Alexei Fedorov terrific at 6th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit 2023, Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy third
GM Alexei Fedorov scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 6th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament 2023. He finished a staggering two points ahead of the field. The second highest rated player of the event, GM Evgeniy Podolchenko scored 6/9 to secure sole second place. 13-year-old Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy and IM Asylbek Abdyzhapar (KGZ) scored 5/9 each. They were placed second and third respectively. The teenager gained 58.4 Elo rating points. The seven event of the series starts tomorrow Sunday 26th November. Sai Vishwesh C and Gugan G will replace Arnav Maheshwari and Prasannaa S in that event. Photos: IA R Anantharam
Top two seeds claim top two
Belarus Grandmaster Alexei Fedorov and Evgeniy Podolchenko clinched the winner and runner-up positions respectively, in the 6th Tamil Nadu IM-Norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament at Chennai. Alexei exhibited an outstanding performance with seven wins and two draws, leaving Evgeniy far behind by two points.
Top three winners with the guests
In the Closed Sicilian Defence, both players Alexei and Raset Ziatdinov (USA) opened both flanks, allowing their kings vulnerable to attack. Alexei sacrificed his knight with a good move, forcing Raset to lose his rook a few moves later. The American Grandmaster resigned in a hopeless position after 34 moves.
Another debutant, 13-year-old Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy of UP showed no sign of fatigue and jet lag after long travel from Kazakhstan to beat the Kyrgyzstan IM Asylbek Abdyzhapar in the first round. Ajay chose to play the Giuco Piano opening and exchanged the queen to open the kingside of Asyl. In a rook and bishop vs rook and knight endgame, his king walk from g1 to b7 to promote the a-pawn assured him a point.
The tournament was inaugurated by Mr. A Chandrasekaran, former Assistant Director, Enforcement Directorate and a prominent Volleyball player in the yesteryear, inaugurated the tournament in the presence of Mr. B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association. P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, TNSCA.
In a commanding position with two advanced connected pawns on the sixth and seventh ranks and a queen by WIM Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra denied herself a full point, when his opponent IM David Gochelashveli (RUS) tricked her to a stalemate position.
In a sharp tussle of Italian game. both Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy of Uttar Pradesh and Hemanth Raam of Chennai attacked and counter-attacked fiercely. When the game was poised for a draw, Ajay unnecessarily made an exchange sacrifice with a miscalculation of promoting his a-pawn. The tactics did not work out and he fell a prey to Hemanth.
Grandmaster Alexei Fedorov continued his good run with a win over International Master David Gochelashvili in a Giuoco Piano opening. The e-passed pawn made the difference between the two players in getting Alexei a valuable point.
Belarus GM Evgeniy Podolchenko made a nice exchange sacrifice against Arnav Maheshwari of Chennai, winner of the fifth edition at Kodaikanal to win the game in 43 moves in the fifth round.
GM Evgeniy again sacrificed a knight in the next round, to obtain a superior position against S Prasannaa in a Caro-Kann Defence game. Prasanna accepted it, only to get checkmated nine moves later.
In an interesting game arising from the Alapin variation of the Sicilian Defence, David spoiled Prasannaa's castling chances by exchanging the bishops. In the rook and pawns end game, both pushed their pawns towards the eighth ranks and it was David who won the race and the game.
Arnav Maheshwari missed the winning chances and settled for the draw with IM Asylbek Abdyzhapar in a knight vs double bishop ending.
Alexei Fedorov had a clinical victory against Arnav Maheshwari and was assured of his title in the eighth and penultimate round.
13-year-old Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy recorded his third win over a Grandmaster by upsetting the second seeded GM Evgeniy Podolchenko with a good knight sacrifice.
WIM Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra registered her first win of the tournament over Hemanth Raam in a rook vs knight ending.
Even after the getting assured of the title in the penultimate round, Akexei went on to win the game against S Prasannaa in the final round.
The consolation third prize for India came from Ajay Santhosh who defeated the IM David Gochaleshvili.
The 7th IM-norm tournament will be held at Coimbatore from 26th November to 1st December. All the five foreign players continue to play here also besides WIM Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra and Hemanth Raam of Chennai. Ajay Santhosh is replaced by Adireddy Arjun of Telangana, winner of the Madurai edition; C Sai Viswesh of Chennai and G Gugan of Salem will play instead of Arnav Maheshwari and S Prasannaa.
Replay all games
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | GM | Fedorov, Alexei | BLR | 2447 | 8 | 0 | 32,50 | 7 | 4 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | BLR | 2395 | 6 | 0 | 24,00 | 4 | 1 | |
| 3 | 4 | Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy | IND | 2180 | 5 | 1 | 21,25 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 4 | 7 | IM | Abdyzhapar, Asylbek | KGZ | 2326 | 5 | 0 | 18,25 | 3 | 3 | |
| 5 | 2 | FM | Prasannaa.S, | IND | 2120 | 4,5 | 0 | 17,00 | 3 | 1 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Ziatdinov, Raset | USA | 2077 | 4 | 1 | 14,50 | 3 | 1 | |
| 7 | 6 | IM | Gochelashvili, David | RUS | 2304 | 4 | 0 | 14,75 | 3 | 1 | |
| 8 | 9 | Hemanth, Raam | IND | 2230 | 3 | 0,5 | 15,75 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | 1 | Arnav, Maheshwari | IND | 2244 | 3 | 0,5 | 11,50 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 10 | 10 | WIM | Chitlange, Sakshi | IND | 2224 | 2,5 | 0 | 9,00 | 1 | 0 |
About the Author
Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships.
The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed
