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Mumbai 05+06: Indians rule the tournament

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 06/06/2016

Six rounds have come to close at the Mumbai Mayor's Cup 2016 and it can be safely said that Indians are ruling the tournament. In the standings, eight Indians occupy the top ten spots. As usual, there was a load of upsets and we bring you an illustrated report.

Mumbai 05+06: Indians rule the tournament

The Mumbai Mayor's Cup is into its ninth edition and it has been growing in size ever since its inception. For years now, it has been a reason behind the rise of many a talent in India. The ninth edition carries a prize fund of Rs. 27 lakhs, Rs. 11 lakhs of which is earmarked for the Elite category, a ten-round swiss with the time control of 90 min. + 30 sec. per move increment.

 

Six rounds have come to close at the Mumbai Mayor's Cup 2016 and it can be safely said that Indians are ruling the tournament. In the standings, eight Indians occupy the top ten spots.

GM Diptayan Ghosh (2562) is comfortably leading the race with 5.5/6.

His co-leader at 5.5/6, a bit surprisingly, is IM Shyaamnikhil P. (2415) who beat GM Sandipan Chanda (2585) after the latter overpressed.
[Event "9th Mumbai Mayors Cup GM International "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Sandipan, Chanda"]
[Black "Shyaamnikhil P"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "2585"]
[BlackElo "2415"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. f3 axb5 6. e4 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 b4 8. Na3
d6 9. Nc4 Qc7 10. a3 e6 11. dxe6 Bxe6 12. Bf4 Bxc4 13. Bxc4 Be7 14. axb4 Rxa1
15. Qxa1 cxb4 16. Bb5+ Nbd7 17. Qa8+ Bd8 18. Qc6 Qxc6 19. Bxc6 Ke7 20. Ne2 Bb6
21. Ng3 g6 22. Ke2 Rc8 23. Rc1 Nf8 24. Bb5 Rxc1 25. Bxc1 Ne6 26. Bc4 Kd7 27.
Bd2 Bc5 28. Bb5+ Ke7 29. Kd3 d5 30. exd5 Nxd5 31. Ne4 Bg1 32. Kc4 Ne3+ 33. Bxe3
Bxe3 34. Kxb4 Bg1 35. h3 Nf4 36. Bf1 Nd5+ 37. Kb5 Ne3 38. Bc4 Nxg2 39. b4 Ne3
40. Bb3 Nf5 41. Ka6 Nd4 42. Bd1 f5 43. Nc3 Ne6 44. Kb7 Bd4 45. Ne2 Be5 46. b5
Nf4 47. b6 Nxh3 48. Kc8 Nf4 49. b7 Nxe2 50. Bxe2 Kf6 51. b8=Q Bxb8 52. Kxb8 Ke5
53. Kc7 h5 54. Kd7 h4 55. Bf1 g5 56. Ke7 g4 57. fxg4 fxg4 58. Kf7 Kf5 59. Kg7
Kg5 0-1

 

Among the non-Indian players, GM Boris Grachev (2639) is running the race at a steady pace with 5.0/6. Nevertheless, he was held in the fifth round by...

...the untitled Shailesh Dravid (2171) who is tied for the second spot with 5.0/6 as well.
[Event "9th Mumbai Mayors Cup GM International "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Shailesh, Dravid"]
[Black "Grachev, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2216"]
[BlackElo "2639"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 Qc7 8.
O-O b5 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. Qe2 b4 11. e5 Nd5 12. Ne4 Bb7 13. Bd2 f5 14. exf6 Nxf6
15. Rae1 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Qxe4 17. Qxe4 Bxe4 18. Rxe4 a5 19. c3 Be7 20. Ra1 bxc3
21. Bxc3 Bf6 22. Rc4 Ke7 23. Rc1 a4 24. Rc7 Rhd8 25. Kf1 Rab8 26. Ra7 Bxc3 27.
bxc3 Ra8 28. Rxa8 Rxa8 29. Ke2 Rb8 30. Rc2 Kd6 31. Kd3 Rb1 32. h4 Kd5 33. Re2
Ra1 34. Rd2 Kc5 35. Re2 d6 36. Rxe6 Rxa2 37. Re7 Rxf2 38. Rxg7 h6 39. Ra7 Rf4
40. Ra5+ Kb6 41. Rd5 Kc6 42. c4 Rg4 43. Ra5 Rg3+ 44. Kd4 a3 45. Ra6+ Kb7 46.
Ra4 Kc6 47. Ra6+ Kb7 48. Ra4 h5 49. Kd5 Rd3+ 50. Ke4 Rg3 51. Kd5 Rb3 52. Kxd6
Rb6+ 53. Kd7 Ra6 54. Rb4+ Rb6 55. Ra4 Ra6 56. Rb4+ Rb6 57. Ra4 1/2-1/2

 

GM Ivan Popov (2648) had a sub-par day at office, drawing with Hemant Sharma and...

...Maharashtra's Pawan Dodeja (2165), who lost his cell phone while returning to his hotel from the tournament a couple of days back, but did not let that interfere with his tournament.

Another Maharashtra lad Sammed Shete (2256) rubbed more salt on the already deep wounds of GM Karen Grigoryan (2604).

White to play

Black would have been fine had he played ...Rd8, but blundered with ...Re8 instead. Why?

