Ayush Sharma amazing at 3rd Goa GM 2025

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/01/2025

IM Ayush Sharma defeated GM Sethuraman S P to win Late Shri Manohar Parrikar Goa International GM Tournament 2025. Sethuraman missed an opportunity to force a queen trade which allowed Ayush to launch a brutal attack on the kingside and win the game. Ayush finished a half point ahead of the rest 8.5/10. IM Alexander Slizhevsky scored sole 8/10 to secure second place. IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) scored 7.5/10 to be placed third. Sethuraman, IM Aronyak Ghosh, IM Ethan Vaz, IM Kushagra Mohan and FM Mohamed Anees M also scored 7.5/10 each. They were placed fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth and tenth according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹2500000. The top three prizes were ₹450000, ₹350000 and ₹250000 along with a trophy each respectively. Ayush won the first tournament he played in 2025. Sriram Adarsh Uppala scored an IM-norm. Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Sriram Adarsh Uppala scores an IM-norm

Despite scoring only 3.5/5 in the first five rounds, IM Ayush Sharma played fantastic after the rest day. He won five games in-a-row to become a clear champion. His only loss was against the eventual runner-up, IM Alexander Slizhevsky in Round 4. He defeated the second runner-up, IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) in the penultimate ninth round. Ayush is final GM-norm and 15 Elo rating points away from becoming India's next and Madhya Pradesh's first Grandmaster. Sriram Adarsh Uppala scored the sole IM-norm of the tournament. Six Indians finished in top ten.

Champion - IM Ayush Sharma 8.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

The tournament banner | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Runner-up - IM Alexander Slizhevsky 8/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Second Runner-up - IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd IM Alexander Slizhevsky 8/10. 1st IM Ayush Sharma 8.5/10 and 3rd IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Ayush - Sethuraman

Position after 36.Qc3

GM Sethuraman S P (2560) needed to play 36...Qd2 to force the exchange of queens and reduce the attack. 36...Kh7?? turned out to be the crucial mistake 37.Nd4 to prevent the queen trade and maitain the pressure. 37...Bd7 38.Nf3 Rc8 39.Qd4 Bc6 40.Ng5+ White went on to win the game and the tournament.

IM Ayush Sharma scored 8.5/10, won last five games in-a-row, finished a half point ahead of the field and gained 15.8 Elo rating points

Photo Gallery

4th GM Sethuraman S P 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

5th IM Aronyak Ghosh 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

6th GM Boris Savchenko 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

7th IM Ethan Vaz 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

8th GM Alexei Fedorov 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

9th IM Kushagra Mohan 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

10th FM Mohamed Anees M 7.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Sriram Adarsh Uppala receives his IM-norm certificate | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Sriram Adarsh Uppala scored 7/10, performed at 2458 to score an IM-norm

Best Female 1st - WCM Arshiya Das 5.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Best Female 2nd - WIM Mrudul Dehankar 5.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Best Female 3rd - WIM Saina Salonika 5.5/10 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

IA Ganesh Babu S sharing his Chief Arbiter's report | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

IA Arvind Mhamal, Vice President, Goa Chess Association | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

IA Dharmendra Kumar, Treasurer, All India Chess Federation and President, South Asian Chess Council | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

A total of 187 players including 17 GMs, 34 IMs and 6 WIMs took part from 17 countries across the world including India in Category A (>2000). The tournament was organized by Goa Chess Association from 11th to 19th January 2025 at Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Panaji, Goa. The ten-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 10 games

Round 10 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	11	IM	Ayush, Sharma	2469	MP	7½	1 - 0	7½	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2560	TN	2
2	33	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	2340	RUS	7½	½ - ½	7	IM	Vaz, Ethan	2412	GOA	17
3	3	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2544	RSPB	7	½ - ½	7	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	2351	KGZ	30
4	21	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	2392	MGL	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2569	RSPB	1
5	19	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2409	BLR	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2509	WB	5
6	37	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	2329	TN	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2481	RUS	9
7	16	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	2412	TEL	6½	1 - 0	6½		Nithin, Babu	2169	KER	63
8	8	IM	Neelash, Saha	2490	RSPB	6	0 - 1	6½	FM	Mohamed, Anees M	2334	TN	35
9	28	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2359	VIE	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Srihari, L R	2494	TN	7
10	10	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2473	TN	6	1 - 0	6	FM	Adireddy, Arjun	2327	TEL	38
11	34	IM	Nitin, S.	2338	TN	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Audi, Ameya	2422	GOA	13
12	184		Nithik, Reddy Bhavanam	1843	TEL	6	0 - 1	6	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy	2418	VIE	14
13	22	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2379	MAH	6	0 - 1	6	IM	Gochelashvili, David	2257	RUS	51
14	40		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	2306	TEL	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat	2364	UZB	27
15	4	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	2516	SGP	5½	1 - 0	6		Vijay, Shreeram P	2026	TN	107
16	47	FM	Potawad, Anirudhha	2281	MAH	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Das, Sayantan	2434	WB	12
17	15	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2413	ICF	5½	+ - -	5½	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi	2278	MAH	49
18	53	IM	Saravana, Krishnan P.	2244	KVB	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu	2409	WB	20
19	24	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty	2374	WB	5½	½ - ½	5½		Sri, Sai Baswanth P	2160	AP	65
20	26	IM	Ritviz, Parab	2371	GOA	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Ratnakaran, K.	2225	Southern Railways	54

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	11	IM	Ayush, Sharma	IND	2469	MP	8,5	59	63	51,50	8
2	33	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	RUS	2340	RUS	8	60	64,5	50,50	6
3	30	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	KGZ	2351	KGZ	7,5	61	63,5	43,50	6
4	2	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	IND	2560	TN	7,5	60	65	44,75	7
5	3	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2544	RSPB	7,5	59,5	65	47,25	5
6	9	GM	Savchenko, Boris	RUS	2481	RUS	7,5	57	62	45,25	7
7	17	IM	Vaz, Ethan	IND	2412	GOA	7,5	57	61	44,75	5
8	19	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	BLR	2409	BLR	7,5	56	61	44,50	6
9	16	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	IND	2412	TEL	7,5	51,5	59	42,25	6
10	35	FM	Mohamed, Anees M	IND	2334	TN	7,5	49	53	40,00	6
11	1	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	IND	2569	RSPB	7	58	60,5	40,25	4
12	14	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy	VIE	2418	VIE	7	56,5	61	41,50	5
13	34	IM	Nitin, S.	IND	2338	TN	7	56,5	60,5	38,50	7
14	40		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	IND	2306	TEL	7	56,5	59,5	39,50	5
15	51	IM	Gochelashvili, David	RUS	2257	RUS	7	54	57,5	37,75	5
16	10	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	IND	2473	TN	7	52,5	59,5	39,75	6
17	21	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	MGL	2392	MGL	7	52,5	56,5	37,25	5
18	5	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	IND	2509	WB	6,5	60,5	65	39,50	5
19	28	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	VIE	2359	VIE	6,5	57,5	62	37,00	5
20	7	IM	Srihari, L R	IND	2494	TN	6,5	57,5	59	34,50	5

Details

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