62nd National Championship R4: Abhishek T M sets the board ablaze against Ayush Sharma

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/09/2025

Seven players are at a perfect score at the conclusion of the fourth round of 62nd National Championship 2025. Three of them are former champions - GM Lalit Rohit (PSPB), GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) and GM Sasikiran Krishnan (PSPB). The remaining four are IMs - Ameya Audi (Goa), Goutham Krishna H (KER), Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) and Kashish Manoj Jain (MAH). IM Aaditya Dhingra (HAR) played fantastic chess and missed a beautiful combination against GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB). Abhishek T M (KER) set the board on fire against GM-elect IM Ayush Sharma (RSPB). Ayush somehow managed to escape with a draw as his opponent had too many paths to victory. Round 5 starts tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Seven remain unscathed

It was a day of misses for a few GMs. GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) missed plenty of winning chances against IM Srihari L (PUD). GM Srihari L R (TN) missed few good opportunities in the rook and pawn endgame against Aadik Theophane Lenin (KER). FM Ankit Ray (WB) held India's latest GM S Rohith Krishna (TN) to a draw. The longest of the tournament lasted six hours. The checkmate was delivered by a bishop and knight on 143rd move by former National Challenger champion, IM Ravi Teja S (TN) against Jihan Tejas Shah (GUJ).

Surya - Manish Anto

Position after 28...Bxb4!?

28...Bxb4!? is a nice sacrifice by Manish. He is getting two pawns and activity for the bishop. 29.Nxb4 Rxd2 30.Bxd2 Qxe2 31.Bc3 a5 32.Bf1 Qf3 33.Nd3 Rd8 34.Re1 Rxd3! another nice sacrifice which is also okay just like the previous one.

Position after 34...Rxd3

Black is fine after 35.Bxd3 Qxd3 36.Bxa5 h6. The game continued 35.Bxa5 Ra3 36.Bg2 Qd3 37.Rxe6 Rxa5 38.Rxc6! h5 39.Qc8+ Kh7 40.Rc7 Qb1+? and it all went downhill for Black 41.Kh2 Rxa2 42.Rxf7+- and White won the game in the next few moves.

IM Manish Anto Cristiano F (TN) brought a lot of heat but his opponent, GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) kept calm and won the game

Aaditya Dhingra - Sethuraman

Position after 24.e6!

IM Aaditya Dhingra's (HAR, 2391) energetic play induced a mistake by GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB, 2572) 23...c5?? White correctly spotted 24.e6! However, after 24...Bf6 he could not follow through. Find out the beautiful winning continuation which White missed after Bf6. The combination certainly deserves to be in the future books of tactics.

IM Aaditya Dhingra (HAR) played great chess and created winning chances against GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB)

GM Sasikiran Krishnan (PSPB) scored a comfortable victory over CM Harshit Ranjan Sahu (ODI)

Aronyak - Nandish

Position after 55.Nd7

55...Kh6 keeps the game going as 56.Nb6 Ng5 57.Na4 Nf3+ 58.Kh3 Kg5 and Black can still draw. Instead, 55...Kf7?? shifted the balance completely in favor of White 56.Nb6+- it was still not easy but IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB, 2514) displayed fine technique to win against FM V S Nandish (TN, 2252).

IM Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) got the better of FM V S Nandish (TN)

After blundering an exchange, IM Srihari L (PUD) escaped with a draw as his opponent, GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) missed all his chances to win

FM Ankit Ray (WB) held India's latest GM S Rohith Krishna (TN) to a draw

Alekhya Mukhopadhyay (WB) made an incorrect rook trade offer which arrived at a lost pawn endgame for him against GM Lalit Rohit (PSPB)

GM Srihari L R (TN) missed few winning chances in the rook and pawn endgame against Aadik Theophane Lenin (KER)

Ayush Sharma - Abhishek T M

Position after 21...b4

Abhishek T M (KER, 2077) set the board on fire by taking the game to his opponent, GM-elect IM Ayush Sharma (RSPB, 2457). 18...0-0-0, 19...b5, 20...Kb7 and 21...b4 is a series of ambitious move by Black. 22.Na2 Bxa2+ 23.Kxa2 Rd5 24.Be3 Rhd8 25.Ra1 e4 Black was winning with almost anything

Position after 32.Bd2

Black was low on time and he missed the winning continuation. Try to find it. 32...Nxc2?? was played 33.Rxe4 Nxa1 34.Re7+ Kc6 35.Rxg7 Rxd2 36.fxg6 and the game meandered into a draw.

