1st Guwahati GM Open R9: C R G Krishna in a four-way race to the finish

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/03/2022

IM C R G Krishna drew his game quickly in just 17 moves against GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR) in Round 9 of 1st Guwahati International GM Open 2022. They are joined by GM Fawzy Adham (EGY) and GM Pavel Ponkratov who registered victories over IM Sayantan Das and GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE) respectively. To win the tournament, Krishna must win the last round and hope the remaining leaders draw their game. If all four leaders draw their games, there is a possibility of as many as seven players finishing with 8.0/10. It would mean the tie-breaks will decide the winner. Final Round 10 games start today at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Six-pack in the chase

Six players are at a half point behind the leaders 7.0/9 each. They are - IM Sayantan Das, IM Ratnakaran K, FM Aradhya Garg, IM Nitin S, GM Visakh N R and IM Sidhant Mohapatra.

IM C R G Krishna scored his second hat-trick of the event 6.0/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM C R G Krishna and GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR) had a quick 17-move draw | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sayantan - Fawzy: 0-1

IM Sayantan Das (2459) went wrong in the endgame which caused his opponent GM Fawzy Adham's (EGY) bishops to become menacing.

Position after 24.Kf1

24.a3 would have continued the game Bxa1 25.Rxa1. The rook-knight vs rook-bishop and many pawns endgame was playable for White. However, 24.Kf1 drastically turned things in Black's favor. Find out the correct continuation for Black. Remember, Black does not have to take the a1-rook immediately which means there is certainly an intermediate move which Fawzy found in the game.

Sayantan must win the final round game and hope other results go in his favor | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Pavel Ponkratov beat GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE) to join the lead | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Saptarshi - Visakh: 1-0

GM Saptarshi Roy (2402) who loves playing sharp chess was not able to do so. In fact it's his opponent GM Visakh N R (2522) who launched a devastating attack.

Position after 12...b5

12...b5 works for a lot of reasons. White might have an extra pawn at the center of the board, however he is yet to complete development of pieces and none of them are making any real threat.

GM Visakh N R completed his hat-trick with a nice win | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Sidhant Mohapatra bounced back well by defeating IM Tahbaz Arash (IRI) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Cristhian - Dhananjay: 0.5-0.5

Dhananjay S (2310) had no choice but to go for a Queen vs Rook and many pawns endgame where he was the defender.

Position after 29...Rxd4

29...Qb4 was a safer alternative according to the computer. However, Dhananjay felt 29...Rxd4 to be a better choice. If you know how to defend a Queen vs Rook endgame, most importantly how to create a fortress, then it should be good. He eventually managed to salvage a draw without making any mistake.

Cristhian was the third GM, Dhananjay drew with in this event | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Aaryan Varshney - IM P Shyam Nikhil: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kaustuv Kundu suffered his first loss of the event after a 100-move long grueling battle against IM Nitin S | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Ratnakaran K won a long Rook, Knight and few pawns endgame grind against Mahdi Gholami Orimi (IRI) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Aradhya Garg continues his good form in this event by winning against IM Himal Gusain | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Highlights

A few interesting finishes from Round 9

IM Sidhant Mohapatra - IM Tahbaz Arash (IRI): 1-0

Mayank Chakraborty - IM Raahul V S: 0-1

For more Round 9 photos, please click here.

A total of 254 players including 13 GMs, 16 IMs, 2 WGMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 11 federations across the world including India. The tournament is organized by All Assam Chess Association from 14th to 20th March 2022 at Guwahati, Assam. 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.		Name	Gr	Typ	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Gr	Typ	Rtg	No.
1	13	IM	Krishna C R G			2466	7	½ - ½	7	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris			2622	2
2	14	IM	Das Sayantan			2459	7	0 - 1	6½	GM	Fawzy Adham			2490	8
3	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel			2641	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Mirzoev Azer			2476	11
4	22	GM	Saptarshi Roy			2402	6½	0 - 1	6	GM	Visakh N R			2522	3
5	24	GM	Karthikeyan P.			2397	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.			2520	4
6	25	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra			2359	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Tahbaz Arash			2469	12
7	15	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo			2449	6	½ - ½	6		Dhananjay S			2310	28
8	32	FM	Aaryan Varshney			2277	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Shyaamnikhil P			2442	17
9	19	IM	Nitin S.			2427	6	1 - 0	6		Kaustuv Kundu			2281	31
10	26	IM	Ratnakaran K.			2316	6	1 - 0	6		Gholami Orimi Mahdi			2420	20
11	21	IM	Gusain Himal			2408	6	0 - 1	6	FM	Aradhya Garg			2236	34
12	9	GM	Karthik Venkataraman			2485	5½	1 - 0	6		Arnav Maheshwari		U15	2010	52
13	5	GM	Stany G.A.			2517	5½	1 - 0	5½	WIM	Priyanka K			2215	38
14	39		Vaibhav Jayant Raut			2198	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Iniyan P			2516	6
15	41	CM	Mayank Chakraborty	NE-A	U15	2164	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Raahul V S			2478	10
16	43	WIM	Franco Valencia Angela			2116	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Nigmatov Ortik			2445	16
17	89		Abhash Roimya Saikia	NE-A	U15	1717	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik			2435	18
18	27	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J			2316	5½	1 - 0	5½		Arpan Das			2166	40
19	29	WGM	Divya Deshmukh			2301	5½	1 - 0	5½		Trailokya Nanda	NE-A		1973	60
20	33	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F			2236	5½	1 - 0	5½		Praloy Sahoo			2047	48

Details

Round 10 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Gr	Typ	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Gr	Typ	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris			2622	7½		7½	GM	Ponkratov Pavel			2641	1
2	8	GM	Fawzy Adham			2490	7½		7½	IM	Krishna C R G			2466	13
3	3	GM	Visakh N R			2522	7		7	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra			2359	25
4	34	FM	Aradhya Garg			2236	7		7	IM	Das Sayantan			2459	14
5	19	IM	Nitin S.			2427	7		7	IM	Ratnakaran K.			2316	26
6	4	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.			2520	6½		6½	GM	Saptarshi Roy			2402	22
7	5	GM	Stany G.A.			2517	6½		6½	GM	Karthikeyan P.			2397	24
8	6	GM	Iniyan P			2516	6½		6½	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J			2316	27
9	18	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik			2435	6½		6½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman			2485	9
10	10	IM	Raahul V S			2478	6½		6½	WGM	Divya Deshmukh			2301	29
11	28		Dhananjay S			2310	6½		6½	GM	Mirzoev Azer			2476	11
12	15	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo			2449	6½		6½	FM	Aaryan Varshney			2277	32
13	16	IM	Nigmatov Ortik			2445	6½		6½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F			2236	33
14	17	IM	Shyaamnikhil P			2442	6½		6½	WGM	Srija Seshadri			2219	37
15	50		Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U			2022	6		6	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud			2511	7
16	12	IM	Tahbaz Arash			2469	6		6		Imocha Laishram	NE-A		2049	47
17	20		Gholami Orimi Mahdi			2420	6		6		Kumar Gaurav			2025	49
18	52		Arnav Maheshwari		U15	2010	6		6	IM	Gusain Himal			2408	21
19	54		Imtiaz Islam Bora	NE-A		2004	6		6	IM	Shahil Dey	NE	U15	2400	23
20	56		Borgaonkar Akshay		U15	1985	6		6		Kaustuv Kundu			2281	31

Details

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