Bangladesh Premier League R9: Shahin Chess Club shocks SAIF Sporting
GM Abhimanyu Puranik of Shahin Chess Club once again scored an emphatic victory, this time showcasing his positional prowess against GM Vladislav Kovalev of SAIF Sporting Club in Round 9 of Mujib Borso SAIF Powertec Premier Division Chess League. SAIF Sporting Club is still at the second position with 12.0/16. Shahin Chess Club moved to the third place on the table with 10.0/16. Bangladesh Police maintained their sole lead with a 100% score of 16.0/16. They are just a draw away from winning the tournament. Veteran IM Sekhar Chandra Sahu of Sonali Bank Sports & Recreation Club held GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly to a draw. Photo: Amruta Mokal
Abhimanyu strikes again
GM Abhimanyu Puranik of Shahin Chess Club scored his fifth consecutive win of the event. His ninth round victim was Belarus no.1 GM Vladislav Kovalev. While in the previous round Abhimanyu showed his sharp tactical alertness, in the ninth round, he showed his brilliant positional understanding. His win was complemented by GM Narayanan S L and FM Debaraj Chatterjee's victory which allowed their team Shahin Chess Club to move to the third position with 10.0/16.
Bangladesh Police - Sonali Bank Sports & Recreation Club: 3.5-0.5
IM Mohammad Fahad Rahman scored a clinical victory against Md. Matiur Rahman.
IM Sekhar Chandra Sahu held GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly to a draw.
IM Anup Deshmukh tried to stir up trouble early in the opening but his opponent GM Raunak Sadhwani handled it correctly and won the game in 26 moves.
Raunak - Anup
White's king might be at the center of the board and will lose castling rights but it is not going to come in the harm's way as Raunak played correctly after 14.cxd4 Qxd4 15.Bg3.
GM Abdullah Al Rakib scored a fine victory over Protul Chandra Bose.
Shahin Chess Club - SAIF Sporting Club: 3-1
GM Adhiban scored the sole victory for his team SAIF Sporting Club against CM Sohel Chowdhury.
GM Narayanan S L scored a quick victory in just 22 moves over GM Reefat Bin Sattar.
GM Abhimanyu Puranik continued his previous day's momentum and capitalized on his opponent GM Vladislav Kovalev's mistakes.
Kovelav - Abhimanyu
Little did Kovalev know that the rook will get stuck on a-file for the next 35 moves which allowed Abhimanyu to build his advantage and convert it into decisive one. 21...Nbd4 22.Nc3 Rd7 23.Na2 Nb3 24.Nxb4 did not help white's case either as after 24...cxb4 the a4-rook got trapped for a long time.
FM Mehdi Hasan Parag sacrificed an exchange without enough material backing up its claim. Thus it allowed FM Debaraj Chatterjee to gain the upper hand and score an important victory for Shahin Chess Club.
Titas Club - Leonin Chess Club: 2.5-1.5
Jabed Al Azad lost without putting up much resistance against IM Aronyak Ghosh.
Subhayan Kundu played slow and on the wrong side of the board against GM Arjun Erigaisi.
Subhayan - Arjun
12.b3 is slow and pointless. White should have gone with 12.Nxd6 Qxd6 13.b4 instead. The game went on with 12..a6 13.Nxd6+ Qxd6 14.g3 another move which only helps black. White lost the game in another fourteen moves.
IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad scored a comfortable victory over CM Md. Shawket Bin Osman Shaon.
Replay games from Round 9
There is one round every day starting at 3 p.m. BST (2:30 p.m. IST) from 19th to 28th March 2021. On 29th March the final round starts at 2 p.m. BST (1:30 p.m. IST). A total of 63 players including 13 GMs, 9 IMs, 2 WIMs, 10 FMs and 8 CMs are slated to take part. A staggering 66.67% players are titled, 20.6% are GMs and 14.3% are IMs.
Round 9 results
| No. | Team | Team | Res. | : | Res. |
| 1 | Titas Club | Leonin Chess Club | 2½ | : | 1½ |
| 2 | Bangladesh Biman | Sheikh Russel Chess Club | 2 | : | 2 |
| 3 | Shahin Chess Club | SAIF Sporting Club | 3 | : | 1 |
| 4 | Bangladesh Navy | Janata Bank Officer Welfare Society | 2½ | : | 1½ |
| 5 | Bangladesh Police | Sonali Bank Sports & Recreation Club | 3½ | : | ½ |
| 6 | Uttara Central Chess Club | bye | : |
Standings after Round 9
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team | Group | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
| 1 | 10 | Bangladesh Police | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 26,5 | 0 | 122,0 | |||
| 2 | 2 | SAIF Sporting Club | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 20,5 | 0 | 84,5 | |||
| 3 | 8 | Shahin Chess Club | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 19,5 | 0 | 77,0 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Titas Club | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 17,0 | 0 | 68,5 | |||
| 5 | 5 | Uttara Central Chess Club | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 18,0 | 0 | 63,5 | |||
| 6 | 7 | Bangladesh Biman | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 17,0 | 0 | 52,0 | |||
| 7 | 9 | Bangladesh Navy | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 13,5 | 0 | 52,5 | |||
| 8 | 4 | Leonin Chess Club | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 13,0 | 0 | 36,8 | |||
| 9 | 3 | Sheikh Russel Chess Club | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12,5 | 0 | 35,0 | |||
| 10 | 1 | Janata Bank Officer Welfare Society | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11,0 | 0 | 28,8 | |||
| 11 | 11 | Sonali Bank Sports & Recreation Club | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 11,5 | 0 | 24,5 |
