Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R1-3: 17-year-old Kushal makes a superb start

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/12/2022

19 players have made a perfect start of 3/3 at Chessable Sunway Sitges Open 2022 Group A. 17-year-old Kushal O is the sole untitled player is among them. He defeated FM Jana Schneider (GER, 2272), IM Thomas E Rendle (ENG, 2381) and IM Gerard Ayats Llobera (ESP, 2464). The Gran Hotel Bali Aficionados B winner, is already gaining 114 Elo rating points. His next round opponent GM Andrey Esipenko will be the first GM of the event he is going to face. GM Abhimanyu Puranik, IM Aditya S Samant, GM B Adhiban, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Karthikeyan Murali are the remaining Indians at 3/3. Round 4 starts tonight at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Tallulah Roberts

Top three seeds at 3/3

Apart from Ojas Kulkarni splitting the point with GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL) in the first round, GM Arjun Kalyan, GM Aditya Mittal and IM Jubin Jimmy were held to draws by FM Mahitosh Dey, Arhan Chethan Anand and Hiren K G, Vignesh Bhuvaneswari defeated IM Moksh Amit Doshi. In round 2, IM Sidhant Mohapatra, WIM Rakshitta Ravi, Ojas, Venkatesh Renganayaki drew with GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE), IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU), GM Vladislav Nevednichy (ROU) and GM Lothar Vogt (GER) respectively, CM Shaik Sumer Arsh defeated IM Cem Kaan Gokerkan (TUR). The third round witnessed, IM Jubin Jimmy, IM Sidhant Mohapatra, IM Arjun C Krishnamachari and Joel Paul Ganta drawing their respective games with GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL), GM Jingyao Tin (SGP), IM Fabian Baenziger (SUI) and IM Moksh Amit Doshi respectively.

GM B Adhiban is one of the 19 players at 3/3 | Photo: Tallulah Roberts

Round 1: Ojas - Cheparinov: 0.5-0.5

Ojas Kulkarni (2196) drew with Bulgaria no.2 and Sunway Sitges 2020 winner, GM Ivan Cheparinov (2688).

Position after 52...Bb6

53.Nb4 would have given White some practical chances. The idea is to push the passed a-pawn and gain one of Black's minor pieces. The game ended in a draw after 53.Nc5 Nd5 54.Nxe6+ Kf7 55.Ng5+

Ojas Kulkarni could have caused a bigger upset in the first round

Round 2: Sidhant - Safarli: 0.5-0.5

IM Sidhant Mohapatra (2337) held GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE, 2616) to a solid draw.

Round 2: IM Sidhant Mohapatra (pictured) - GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 3: Adhiban - Ajay: 1-0

Rook is best placed on the seventh rank. GM B Adhiban (2611) showed why the saying means a lot in a practical game against IM Ajay Karthikeyan (2430).

Position after 30.Rc7

29...a5 invited 30.Rc7 and Black could not avoid material loss. 30...Qd8 31.Rxb7 Nc5 32.Rxc5 bxc5 33.Nb5 not only White got two minor pieces for a rook but also a good square for the knight at b5. Adhiban had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.

Replay Chessable Sunway Chess Festival Round 3 Live commentary with GM Jan Gustafsson and GM Peter Svidler | Video: chess24

Replay Round 1-3 games

Round 3 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	5	11	GM	Demchenko Anton	2632	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2453	50
3	6	55	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2447	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620	14
3	8	57	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2439	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618	16
3	10	65	FM	Vitier Vazquez Cristian	2424	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616	18
3	12	21	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2430	60
3	14	23	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	2428	62
3	23	147	CM	Vaibhav Jayant Raut	2247	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Samant Aditya S	2470	40
3	26	295		Kushal O	1801	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard	2464	44
3	27	45	GM	Sochacki Christophe	2463	2	1 - 0	2	CM	Shaik Sumer Arsh	2290	123
3	28	84	FM	Jubin Jimmy	2376	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2688	4

Details

Round 4 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	1	23	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	3		3	GM	Yu Yangyi	2728	1
4	5	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620	3		3	GM	Velten Paul	2465	43
4	7	18	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616	3		3	GM	Sochacki Christophe	2463	45
4	9	40	IM	Samant Aditya S	2470	3		3	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	21
4	10	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2678	2½		3		Kushal O	1801	295
4	14	50	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2453	2½		2½	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2621	13
4	15	16	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618	2½		2½	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2432	59
4	18	22	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2610	2½		2½	IM	Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2430	61
4	19	24	GM	Dardha Daniel	2606	2½		2½	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2427	63
4	22	74	FM	Bilych Olexiy	2401	2½		2½	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2505	32

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27775. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

12th - 21st December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

22nd December - 2 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

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