Ponkratov, Martinez, Visakh and Yudin lead with 5.5/6 at 12th Chennai GM Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 22/01/2020

GM Visakh N R maintained his lead by defeating one of the leaders IM M Khusenkhojaev and then holding GM Jose Eduardo Martinez to a draw. Both Visakh and Martinez are at 5.5/6. They are joined with GM Sergei Yudin and top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov. Harshavardhan scored a 13-move miniature like victory against GM Stanislav Bogdanovich, Priyanka K missed a decisive advantage against GM Vishnu Prasanna and Pranav V defeated GM Valeriy Neverov in round 5. Untitled Aditya Samant defeated GM Hesham Abdelrahman in a marathon Queen ending in round 6. The tournament has only four rounds left and no more double rounds in a day. Photo: R Anantharam

Visakh maintains the lead, Ponkratov back at the top

Four players are in the lead with a score of 5.5/6. Top seed of the tournament GM Pavel Ponkratov scored two consecutive victories to join the leaders. He will face second seeded GM Jose Eduardo Martinez in the seventh round. Harshavardhan G B defeated Stanislav Bogdanovich in just 13 moves but lost his following game against Sergei Yudin who is also one of the leaders. The only Indian among the leaders, GM Visakh N R beat IM M Khusenkhojaev and drew with Martinez to maintain his lead at the conclusion of round 6 of 12th Chennai GM Open 2020.

Round 5

IM Sayantan Das (2424) had an equal position for the major part of the game against GM Jose Eduardo Martinez (PER, 2606). In the Rook and Knight vs Rook and Bishop, Sayantan made an inaccuracy in the quest to create a connected passed pawn on the queen-side, resulting in his opponent having an advanced king which cost him the game.

Sayantan made a mistake in a seemingly equal endgame | Photo: R Anantharam

Sayantan - Martinez, Round 5

Position after 47.Ra5

Find out why 47.Ra5 is a mistake.

Harshavardhan continued his terrific form as he defeated GM Stanislav Bogdanovich (UKR, 2562) in just 13 moves.

Bogdanovich is having a tough time in this tour | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Visakh N R (2518) scored a comfortable victory over IM M Khusenkhojaev (TJK, 2420).

Visakh maintained his lead with a win over Khusenkhojaev | Photo: R Anantharam

GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2414) decided to sacrifice a pawn in the opening against GM Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508) to avoid a bad pawn structure. The game eventually liquidated into an inferior Rook-Bishop ending for white which was insurmountable.

Kidambi did not find enough compensation for the pawn sacrifice | Photo: R Anatharam

Srihari L R (2302) continued his decent form as he did not get rattled by GM Karthik Venkataraman's (2479) surprise of 1.e3 and managed to equalize easily and eventually make a draw in a Rook-Bishop vs Rook-Knight endgame.

Karthik's surprise was not enough to rattle Srihari | Photo: R Anantharam

GM Vishnu Prasanna (2474) sacrificed his queen to avoid trouble on his kingside, however his opponent Priyanka K (2184) got a winning position but she could not manage to convert it.

Vishnu's Queen sacrifice could have gone wrong but it didn't | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Priyanka - Vishnu Prasanna, Round 5

Position after 25.Nf5

Black continued with 25...Bxf5 by sacrificing the queen, white took it 26.Qxe7 Rae8 27.Qxc7 and white should have won afterwards, but she played too cautiously and returned the queen and eventually gave up some more material to settle for a draw after 45 moves.

GM Valeriy Neverov (UKR, 2460) faced Queen's Indian Defence against Pranav V (2265) which the 14-year old had no difficulty equalizing. In the end, white's inaccuracy allowed Pranav to use tactics to gain winning advantage.

Pranav got the better of the experienced Neverov | Photo: R Anantharam

Neverov - Pranav, Round 5

Position after 41...Qa7

White continued with 42.b3 which cost white the game in the next few moves. Can you find the best continuation for white after 41...Qa7 ?

Jubin Jimmy (2193) held IM Antonio Dcunha (2417) to a comfortable draw.

Jubin had no difficulty making a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Among other upsets, GM Maxim Lugovskoy (2453) lost to IM Anup Deshmukh (2163), Abinadhan R (1987) drew with IM Sidhant Mohapatra (2346), Parthasarathy R (1968) drew with IM P D S Girinath (2340), Dinesh Rajan M (1741) drew with IM Navin Kanna T U (2265), GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (2498) held to a draw by Sai Kiran Y (1868), Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki (1944) drew with GM Saptarshi Roy (2460) and IM Rathnakaran K (2329) held to a draw by Mayank Chakraborty (1827).

