Asylbek Abdyzhapar triumphs at 2nd Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit 2023, Srija Seshadri third
IM Asylbek Abdyzhapar scored 7/9 to win 2nd Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the field. Despite making only 0.5/2 in the first two games, Asylbek made a strong comeback by scoring 6.5/7 in the last seven games. IM David Gochelashvili scored sole 6.5/9 to secure second place. WGM Srija Seshadri made sole 6/9 to be placed third. The winner of the first edition - FM Harshad S scored 5.5/9 to secure fourth place. The third event of the series started today in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Photos: IA R Anantharam
No tie-breaks needed for top six
International Master Asylbek Abdyzhapar of Kyrgyzstan won the 2nd Tamil Nadu IM-norm closed circuit chess tournament, organized by Coimbatore District Chess Association at Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering & Technology, Pollachi, the city where the chess activities are flourishing. Asylbek defeated IM-norm aspirant FM Sekar B of Chennai in the final round to score seven points. Asylbek conceded only one draw in the last seven rounds.
IM David Gochelashvili (RUS) overcame the stiff resistance from veteran IM Murugan to clinch the second place. He had 6.5 points to his credit.
WGM Srija Seshadri of NLC Neyveli won against the young Srihari of Pondicherry; a student of SRM University Chennai to get six points and the third place.
FM Sekar B and FM Senthil Maran of Chennai replaced Goutham Krishna H of Kerala and R Ashwath of Chennai from the Chennai list for the Pollachi event.
WFM Ayan Allahverdiyeva of Azerbaijan opened her king side unnecessarily in her Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence. Ziatdinov made some good moves to seize Ayan’s queen for three minor pieces. He had to return it back to save the game, but could not gain the momentum and lost after a long battle of 70 moves.
Castling on the queen side, Srihari L of Pondicheery launched an attack on IM Murugan’s castled kingside in the Scheveningen variation of the Sicilian defence. Murugan's pawn sacrifice went in vain and Srihari made a bishop sacrifice towards the end to fetch him a point.
Grandmaster Razet bounced back from his first round loss to beat the Kyrgystan IM Asylbek Abdyzhapar in a nice game of the second round.
IM David Gochelashvili had a hat-trick of wins in the first three rounds.
WGM Srija Seshadri of NLC Neyveli repeated her Chennai tournament victory here also over her former trainer K Murugan, a retired sports officer in NLC. Murugan had to give up his queen for three minor pieces and made a series of errors to lose the game in 53 games.
In another Chigorin variation of the Queen Pawn opening, Harshad missed a few winning moves to settle for a draw with the birthday boy B Sekar of Chennai.
K Senthil Maran of Chennai, who defeated the elite Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev in the recently concluded Qatar Masters 2023 had a good game against S Harshad, the winner of the Chennai edition in the fourth round.
In the fifth round, WFM Ayan Allahverdiyeva brightened her WIM norm chances by defeating IM David Gochelashvili in the 37-move game of the English opening, David brought his queen into the battlefield only on the 27th move by which time most of the damages were done by Ayan. The Azerbaijan woman's brisk queen finally brought down the curtain with a checkmate threat.
Woman Grandmaster Srija Seshadri of NLC Neyveli grabbed the lead to emerge sole leader with 4.5 points in the sixth round. FM Senthil Maran K of Chennai enjoyed a good advantage in the middle game of a Catalan opening against the veteran International Master K Murugan of NLC Neyveli in the sixth round. But the positional advantage could not be maintained by Senthil for long. Murugan not only nullified his opponent’s advantage, went on to play accurately to record his first win of the tournament.
International Master David Gochelashvili boldly opened up both flanks against Srihari of Pondicherry and played aggressively to win the game in battle, extending to 69 moves.
The overnight leader WGM Srija suffered a setback at the hands of IM Asylbek in the seventh round.
Among the five games in the eighth round, two ended with decisive results. In a Sicilian Defence, IMs Asylbek and Murugan K, a runner-up to five times national champion Vishy Anand in the National A 1988 conducted the game in an even manner until move 30. But in the opposite colour bishop ending, the rook exchange by Murugan proved to be fatal and he lost the game in 53 moves.
B Sekar added one more point to his kitty at the expense of the USA Grandmaster Raset Ziatdinov in another opposite colour bishop ending. Raset’s 17th move blunder of moving the bishop instead of capturing the rook with it almost cost him the game. In the process, Sekar gained two pawns and won comfortably.
S Harshad of Coimbatore prevented the Azerbaijan WFM Ayan Allahverdiyeva from achieving her second WIM norm by beating her in a rook endgame. Harshad's two connected pawns tilted the game in his favour.
Dr. M Manickam, President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and Chairman of the Mahalingam College of Engineering & Technology and Mr. Senthil Chinnasamy, President Coimbatore District Chess Association inaugurated the tournament. C Ramaswamy, Secretary MCET and Dr. Ramakrishna, President Pollachi Chess Club were the guests of honour.
D V Sundar, former Vice President of FIDE, distributed the prizes to the winners and Dr. M Manickam, presided over the function. Mr. P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Dr. C Ramasamy, Secretary, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering & Technology, Mr, R Srinivasan, Treasurer TNSCA. IA M S Govindan Kutty of Kerala was the Chief Arbiter.
Replay all games
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
| 1 | 2 | IM | Abdyzhapar, Asylbek | KGZ | 2314 | 7 | 0 | 30,00 | 6 | 3 |
| 2 | 3 | IM | Gochelashvili, David | FID | 2277 | 6,5 | 0 | 24,50 | 6 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 | WGM | Srija, Seshadri | IND | 2214 | 6 | 0 | 20,75 | 5 | 2 |
| 4 | 5 | FM | Harshad, S | IND | 2177 | 5,5 | 0 | 22,00 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | 8 | FM | Sekar, B | IND | 2333 | 5 | 0 | 17,00 | 3 | 2 |
| 6 | 10 | WFM | Allahverdiyeva, Ayan | AZE | 2198 | 4 | 0 | 15,25 | 3 | 2 |
| 7 | 9 | FM | Senthil, Maran K | IND | 2298 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 16,75 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | 1 | GM | Ziatdinov, Raset | USA | 2081 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 12,75 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | 4 | Srihari, L | IND | 2200 | 3 | 0 | 9,50 | 2 | 0 | |
| 10 | 7 | IM | Murugan, Krishnamoorthy | IND | 2355 | 1 | 0 | 3,50 | 1 | 1 |
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