[Event "9th Mumbai Mayors Cup GM International "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Sammed Jaykumar, Shete"]
[Black "Grigoryan, Karen H"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2253"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 a6 5. a4 Nf6 6. h3 O-O 7. Be3 a5 8. g3 e6
9. Bg2 d5 10. exd5 exd5 11. O-O Ne4 12. Ne5 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nd7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15.
Qd3 Qc6 16. Rfb1 Bf5 17. Qb5 Qxc3 18. Qxd5 Rad8 19. Qxb7 Bxd4 20. Bxd4 Rxd4 21.
Qb3 Qd2 22. c3 Bc2 23. Qa3 Rxa4 24. Qb2 Rxa1 25. Rxa1 Re8 26. Bf1 Re2 27. Bxe2
Qxe2 28. Rc1 Bd3 29. Qxe2 Bxe2 30. Ra1 1-0

 

Tied for the second spot is also IM Visakh N.R. with 5.0/6.

Himal was slightly ahead in the rook endgame against Visakh, but settled for a draw and is also on 5.0/6.

WIM Ivana Maria Furtado (2090) of Goa beat IM Sameer Kathmale in a spectacular fashion:

Black to play

It is not tough to find what Ivana played here, just that it is aesthetically pleasing.

[Event "9th Mumbai Mayors Cup GM International "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kathmale, Sameer"]
[Black "Ivana Maria, Furtado"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C05"]
[WhiteElo "2345"]
[BlackElo "2091"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. g3
cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4+ 10. Kf2 f6 11. Kg2 O-O 12. Bd3 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 fxe5 14. fxe5
Nxe5 15. Bb1 Bc5 16. Ndf3 Ng4 17. Nh3 e5 18. Nhg5 Qxb2+ 19. Bc2 Kh8 20. Re1
Qxa1 21. Qxd5 Qc3 22. Bb3 Nf6 23. Nf7+ Rxf7 24. Qxf7 Bh3+ 25. Kxh3 Qxf3 26. Qc4
Qf5+ 27. Kg2 Qf2+ 28. Kh3 Qxe1 29. Qxc5 Qf1+ 30. Kh4 Qf3 31. Kh3 Qf1+ 32. Kh4
Rd8 33. Be3 Qf5 34. Bd1 0-1

 

Aradhya Garg (2274) has staged a fine comeback after an early loss and held GM Evgeny Gleizerov (2506).

Speaking of comebacks, ten-year-old Gukesh D. (2056) lost to a 1700 in the very first round, but has since then delivered a 2212 performance! Check out how here.

Hemant Sharma (2257) had beaten GM Mikhail Mozharov (2560) convincingly in the fourth round and held the top seed GM Ivan Popov(2645) in the sixth...
[Event "9th Mumbai Mayors Cup GM International "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mozharov, Mikhail"]
[Black "Hemant, Sharma (del)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D53"]
[WhiteElo "2560"]
[BlackElo "2257"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Qd2
c6 9. h4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. g4 b5 12. Bxb5 Bb7 13. Be2 cxd4 14. exd4 Nc6 15.
g5 Nxd4 16. gxf6 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 Bxf3 18. fxg7 Qxd2+ 19. Kxd2 Rfd8+ 20. Ke3 Bxh1
21. Rxh1 Kxg7 22. Rg1+ Kf8 23. Rg4 Rab8 24. b3 Rbc8 25. Nb5 Rc2 0-1

 

...but fell in horrible fashion against IM Abhishek Kelkar (2394), who moved to 5.0/6.
[Event "9th Mumbai Mayors Cup GM International "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Abhishek, Kelkar"]
[Black "Hemant, Sharma (del)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2394"]
[BlackElo "2257"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. e3
Nc6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. Rd1 Be7 11. Be2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 e5 13. Bg3 Bg4 14. O-O Rac8
15. Nd5 Bd8 16. b4 Qxa3 17. Ra1 Nxb4 18. Qe2 Qxa1 19. Rxa1 Nfxd5 20. Bxd5 Nxd5
21. Qb5 Nb6 22. Bxe5 a6 23. Qb4 Nd7 1-0

 

IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2278) of Mumbai held GM Shardul Gagare and is on 4.5/6.

Another ten-year-old Sreeshwan M. (1850) was playing IM Ravi Teja when he long castled with a rook that had already moved previously!

Surprisingly, Ravi Teja did not notice it straight away and only realized it after a couple more moves! The arbiters decided to go the position where the illegal move was made and asked the young boy to continue legally, forcing him to give up his rook!

Pairings for Round 07:

Bo. No.     Name FED Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name FED Rtg   No.
1 6   GM Ghosh Diptayan IND 2562   IM Shyaamnikhil P IND 2415   16
2 2   GM Grachev Boris RUS 2639 5   5 IM Abhishek Kelkar IND 2394   21
3 56     Shailesh Dravid IND 2171 5   5 GM Amonatov Farrukh TJK 2614   3
4 19   IM Visakh N R IND 2400 5   5 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade IND 2504   13
5 14     Gusain Himal IND 2440 5   5   Sammed Jaykumar Shete IND 2256   41
6 36   IM Kulkarni Vikramaditya IND 2278   GM Rahman Ziaur BAN 2521   9
7 33   FM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari IND 2295   GM Gagare Shardul IND 2509   11
8 12   GM Gleizerov Evgeny RUS 2506   FM Ahmed Sk. Nasir BAN 2319   29
9 39     Akash Pc Iyer IND 2257   IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2435   15
10 74   WIM Ivana Maria Furtado IND 2090   IM Krishna C R G IND 2411   17

For the complete pairings, click here.

Watch the games LIVE on Monroi (14:30 IST)

Photos: Chess Illustrated


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