Round 6

Three players were in the lead with a full point score of 5.0/5. At the top board GM Jose Eduardo Martinez (2606) was held to a draw by GM Visakh N R (2518). Although Martinez missed a few chances to get decisive advantage, Visakh made sure the game eventually end up in a draw.

Martinez and Visakh maintained their lead | Photo: R Anantharam

Martinez - Visakh, Round 6

Position after 31...Qxf3

White continued with 32.Rd8+ but what was the better continuation?

Position after 38...Qh3

Martinez continued with 39.Qc7, time trouble could definitely be one of the reason for white missing the better continuation. Can you find it?

GM Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508) joined Martinez and Visakh in the lead by halting Harshavardhan's (2343) fantastic run.

Yudin played precisely to halt Harshavardhan's brilliant run | Photo: R Anantharam

GM Neelotpal Das (2436) lost to top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov (RUS, 2622) and the Russian joined the leaders.

Ponkratov is slowly getting back to the top | Photo: R Anantharam

Neelotpal - Ponkratov, Round 6

What should white do after 38...Re1+

Position after 43...Qxa5+

White's final mistake was 45.c6

Untitled Pranav V (2265) held IM Taher Yoseph Theolifus (INA, 2462) to a comfortable draw.

Pranav continues his unbeaten run | Photo: R Anantharam

Pranesh M (2317) held GM Alberto David (ITA, 2562) to a draw.

The in-form boy Pranesh held GM Alberto David | Photo: R Anantharam

IM Nitin S (2347) got material in the end against GM Alexei Fedorov (BLR, 2562), however it was not enough to convert into a full point as Nitin ran out of pawns.

Nitin's tactical play in the endgame was not enough | Photo: R Anantharam

Srihari made a short draw with GM Stupak | Photo: R Anantharam

Rohith held GM Karthik Venkataraman to a fighting draw | Photo: R Anantharam

Jubin Jimmy held IM Harikrishnan to a draw | Photo: R Anantharam

Untitled Aditya Samant (2296) beat his first GM of the tournament Hesham Abdelrahman (EGY, 2429). The 14-year old boy won a 105-move long marathon game where the Queen ending lasted for 60 moves.

Aditya scored a marathon victory | Photo: R Anantharam

Among other upsets, IM M Khusenkhojaev (2420) lost to Kunal M (2288), GM Karthikeyan P (2416) held to a draw by Priyanka K (2124), IM Navin Kanna T U (2265) held to a draw by Ayyappan P Santhana Prabu (1735), Indrajeet Mahindrakar (2066) defeated GM Raset Ziatdinov (2203), Mayank Chakraborty (1827) drew with GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (2498), Gaurang Bagwe (1779) held GM Attila Czebe (2392), Vishrut Parekh (1769) held IM Rathnakaran K (2329) to a draw, Arnav Muralidhar (1742) drew with IM Praveen Kumar C (2194) and IM Ravi Hegde (2037) lost to Bipin Raj S (1722).

Replay all games

Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	29	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2424	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	2
2	43		Harshavardhan G B		IND	2343	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	8
3	11	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2420	30
4	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Manik Mikulas		SVK	2378	36
5	5	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Karthikeyan P.		IND	2416	32
6	9	GM	David Alberto		ITA	2562	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Ameir Moheb		EGY	2363	39
7	33	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2414	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	12
8	17	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2479	3½	½ - ½	3½	FM	Srihari L R		IND	2302	50
9	67		Priyanka K		IND	2124	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	18
10	65	AGM	Lakshmi Narayanan M V		IND	2162	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	20
11	21	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	3½	0 - 1	3½		Pranav V		IND	2265	55
12	75		Satkar Chirag		IND	2066	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2436	26
13	31	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha		IND	2417	3½	½ - ½	3½	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2193	60
14	4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	3	1 - 0	3½		Mahindrakar Indrajeet		IND	2066	74
15	56	GM	Ziatdinov Raset		USA	2203	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	6
16	57	IM	Murali Krishnan B T		IND	2202	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2562	10
17	13	GM	Stupak Kirill		BLR	2506	3	1 - 0	3		Zia Tahsin Tajwar		BAN	2177	62
18	71		Balkishan A.		IND	2079	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		CHI	2487	16
19	19	IM	Vignesh N R		IND	2472	3	0 - 1	3	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty		IND	2133	66
20	23	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2453	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Deshmukh Anup		IND	2163	64
21	72	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan		IND	2077	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2448	24
22	25	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra		IND	2444	3	1 - 0	3		Anadkat Kartavya		IND	2082	70
23	73	FM	Ramakrishna J.		IND	2068	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman		EGY	2429	28
24	79	FM	Chilukuri Sai Varshith		IND	2045	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H		IND	2413	34
25	83	FM	Vinoth Kumar M.		IND	2012	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Ravichandran Siddharth		IND	2358	40

