Goa GM 2019 Round 4: Train with the grandmasters

by Sagar Shah - 21/06/2019

We all have books on tactics. We solve them to stay alert and improve our tactical vision. But do you know, these tactical positions are nothing but ones which are found by analyzing top class grandmaster games that are played at important event. The Goa GM International 2019 is filled with high class chess and a lot of tactical ideas are being executed on the top boards. In this article we bring you five positions. You would do well to spend 25 minutes of your time (5 mins x positions) to solve these positions and then match your answer with what the GMs did! All of these positions are taken from round 4 of the event. In this report you will also find a lot of photos, videos, analysis and an update about the B category tournament which is coming to an end.

Indians do win the grandmaster opens that take place in our country, but the frequency of them doing so is quite less. Almost always we have an international grandmaster who comes and takes home the top prize. Why is it so? Is it because our Indian GMs are less talented, or is it that the foreign GMs have some tricks up their sleeve which the Indians are unable to cope up with? Whatever it is, after four rounds of the Goa GM 2019 we have four leaders and all four of them are from outside India - Samvel Ter Sahakyan and Manuel Petrosyan from Armenia, Valeriy Neverov and Petr Kostenko from Ukraine! As to the question related to why Indian players are lagging behind in such open events, I would be more than happy to receive your thoughts on it in the comments section below.

Four leaders of the tournament (clockwise from top left) - Samvel Ter Sahakyan, Tigran Petrosian, Petr Kostenko and Valeriy Neverov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

25 minutes training with the GMs

We have handpicked five positions for you in this article where you need to spend 25 minutes (5 minutes per position) and try to find the answers to the problems. Below you will find the solutions in the PGN replayable board. Let's go!

Neverov vs Pantsulaia

Black has played his queen to g4. What would you do as White?

Samvel Ter Sahakyan vs Nubairshah Shaikh

How should White build up the pressure in the position?

Sankalp Gupta vs Petr Kostenko

How should Black develop his c8 bishop?

Abhijeet Gupta vs Himal Gusain

How should Black win this position?

M.R. Venkatesh vs Sankarsh Shelke

White is building up a typical kingside onslaught in the King's Indian Attack. What's the best move here?

Solutions:

Everyone felt that Pantsulaia was the favourite to win this top board match-up, but Neverov dug in deep and in mutual time trouble won the game!

Position 1:

White to play

Position 2:

Samvel Ter Sahakyan showed his class on board 2 to beat Nubairshah Shaikh

White to play

Position 3:

Peter Kostenko - creative as always! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Black to play

Position 4

The most topsy turvy game of round 4 was Abhijeet Gupta against Himal Gusain | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Black to play.

Winning this position is no rocket science. All that Black has to do is play Re8, keep his king on g8, bring the rook to b8 and then Rb1+, game over!

Himal Gusain was unsure after the game whether to be happy or sad! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Position 5:

You should always be careful against Venkatesh's Reti/ King's Indian Attack openings! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

White to play

Mitrabha Guha played a fine tournament at Mumbai Mayors Cup and reached an Elo of 2390. In the first three rounds of the Goa GM International 2019 he gained 10 Elo points and crossed 2400 Elo mark. He becomes the latest IM of the country and he also has a GM norm under his belt. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Gukesh played a nearly flawless game to beat Aniruddha Deshpande! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Results of round 4

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	29	GM	Neverov Valeriy	2470	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2614	2
2	3	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2611	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2436	38
3	11	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2573	3	1 - 0	3		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2431	40
4	60	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2362	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2557	12
5	19	IM	Iniyan P	2525	3	½ - ½	3	FM	Mitrabha Guha	2341	69
6	62		Sankalp Gupta	2359	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Kostenko Petr	2473	28
7	1	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2637	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2434	39
8	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2606	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Gusain Himal	2404	48
9	49		Koustav Chatterjee	2404	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Idani Pouya	2597	6
10	9	GM	Jojua Davit	2580	2½	1 - 0	2½	CM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2383	54
11	17	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2527	2½	½ - ½	2½	FM	Rathanvel V S	2314	80
12	53	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P	2395	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Burmakin Vladimir	2526	18
13	55	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2381	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Malakhatko Vadim	2505	20
14	67	CM	Rohith Krishna S	2347	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Anurag Mhamal	2497	22
15	65	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2351	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Kunte Abhijit	2478	26
16	31	IM	Vignesh N R	2459	2½	½ - ½	2½		Ram S. Krishnan	2152	130
17	71	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2338	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	2456	32
18	35	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2446	2½	½ - ½	2½	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2196	113
19	157		Karthik Rajaa	2080	2½	0 - 1	2	GM	Stupak Kirill	2584	8
20	7	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2588	2	1 - 0	2		Raahul V S	2292	88