Abhishek T M (KER) played fantastic chess and found himself on the verge of winning against GM-elect IM Ayush Sharma (RSPB)

IM Ameya Audi (Goa) won an interesting back and forth battle against Indrajeet Mahindrakar (MAH)

IM Goutham Krishna (KER) scored a comfortable win over Veerbhadrasinh Gadhavi (GUJ)

IM Kashish Manoj Jain (MAH) defeated Aaradhya Jain (GUJ) to maintain a perfect score

Surendran N (TN) - GM Vignesh N R (RSPB): 0.5-0.5

GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB) - Esshan Wadhawan (DEL): 0.5-0.5

Gyana Sai Santhosh M (AP) got the better of IM Vignesh Advaith Vemula (TEL)

The longest game of the event lasted six hours as IM Ravi Teja S (AP) delivered checkmate on the 143rd move with his bishop and knight against Jihan Tejas Shah (GUJ)

Saharsha - C R G Krishna

Final position after 80.Qa5+

IM C R G Krishna (2440) probably suffered the most painful loss of the round. He resigned in the above position quite possibly calculating 80...Ke2 81.Qxe1+ Kxe1 82.b4 g4 83.Kg3 and White winning. If he saw 82...h4 keeps Black in the game, he probably would have continued. Thus, Saharsha Challa (TEL, 2014) got the full point.

IM C R G Krishna (AP) did a Shankland against Saharsha Challa (TEL)

Only one player is playing from Assam

Team Karnataka

Team Kerala

Team KIIT

Tripura also has only player participating in this event

Team West Bengal

Round 4 in progress

For more Round 4 photos, please click here

Replay Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Bo.		White	Gr	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Gr	Rtg	Club/City	PGN
1	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2	2573	PSPB	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	30	2368	TN	PGN
2	IM	Aaditya Dhingra	396	2391	HR	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	3	2572	PSPB	PGN
3	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	4	2524	PSPB	3	1 - 0	3	CM	Harshit Ranjan Sahu	46	2258	OR	PGN
4	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	6	2514	RSPB	3	1 - 0	3	FM	Nandish V S	47	2252	TN	PGN
5	IM	Srihari L	27	2373	PY	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	7	2511	PSPB	PGN
6	IM	Rohith Krishna S	8	2503	TN	3	½ - ½	3	FM	Ankit Ray	53	2221	WB	PGN
7		Alekhya Mukhopadhyay	45	2264	WB	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Lalit Babu M R	9	2502	AP	PGN
8	CM	Kumaresh A	401	2256	TN	3	½ - ½	3	FM	Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy	11	2482	UP	PGN
9	GM	Srihari L R	12	2481	TN	3	½ - ½	3	AIM	Aadik Theophane Lenin	81	2108	KL	PGN
10	IM	Ayush Sharma	14	2457	RSPB	3	½ - ½	3		Abhishek T M	97	2077	KL	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	20	IM	Audi Ameya	20	IND	2430	GA	4	9	11	11	4	2
2	9	GM	Lalit Babu M R	9	IND	2502	AP	4	8,5	10,5	10,5	4	2
3	21	IM	Goutham Krishna H	21	IND	2418	KL	4	8,5	10	10	4	2
4	2	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2	IND	2573	PSPB	4	8	10	10	4	2
5	6	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	6	IND	2514	RSPB	4	8	10	10	4	2
6	25	IM	Jain Kashish Manoj	25	IND	2398	MH	4	8	9	9	4	2
7	4	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	4	IND	2524	PSPB	4	7,5	9	9	4	2
8	14	IM	Ayush Sharma	14	IND	2457	RSPB	3,5	9,5	11	9,3	3	2
9	1	GM	Iniyan Pa	1	IND	2599	TN	3,5	9	11	9,5	3	1
10	28	IM	Srihari L	27	IND	2373	PY	3,5	9	11	9,3	3	2

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.		White	Gr	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Gr	Rtg	Club/City
1	GM	Lalit Babu M R	9	2502	AP	4		4	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2	2573	PSPB
2	IM	Goutham Krishna H	21	2418	KL	4		4	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	4	2524	PSPB
3	IM	Jain Kashish Manoj	25	2398	MH	4		4	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	6	2514	RSPB
4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	3	2572	PSPB	3½		4	IM	Audi Ameya	20	2430	GA
5	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	32	2355	KA	3½		3½	GM	Iniyan Pa	1	2599	TN
6	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	7	2511	PSPB	3½		3½	AGM	Vignesh B	41	2288	TN
7	IM	Subhayan Kundu	34	2352	RSPB	3½		3½	IM	Rohith Krishna S	8	2503	TN
8	FM	Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy	11	2482	UP	3½		3½	IM	Srihari L	27	2373	PY
9	IM	Nitin S.	38	2316	RSPB	3½		3½	GM	Srihari L R	12	2481	TN
10	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	13	2475	TG	3½		3½		Sharnarthi Viresh	43	2281	MH

Details

Links

Andhra Chess Association

Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology and Research (Deemed to be University)

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