Complete results

Round 6 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	11
2	12	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	4½	1 - 0	5		Harshavardhan G B		IND	2343	43
3	26	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2436	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	1
4	20	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	4½	½ - ½	4½		Pranav V		IND	2265	55
5	34	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H		IND	2413	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	4
6	40	IM	Ravichandran Siddharth		IND	2358	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	5
7	8	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Ameir Moheb		EGY	2363	39
8	48	FM	Pranesh M		IND	2317	4	½ - ½	4	GM	David Alberto		ITA	2562	9
9	10	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2562	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Nitin S.		IND	2347	41
10	50	FM	Srihari L R		IND	2302	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Stupak Kirill		BLR	2506	13
11	16	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		CHI	2487	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Saravanan V.		IND	2325	47
12	52	FM	Rohith Krishna S		IND	2289	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2479	17
13	18	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.		IND	2313	49
14	60	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2193	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra		IND	2444	25
15	28	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman		EGY	2429	4	0 - 1	4		Samant Aditya S		IND	2296	51
16	66	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty		IND	2133	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2424	29
17	30	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2420	4	0 - 1	4		Kunal M.		IND	2288	53
18	64	IM	Deshmukh Anup		IND	2163	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha		IND	2417	31
19	32	GM	Karthikeyan P.		IND	2416	4	½ - ½	4		Priyanka K		IND	2124	67
20	6	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	3½	1 - 0	3½		Masango Spencer		ZIM	2173	63
21	65	AGM	Lakshmi Narayanan M V		IND	2162	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2573	7
22	14	GM	Venkatesh M.R.		IND	2501	3½	1 - 0	3½		Barath Kalyan M		IND	2091	69
23	21	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	3½	1 - 0	3½	CM	Nikhil Magizhnan		IND	2077	72
24	24	IM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2448	3½	1 - 0	3½		Satkar Chirag		IND	2066	75
25	76	AGM	Rathneesh R		IND	2064	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2414	33

Complete results

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel		RUS	2622	5½		5½	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo		PER	2606	2
2	11	GM	Visakh N R		IND	2518	5½		5½	GM	Yudin Sergei		RUS	2508	12
3	4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej		BLR	2592	5		5	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus		INA	2462	20
4	5	GM	Goganov Aleksey		RUS	2583	5		5	IM	Deshmukh Anup		IND	2163	64
5	51		Samant Aditya S		IND	2296	5		5	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2562	8
6	43		Harshavardhan G B		IND	2343	5		5	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		CHI	2487	16
7	53		Kunal M.		IND	2288	5		5	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V		IND	2474	18
8	55		Pranav V		IND	2265	5		4½	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2578	6
9	7	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2573	4½		4½	GM	Manik Mikulas		SVK	2378	36
10	9	GM	David Alberto		ITA	2562	4½		4½	IM	Eraschenkov Denis		RUS	2370	37
11	38	IM	Muthaiah Al		IND	2367	4½		4½	GM	Fedorov Alexei		BLR	2562	10
12	13	GM	Stupak Kirill		BLR	2506	4½		4½	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra		IND	2346	42
13	41	IM	Nitin S.		IND	2347	4½		4½	GM	Venkatesh M.R.		IND	2501	14
14	17	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2479	4½		4½	IM	Girinath P.D.S.		IND	2340	44
15	48	FM	Pranesh M		IND	2317	4½		4½	GM	Neverov Valeriy		UKR	2460	21
16	50	FM	Srihari L R		IND	2302	4½		4½	IM	Mitrabha Guha		IND	2448	24
17	25	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra		IND	2444	4½		4½	FM	Rohith Krishna S		IND	2289	52
18	67		Priyanka K		IND	2124	4½		4½	GM	Neelotpal Das		IND	2436	26
19	29	IM	Das Sayantan		IND	2424	4½		4½	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2193	60
20	74		Mahindrakar Indrajeet		IND	2066	4½		4½	GM	Karthikeyan P.		IND	2416	32
21	33	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2414	4½		4½	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty		IND	2133	66
22	79	FM	Chilukuri Sai Varshith		IND	2045	4		4	GM	Pantsulaia Levan		GEO	2598	3
23	19	IM	Vignesh N R		IND	2472	4		4		Dahale Atul		IND	2025	81
24	83	FM	Vinoth Kumar M.		IND	2012	4		4	GM	Saptarshi Roy		IND	2460	22
25	23	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		RUS	2453	4		4		Sri Sai Baswanth P		IND	2008	84