Standings after round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we
1	3	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel			ARM	2611	ARM	4,0	0,0	9,0	10,5	10,50	4	4	4	3,25
2	11	GM	Petrosyan Manuel			ARM	2573	ARM	4,0	0,0	8,0	10,0	10,00	4	4	4	3,20
3	28	GM	Kostenko Petr			KAZ	2473	KAZ	4,0	0,0	8,0	9,0	9,00	4	4	4	3,13
4	29	GM	Neverov Valeriy			UKR	2470	UKR	4,0	0,0	7,0	9,0	9,00	4	4	4	2,80
5	69	FM	Mitrabha Guha			IND	2341	WB	3,5	0,0	9,5	10,5	8,75	3	4	3,5	2,33
6	19	IM	Iniyan P			IND	2525	TN	3,5	0,0	8,5	10,5	8,75	3	4	3,5	3,20
7	9	GM	Jojua Davit			GEO	2580	GEO	3,5	0,0	8,0	10,0	8,50	3	4	3,5	3,29
8	60	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha			IND	2362	KAR	3,5	0,0	8,0	9,0	7,25	3	4	3,5	2,30
9	12	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.			IND	2557	TN	3,5	0,0	7,5	9,5	7,75	3	4	3,5	3,24
10	20	GM	Malakhatko Vadim			BEL	2505	BEL	3,5	0,0	7,0	8,5	7,25	3	4	3,5	3,14
11	32	IM	Nguyen Van Huy			VIE	2456	VIE	3,5	0,0	6,5	8,0	7,00	3	4	3,5	3,21
12	2	GM	Pantsulaia Levan			GEO	2614	GEO	3,0	0,0	9,5	11,5	7,50	3	4	3	3,18
13	40		Sammed Jaykumar Shete			IND	2431	MAH	3,0	0,0	9,0	11,0	7,00	3	4	3	2,94
14	80	FM	Rathanvel V S			IND	2314	TN	3,0	0,0	9,0	10,0	6,75	2	4	3	1,59
15	87	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy			IND	2293	TN	3,0	0,0	9,0	10,0	6,00	3	4	3	2,26
16	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2606	DEL	3,0	0,0	8,5	10,0	7,25	2	4	3	3,30
	130		Ram S. Krishnan			IND	2152	TN	3,0	0,0	8,5	10,0	7,25	2	4	3	0,65
18	38	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh			IND	2436	MAH	3,0	0,0	8,5	10,0	6,00	3	4	3	2,80
	62		Sankalp Gupta			IND	2359	MAH	3,0	0,0	8,5	10,0	6,00	3	3	2	1,44
20	26	GM	Kunte Abhijit			IND	2478	MAH	3,0	0,0	8,0	10,0	7,50	2	4	3	3,15

Video Gallery:

15-year-old Kushagra Mohan with a rating of 2207 was up against India's 57th GM P. Karthikeyan. The game started with an unusual opening and very soon Kushagra had a small positional edge. The ease with which Kushagra converted the position was quite astonishing. The boy has no trainer and works on chess on his own. His story and play are both inspiring.

Final moments of Neverov's win against Pantsulaia

Final moments of Abhijeet Gupta vs Himal Gusain

K. Priyanka is the former Commonwealth under-16 champion, she is also two time under-17 national champion in 2017 and 2018. At the Goa GM 2019, she is playing with a rating of 2053. In round 4 she was paired against Sameer Kathmale, who has an Elo of 2311. With the black pieces, Priyanka was not the favourite. She played the Najdorf and after the opening executed the typical ...Rxc3 sacrifice. Check out the game with Priyanka's analysis in the video. We also speak to the youngster about her future plans. Priyanka's father is no more and her mother is unable to make their ends meet. She is qualified to play in the commonwealth championships in the under-18 section, but she would like to play in the open as well. However, she doesn't have the funds to do so. She is right now looking for a sponsor to ensure that she can go to Delhi for the Commonwealth tournament that begins from the 30th of June.

