Ayush Sharma or Sethuraman - Who will win 3rd Goa GM?

by Shahid Ahmed - 19/01/2025

IM Ayush Sharma defeated the sole leader - IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) to move himself to the top of the standings at Late Shri Manohar Parrikar Goa International GM Tournament 2025. Ayush seized his opportunity when his opponent blundered in a rook and few pawns endgame. GM Sethuraman S P was determined to score a win over IM Srihari L R. He made it very clear early in the game and went on to win it. IM Ameya Audi missed an opportunity to force a draw in the queen endgame aganst IM Alexander Slizhevsky. It resulted in Ayush, Sethuraman and Slizhevsky, all three in the lead with a score 7.5/9 each. It will be Ayush vs Sethuraman and Slizhevsky vs IM Ethan Vaz. Goa's very own, 13-year-old Ethan can dash Slizhevsky's hopes to win the tournament, while Ayush and Sethuraman duke it out amongst themselves. Round 10 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Ethan Vaz can play a spoiler for Alexander Slizhevsky

FM Arjun Adireddy, FM Ram Aravind L N, Nithin Babu, Vijay Shreeram P and Sriram Adarsh Uppala need a win in Round 10 to score an IM-norm each.

IM Ayush Sharma defeated the sole leader - IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) to move to the top | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

The tournament banner | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Semetei - Ayush

Position after 44...Rxa5

IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ, 2351) blundered 45.Kxf5?? d3-+ 46.Rg8 Kd4+ 47.Ke6 Re5+ 48.Kf6 d2 49.Rd8+ Rd5 and Black won. 45.g4 is what White needed to play to stay in the fight. This win allowed IM Ayush Sharma (2469) to become one of the three leaders, heading into the final round.

Sethuraman - Srihari L R

Position after 16.Bf6!

GM Sethuraman S P (2560) made his intentions clear early in the game when he went 16.Bf6! gxf6 17.Nxf6+ Kf8 18.Qd2 Kg7 19.Nxg8 Kxg8 20.Qh6 Be8 21.h4 f5?? ended things in a hurry for IM Srihari L R (2494). 22.exf6 e5 23.Bf5 e4 24.Be6+ Kh8 25.Bxd5 Ra6 26.Rxe4 Nce5 27.Rxe5 and it's over. 21...Qe7 22.h5 Nf8 passive defence was the way to go.

GM Sethuraman S P scored a crucial win to stay in the championship contention | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Ameya - Slizhevsky

Position after 46...Qe5

IM Ameya Audi (2422) could have forced a draw here 47.Qd6+! Qxd6 48.cxd6+ Kxd6 49.Ke4 and the pawn endgame is a draw. White will go for the opposite side pawn depending on which pawn the black king wants to munch. The game continued 47.Kf2? Qf4+ White soon lost the a5-pawn and blundered into a liquidation which resulted in a winning pawn endgame for IM Alexander Slizhevsky (2340).

Diptayan - Fedorov

Position after 42...Rxe4

GM Diptayan Ghosh (2569) correctly spotted 41.Qf7! sacrificing his knight. His opponent, GM Alexei Fedorov (2409) accepted the sacrifice 42...Rxe4?? which resulted in a checkmate in five. Unfortunately for Diptayan, he missed it and the game prolonged another 75 moves before the game ended in a draw.

Goa's very own IM Ethan Vaz is at an unbeaten 7/9 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

GM Sayantan Das' all out attack did not work out against IM Manish Anto Cristiano F | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Nithin Babu got the better of IM Sanket Chakravarty | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

A total of 187 players including 17 GMs, 34 IMs and 6 WIMs are taking part from 17 countries across the world including India in Category A (>2000). The tournament is 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 has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	30	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	2351	KGZ	7	0 - 1	6½	IM	Ayush, Sharma	2469	MP	11
2	2	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2560	TN	6½	1 - 0	6	IM	Srihari, L R	2494	TN	7
3	13	IM	Audi, Ameya	2422	GOA	6	0 - 1	6½	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	2340	RUS	33
4	1	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2569	RSPB	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2409	BLR	19
5	3	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2544	RSPB	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2379	MAH	22
6	17	IM	Vaz, Ethan	2412	GOA	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2473	TN	10
7	9	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2481	RUS	5½	1 - 0	6	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2359	VIE	28
8	5	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2509	WB	5½	1 - 0	5½	FM	Potawad, Anirudhha	2281	MAH	47
9	12	GM	Das, Sayantan	2434	WB	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	2329	TN	37
10	14	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy	2418	VIE	5½	½ - ½	5½		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	2306	TEL	40
11	52	FM	Ram, Aravind L N	2249	TN	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	2412	TEL	16
12	21	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	2392	MGL	5½	1 - 0	5½	FM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi	2278	MAH	49
13	63		Nithin, Babu	2169	KER	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty	2374	WB	24
14	35	FM	Mohamed, Anees M	2334	TN	5½	1 - 0	5½		Varun, V	2173	TEL	62
15	44	FM	Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2293	UP	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	2516	SGP	4
16	51	IM	Gochelashvili, David	2257	RUS	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Anurag, Mhamal	2499	GOA	6
17	48	CM	Madhvendra, Pratap Sharma	2281	MP	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Neelash, Saha	2490	RSPB	8
18	65		Sri, Sai Baswanth P	2160	AP	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2413	ICF	15
19	27	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat	2364	UZB	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Saptarshi, Roy	2289	RSPB	45
20	29	IM	Krishna Teja, N	2352	AP	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Aditya, Varun Gampa	2179	AP	61

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	33	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	RUS	2340	RUS	7,5	49	52,5	42,75	6
2	2	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	IND	2560	TN	7,5	48,5	52,5	41,50	7
3	11	IM	Ayush, Sharma	IND	2469	MP	7,5	46,5	50,5	40,00	7
4	3	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2544	RSPB	7	48,5	53	40,00	5
5	30	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	KGZ	2351	KGZ	7	48,5	50,5	35,50	6
6	17	IM	Vaz, Ethan	IND	2412	GOA	7	44	47,5	35,75	5
7	1	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	IND	2569	RSPB	6,5	47	49	34,00	4
8	5	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	IND	2509	WB	6,5	46,5	50	34,25	5
9	9	GM	Savchenko, Boris	RUS	2481	RUS	6,5	45	49,5	34,75	6
10	19	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	BLR	2409	BLR	6,5	45	49,5	34,25	5
11	37	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	IND	2329	TN	6,5	44	47	30,50	6
12	63		Nithin, Babu	IND	2169	KER	6,5	44	46,5	31,00	6
13	21	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	MGL	2392	MGL	6,5	42	45,5	31,00	5
14	16	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	IND	2412	TEL	6,5	40,5	47	32,50	5
15	35	FM	Mohamed, Anees M	IND	2334	TN	6,5	40	43,5	30,75	5
16	28	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	VIE	2359	VIE	6	47	51	30,50	5
17	7	IM	Srihari, L R	IND	2494	TN	6	47	48	27,50	5
18	22	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	IND	2379	MAH	6	46	50	31,00	6
19	14	FM	Nguyen, Quoc Hy	VIE	2418	VIE	6	45	48,5	31,25	4
20	40		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	IND	2306	TEL	6	45	48	29,50	4

Details

Round 10 pairings

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

Details

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