parab		IND	2269	3,0	0,0	2	8,0	10,0	7,00	0,70
6	5	IM	Mendonca Leon Luke		IND	2385	3,0	0,0	2	6,5	8,5	6,25	-0,40
7	8	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	w	IND	2362	3,0	0,0	2	6,0	7,5	5,75	-0,37
8	3		Sammed Jaykumar Shete		IND	2395	2,5	0,0	2	10,0	12,0	6,25	-0,18
9	18		Anustoop Biswas		IND	2154	2,5	0,0	2	8,5	9,5	4,25	0,32
10	9	FM	Pranav Anand		IND	2361	2,5	0,0	2	8,0	10,0	5,50	-0,38

Under-20 girls: Sakshi Chitlange topples Vantika Agrawal!

Sakshi Chitlange defeated top seed Vantika Agrawal in round four of the event to emerge as one of the leaders along with Bakhora Abdusattorova | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Standings after round 4 in under-20 girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	5	WIM	Abdusattorova Bakhora	w	UZB	2109	3,5	0,0	3	8,0	10,0	8,50	0,14
2	4	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	w	IND	2159	3,5	0,0	3	7,5	9,0	7,75	1,16
3	1	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	w	IND	2304	3,0	0,0	3	8,0	9,0	5,50	-0,30
4	13		Shah Vishwa	w	IND	1760	3,0	0,0	2	7,0	8,0	5,50	2,05
5	9		Bakshi Rutuja	w	IND	2002	2,5	0,0	2	9,0	10,0	4,75	0,34
6	8	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	w	IND	2055	2,5	0,0	2	8,0	8,5	4,25	-0,40
7	16		Rathi Dhanashree	w	IND	1631	2,5	0,0	2	7,0	8,0	4,25	2,05
8	15		Nanditha V	w	IND	1738	2,5	0,0	2	7,0	8,0	3,25	1,94
9	17		Senthamizh Yazhini S	w	IND	1626	2,0	0,0	2	8,5	9,5	3,00	1,18
10	14	WFM	Potluri Supreetha	w	IND	1745	2,0	0,0	2	7,5	8,5	3,00	0,88

Detailed results of all other categories can be checked here.

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