The fight for Rs.2,00,000 in the B category

The last two rounds of the B category are always filled with a lot of tension and pressure! That's because you have a lot of prize money at stake. The leaders usually falter as they cannot really handle the tension. The same happened in the penultimate round 9. Selvamurugan was leading the event with 7.5/8 along with J. Karthikeyan. In round 9 Selvamurugan lost his game against Karthik Gopal G of AP, while Karthikeyan J was held to a draw by Harshit Pawar. This means that going into the last round we have two leaders Karthikeyan J and Karthik Gopal. The winner of this game will take home the cheque of Rs.2,00,000.

J Karthikeyan was held to a draw in the ninth round by Harshit Pawar. He is currently one of the leaders with 8.0/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Karthik Gopal G (right) beat Selvmurugan in round 9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Round 9 encounter between Karthik Gopal and Selvamurugan (black) captured on the camera. Look how smoothly the endgame is converted by Karthik Gopal

Standings after round 9

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	sex	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	47	Karthikeyan J.			1838	TN	8,0	0,0	51,5	55,5	48,00	7
2	79	Karthik Gopal G			1766	AP	8,0	0,0	43,5	46,5	42,00	8
3	14	Selvamurugan B			1929	TN	7,5	0,0	53,0	57,0	45,00	7
4	48	Uma Maheswaran P			1836	TN	7,5	0,0	50,5	55,0	43,50	7
5	73	Pawar Harshit	U13		1776	DEL	7,5	0,0	50,5	54,0	43,50	6
6	33	Sanchit Anand			1864	DEL	7,5	0,0	48,0	51,5	40,25	7
7	6	Saranya Y	S	w	1966	TN	7,5	0,0	47,0	50,0	41,25	7
8	95	Himanshu Moudgil			1732	DASCB	7,5	0,0	44,5	48,5	39,25	7
9	21	Rishabh Nishad			1903	UP	7,0	0,0	52,0	56,5	41,75	6
10	36	Abhishek T M			1862	KER	7,0	0,0	49,5	54,0	40,25	6
11	16	Sooraj M R			1923	KER	7,0	0,0	49,5	52,5	38,50	6
12	46	Gajanan Vijay Jayade			1839	MAH	7,0	0,0	49,0	53,5	40,75	5
13	7	Bakshi Rutuja	S	w	1960	MAH	7,0	0,0	48,5	53,0	40,25	5
14	38	Sharsha Backer			1858	KER	7,0	0,0	48,0	51,0	37,25	6
15	55	Dere Pushkar			1825	MAH	7,0	0,0	46,5	50,0	37,50	7
16	155	Sushrutha Reddy			1608	KAR	7,0	0,0	46,0	49,5	36,75	6
17	20	Koustav Chakraborty			1906	WB	7,0	0,0	45,5	49,5	35,75	6
18	35	Akshay Anand			1863	PUN	7,0	0,0	45,0	49,0	36,00	6
19	24	Vijay Kumar			1891	HIM	7,0	0,0	45,0	48,5	37,00	7
20	30	Abdulkhader A.			1876	KER	7,0	0,0	44,0	48,0	36,25	6

Pairings for the final round:

J Karthikeyan (left) vs Karthik Gopal G (right) - winner takes it all! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Bo.	No.	Name	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Name	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	79	Karthik Gopal G		1766	AP	8		8	Karthikeyan J.		1838	TN	47
2	6	Saranya Y	S	1966	TN	7½		7½	Himanshu Moudgil		1732	DASCB	95
3	14	Selvamurugan B		1929	TN	7½		7½	Pawar Harshit	U13	1776	DEL	73
4	48	Uma Maheswaran P		1836	TN	7½		7½	Sanchit Anand		1864	DEL	33
5	36	Abhishek T M		1862	KER	7		7	Pradeep Tiwari		1972	DASCB	5
6	55	Dere Pushkar		1825	MAH	7		7	Bakshi Rutuja	S	1960	MAH	7
7	16	Sooraj M R		1923	KER	7		7	Nayak Sanjeeban		1814	ORI	57
8	20	Koustav Chakraborty		1906	WB	7		7	Sathya Giri V		1852	TN	43
9	66	Dave Kantilal	S50	1795	RAJ	7		7	Rishabh Nishad		1903	UP	21
10	24	Vijay Kumar		1891	HIM	7		7	Sushrutha Reddy		1608	KAR	155

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