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Bhakti Kulkarni dominates Pilsen Open B 2023

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/03/2023

It is not every day one get to witness a woman winning an Open event. IM Bhakti Kulkarni ended her rough patch on 11th March 2023 when she won the Pilsen Open 2023 B. The Arjuna Awardee scored an unbeaten 8/9 and finished 1.5 points ahead of the competition to become the champion. It is difficult to recollect the last time a female player won a Swiss league Open event. IM Vaishali R won an Open event last May, however it was a Round-Robin tournament. The top three prizes were CZK 8000 + trophy, 6000 and 4000. FM Ashwath R finished third scoring 5.5/7 in the C Rapid Open event. He won CZK 500. Photo: Official site

Ashwath third in Rapid

IM Bhakti Kulkarni grabbed sole lead 5.5/6, when she defeated WIM Mariya Zubova (UKR) in the sixth round. She won the following round against FM Martin Simet (CZE) to increase her lead by a full point 6.5/7. In the penultimate eighth round, she drew with the eventual runner-up, IM Olaf Heinzel (GER) to maintain her full point lead 7/8. Despite needing only a draw to become champion, Bhakti went on to win against 10-year-old Yehor Marynychenko (UKR) in the final round to clinch the first place and finish 1.5 points ahead of the field.

Top 3 (L to R) - 3rd Jonas Eret (CZE) 6.5/9, 1st IM Bhakti Kulkarni 8/9 and 2nd IM Olaf Heinzel (GER) 6.5/9 | Photo: Official site

Martin - Bhakti, Round 7

Position after 23.c4

FM Martin Simet (CZE, 2201) made a positional mistake 23.c4. IM Bhakti Kulkarni (2303) seized her opportunity to create a passed pawn 23...d4 which eventually played a crucial role in getting her a victory.

IM Bhakti Kulkarni scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win the tournament | Photo: Official site

Round 6: IM Bhakti Kulkarni - WIM Mariya Zubova (UKR): 1-0 | Photo: Official site

IM Bhakti Kulkarni gained 12.2 Elo rating points and performed at 2391

L to R: Best Junior Under-16 - Vojtech Tegda (CZE) 6/9, Best Senior 60+ - Miloslav Vlk (CZE) 6/9 and Best Woman - IM Bhakti Kulkarni 8/9 | Photo: Official site

All prize winners of B Open event | Photo: Official site

C Rapid Top 3 (L to R) - 2nd Nikolaj Krilovs (LAT) 6/7, 1st GM Martin Petr (CZE) 7/7 and 3rd FM Aswath R 5.5/7 | Photo: Official site

FM Aswath R in action | Photo: Official site

The tournament hall at Park hotel in Pilsen, Czech Republic | Photo: Official site

A total of 91 players including 3 IMs and a WIM from 19 countries in the B Open and 60 players including a GM and 2 IMs from 11 countries participated in this B Open and C Rapid nine and seven round Swiss league Classical and Rapid Rating tournament respectively. Both events were organized by AVE Chess z s. The Classical event went from 4th to 11th March, while the Rapid took place on 5th March 2023 at Park hotel in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The time control for the events were 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds from move no.1 and for Rapid it was 10 minutes + 5 seconds increment.

Final standings in B Open

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 Krtg+/-
12
IMKulkarni BhaktiwIND230384952,546,501012,2
23
IMHeinzel OlafGER22846,5505438,2510-3,8
37
Eret JonasCZE21966,549,554,537,252011,4
46
FMSimet MartinCZE22016,546,55134,5020-13,2
515
CMChinguun BayaraaMGL20136,546,55033,754094
611
Lihotsky LukasCZE20536,545,549,533,504088
710
Krilovs NikolajsLAT21026,544,548,534,002017,4
85
WIMZubova MariyawUKR2226649,55433,5020-7,8
960
Marynychenko YehorUKR1620646,54828,0040158,4
1012
Gurack DanielGER20516454931,50203

Details

Final standings in C Rapid

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 Krtg+/-
11
GMPetr MartinCZE2489730,534,534,50106
24
Krilovs NikolajsLAT2042627,530,523,502019,8
33
FMAshwath R.IND22045,530,533,523,75206,4
42
IMPlischki SebastianGER23665,5303424,2510-3,5
510
Lihotsky LukasCZE18205,5283123,254020,4
69
Weijers RalfNED1891525,527,517,0020-4,8
714
AIMKalvach LadislavCZE17275252717,002022,2
85
Svoboda MilosCZE20194,529,532,518,7520-14,6
97
Sladek JaroslavCZE19034,527,530,517,0020-11,8
106
CMChinguun BayaraaMGL19134,52730,517,0040-39,2

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations