Neelotpal and Prantik win National Rapid and Blitz
The National Rapid and Blitz Championship was held from 11th June to 13 June at the Swarna Bharathi Indoor Stadium in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The rapid tournament was won by GM Neelotpal Das who remained undefeated throughout, holding his titled colleagues at bay while pummelling the rest. Prantik Roy delivered a royal performance in the blitz event, beating a GM, four IMs, scoring 10.0/11 for clear first. Neelotpal and Prantik have some of the most notable games they played, with Neelotpal even educating us with his thoughts. Read this report celebrating a double delight for Bengal!
Neelotpal and Prantik win National Rapid and Blitz
The National Rapid and Blitz Championship was held from 11th June to 14th June at the Swarna Bharathi Indoor Stadium in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The total prize fund of the event was a respectable Rs. 2,50,000 with the winner of the rapid tournament winning Rs. 50,000 and the winner of the blitz Rs. 20,000. It was an eleven round event for each format and the time control was 15 minutes + 10 seconds for the rapid and 3 minutes + 2 seconds for the blitz. The tournament was organized by the Visakha District Chess Association in association with the Andhra Pradesh Chess Association.
National Rapid Championship 2016
Overview:
How did White finish off this second round game here?
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Neelotpal, Das"]
[Black "Singh, Soram"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "1868"]
[Annotator "Das,Neelotpal"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/4rp1p/pp2p1p1/2pq4/3b1P1Q/2BP4/PPP3PP/4RR1K b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "10"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
black's Queen is ccentralizedand is well organised to open up e file.} 1... Kg7
$2 (1... f5 $1 {Black must stop white's potential dangerous threat f5 and now
B is completely safe and fully organised to open up the centre with e5}) 2. Rf3
$6 (2. f5 {Without giving time to consolidate white should have played 2. f5
here itself but I couldn't calculate the variations properly in short time}
gxf5 3. Re3 (3. Rf3 Rd7 (3... Kh8 4. Rg3 f6 5. Qxf6+ Bxf6 6. Bxf6+ Rg7 7. Rxg7
Rf8 8. Bc3 e5 9. Rxe5) 4. Bd2 (4. Rg3+ Kf8 5. h3 f6) 4... Kh8 5. c3 $18) 3...
Rd7 4. Rg3+ Kf8 5. Re1 {although there is pressure but no clear way to
advantage}) (2. Re5 Qd6) 2... Kg8 $4 {black must have panicked Rh3 threat and
now probably plans to play f5 after Rh3 . A huge waste of time, which allows
white to launch a deadly attack...} (2... Qxa2 3. Rh3 (3. f5 exf5 $1 {and now
W will have serious problem due to back rank}) 3... h5) 3. f5 $1 $40 {there is
only one thing wrong in black's position , that is the "e7" rook is not
sufficiently protected ,which make f5 possible} gxf5 $4 {this loses immediately
} (3... Qd6 {after the best defence 3...Qd6 also white continues strong attack
with} 4. f6 Rd7 5. g4 {and it's not easy to defend such position}) 4. Rg3+ Kh8
5. Qf6+ {I must admit that I was indeed tempted to show this cute mate :)} Bxf6
6. Bxf6# 1-0
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hegde, R."]
[Black "Neelotpal, Das"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Das,Neelotpal"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2q1rk1/pp2bppp/2b1pn2/3p4/2PB4/1P4P1/P2NPPBP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
leading at this stage. I equalised quickly in the opening and reached the
following position.} 1. cxd5 {1.cd may not be the most precise alternative for
white as slowly white is losing the thread and coming under pressure. Perhaps
white should maintain the balance and consider moves like 1.Rc1 or 1.e3} (1.
Rc1 Rc8 2. e3 dxc4 (2... Qa5 3. cxd5 Bxd5 4. Nc4) 3. Bxc6 Rxc6 4. Nxc4 {with a
roughly equal position}) (1. e3) 1... Bxd5 2. e4 $6 {this further weakens
white's position} (2. e3) 2... Bc6 3. Bc3 Qd3 4. Rc1 (4. Qf3 Qxf3 5. Bxf3 Rac8
6. Rac1 Rfd8 $15) 4... Rac8 5. Re1 Rfd8 6. Re3 Qa6 (6... Qd7 $142) 7. g4 $2 {
a serious mistake. Whites wants to go for a king side attack by g5, Rh3, Qh5
but in the process weakens his position heavily. Black is ready to defend such
attacks easily and with so many weaknesses white's position will fall apart} (
7. a4 b5 $36) 7... Nd7 $1 {black prevents g5 advance and takes control of
weakened dark squares on the kside} 8. Rh3 Bg5 (8... Nf8 {with 8...Nf8 Black
can protect the h7 ( a potential target for white's attack and also plan to
bring the knight to g6 to control K side squares}) ({8...Bb5 was also strong
with the idea of Nc5 - Nd3} 8... Bb5) 9. Rh5 Bf4 10. Bf1 (10. Ra5 {does n't
help white and only loses his piece coordination} Qb6 11. Nc4 Qc7) (10. Qf3 e5
11. Bf1 (11. Rf5 Nf8)) 10... b5 11. Qf3 e5 12. Rf5 Nf8 13. Rxf4 {White's
position is technically lost due to so many weaknesses and by giving up the
exchange ( probably the best practical decision) white tries to complicate the
matter. But black is well organised to deal with any complication} exf4 14.
Qxf4 Ne6 15. Qe3 Be8 {and black went on to win after few moves} 0-1
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Neelotpal, Das"]
[Black "Dhulipala, Bala Chandra Prasad"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Das,Neelotpal"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2kr1n1r/1pp2np1/p2p1b1p/3Pp2P/q1P1NP2/3QBNP1/PP6/1K1R3R w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
plays very fast in rapid chess. At this stage I was slightly down in time so I
tried to keep maximum pressure by launching a direct attack to black's king} 1.
c5 $1 exf4 2. gxf4 ({also possible was 2.Bf4 which keeps tremendous pressure
on black's position} 2. Bxf4 Nh7 (2... dxc5 3. Nxc5 Qb5 4. Qc2 Nd6 5. Rc1) 3.
Rc1 $18) 2... dxc5 (2... Re8 3. Bd4) 3. Nxc5 Qb4 (3... Qb5 4. Qc2 {of course
white will not exchange Queen and keep the pressure instead}) 4. Rh2 {the rook
will soon be useful both attack and defence} Nd6 5. Rc2 Qb5 6. Rdc1 $2 (6. Ne5
{6.Ne5 was stronger which maintains the pressure}) 6... Re8 $2 (6... Qxd3 {
black must make use of the opportunity to trade queens and ease the pressure}
7. Nxd3 Ne8) 7. Ne5 $1 {after this black is under serious trouble} Bxe5 8. fxe5
Rxe5 9. Bf4 Qxd3 (9... Rxh5 {after 9...Rh5 W can win in many ways but the most
easiest and human way might be the following to win a piece} 10. Bxd6 $18 cxd6
11. Nxa6+) 10. Nxd3 Rxd5 11. Rxc7+ Kd8 (11... Kb8 12. Rc8+ Ka7 13. Be3+ b6 14.
R1c7+ Nb7 15. Nb4 $18) 12. Bxd6 Rxd3 13. Bxf8 Rxf8 14. Rc8+ Ke7 15. Re1+ Kf7
16. Rf1+ Ke6 17. Rcxf8 Rd5 18. Rh1 b6 19. Rb8 Rd6 20. Rg1 {This win made me
sole leader with 4 rounds to go} 1-0
Final Ranking:
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
1 | 6 | GM | Neelotpal Das | IND | 2422 | 9,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 74,0 |
2 | 5 | GM | Bakre Tejas | IND | 2423 | 8,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 75,0 |
3 | 1 | IM | Rathnakaran K. | IND | 2481 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 70,5 |
4 | 10 | Gusain Himal | IND | 2318 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 71,5 | |
5 | 16 | Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad | IND | 2191 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 76,5 | |
6 | 8 | IM | Sharma Dinesh K. | IND | 2356 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 70,5 |
7 | 9 | GM | Sriram Jha | IND | 2346 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 68,5 |
8 | 7 | IM | Satyapragyan Swayangsu | IND | 2415 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 76,0 |
9 | 2 | IM | Thejkumar M. S. | IND | 2466 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 74,5 |
10 | 3 | GM | Venkatesh M.R. | IND | 2450 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 73,5 |
National Blitz Championship 2016
Overview:
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.14"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Thejkumar"]
[Black "Prantik"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2353"]
[BlackElo "2355"]
[PlyCount "106"]
4... dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 {a model game is Mamedyarov-Anand 0-1, 2014}) 5. Ne5 Bh5
6. e3 e6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Nxd7 Qxd7 9. Bd3 Bg6 10. Bxg6 hxg6 11. b3 Bb4 12. Bd2
a6 13. h3 g5 14. a3 Bd6 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 g4 17. h4 Be7 18. Bc3 Nxe4 19.
Qxe4 f5 $1 {The only move I pondered over in the entire game! As it turns out,
d4 is as weak as e6 and more importantly, black wins a pawn.} 20. Qe2 Rxh4 21.
Rxh4 Bxh4 22. O-O-O Bf6 23. Re1 O-O-O 24. Qxe6 Qxe6 25. Rxe6 Bxd4 26. Bxd4 Rxd4
27. Rg6 Rd7 (27... Rf4 28. f3 gxf3 29. gxf3 Rxf3 30. Kc2 {is practically
difficult to win}) 28. f3 gxf3 29. gxf3 Kd8 30. Kc2 Ke8 31. Re6+ Kf7 32. Re2 g5
33. a4 Kf6 34. Re8 g4 35. fxg4 fxg4 36. Rf8+ Ke5 37. Re8+ Kf4 38. Rf8+ Ke3 39.
Re8+ Kf2 40. Rf8+ Kg2 41. Rg8 g3 42. b4 Kf2 43. Rf8+ Kg1 44. b5 axb5 45. axb5
cxb5 46. cxb5 Rd5 47. b6 Rd6 48. Rg8 g2 49. Rh8 Rxb6 50. Kd3 Rd6+ 51. Ke2 Re6+
52. Kd2 b5 53. Rb8 Rh6 0-1
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.14"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Prantik"]
[Black "Satyapragyan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2355"]
[BlackElo "2402"]
[PlyCount "103"]
O-O 9. g4 $5 Nf6 10. Rg1 $5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Nd7 12. Nxd7 Bxd7 13. Qc2 g6 14. Nf3
Bd6 15. h4 Qf6 16. Qe2 cxd4 17. exd4 Bf4 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. Qxe5 Qxe5+ 20. dxe5
f6 21. f4 fxe5 22. fxe5 Rf3 23. Ke2 Raf8 24. Raf1 R3f4 25. Ke3 Ra4 26. Rxf8+
Kxf8 27. a3 h5 28. Rf1+ Ke7 29. Rf4 hxg4 30. Rxa4 Bxa4 31. Bxg6 $18 Kf8 32. Kf4
Kg7 33. Bh5 Bd7 34. Bxg4 Kg6 35. Ke3 b6 36. Kf4 a5 (36... Bc8 {If black would
just wait, I was planning} 37. Ke3 -- 38. Kd4 -- 39. b3 -- 40. c4 dxc4 41. bxc4
-- 42. c5 -- 43. c6) 37. Ke3 Bc8 38. b4 axb4 39. cxb4 Bd7 40. Kd4 Kf7 (40... b5
41. Kc5) 41. Bd1 Bb5 (41... b5 42. Bc2 Kg7 43. Bd3 Kf7 44. Kc5 $18) 42. a4 Bc4
43. a5 bxa5 44. bxa5 Kg6 45. Bg4 Kf7 46. h5 Ba6 47. h6 Bc8 (47... Kg6 48. Bxe6
Kxh6 49. Kxd5 Kg7 50. Kd6 Kf8 51. Bd7 $18) 48. Bh5+ Kg8 49. Bg6 Ba6 50. Kc5 Bc8
51. Kb6 d4 52. a6 1-0
The defending champion could only finish second with 8.5/11. He was the only player to have hit the podium in both the rapid and blitz.
Final Rankings:
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
1 | 8 | IM | Roy Prantik | IND | 2355 | 10,0 | 0,0 | 9,0 | 78,0 |
2 | 3 | IM | Rathnakaran K. | IND | 2438 | 8,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 74,5 |
3 | 6 | IM | Ramnath Bhuvanesh.R | IND | 2387 | 8,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 74,5 |
4 | 2 | GM | Neelotpal Das | IND | 2469 | 8,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 71,0 |
5 | 1 | GM | Venkatesh M.R. | IND | 2551 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 71,0 |
6 | 5 | IM | Satyapragyan Swayangsu | IND | 2402 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 76,0 |
7 | 7 | GM | Sriram Jha | IND | 2362 | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 74,5 |
8 | 9 | IM | Thejkumar M. S. | IND | 2353 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 74,5 |
9 | 27 | Sa Kannan | IND | 1999 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 72,0 | |
10 | 11 | Gusain Himal | IND | 2323 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 69,0 |
Special thanks to Neelotpal and Prantik for sharing their games with ChessBase India. The games are not recorded, and hence, they had to do it from their memory.