Can Levan Pantsulaia win KCA God’s Own Country’s 1st GM?
GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) made a quick draw against IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) to maintain his sole lead at KCA's God's Own Country's 1st GM 2025. The Georgian GM is at 8/9, a half point ahead of GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM), Semetei and IM Rajesh Vav. Rajesh endured a tough battle against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO). The IM seized his opportunity when his opponent went wrong in the endgame. Local lad, Ahaz E U drew with GM Laxman R R. FM Aakash G and Balkishan A suffered their second consecutive loss against GM Boris Savchenko and IM David Gochelashvili respectively. Levan needs a win in the final round as a draw might allow Karen to surpass him on tie-breaks if he manages to beat his compatriot, GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM). Round 10 starts today at 9 a.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Karen, Semetei and Rajesh in the fray
Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) maintained his slender lead of half a point over his nearest rivals GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM), IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) and IM Rajesh Vav of South Central Railway at the end of the ninth round of the KCA’s 1st International Chess Festival – Category A Tournament, organised by Kottayam Chess Academy, today. After the formal draw with Semetei on the top board, Pantsulaia has conceded only two draws to score eight points.
Deepan - Grigoryan
GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2394) sacrificed an exchange to gain an initiative on the kingside. In the above position, self-pinning the knight 35.Nfe4? turned out to be an incorrect decision. Instead, 35.Kh2 first and then Nfe4 in the next move would have been better. The difference is 35.Nfe4? immediately allows Rc8 Now White does not have enough time to play Qg6 threatening Ne6 as Rc2+ ends the game for White. GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM, 2556) seized his advantage comfortably.
Rajesh - Tornike
IM Rajesh Vav (2331) endured tough positions for the better part of the game against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO, 2448). The GM eventually blundered 45...Qxf4?? 46.e7!+- now the tables have completely turned 46...Nxe7 47.Qf7+ Kh8 48.Bxe7 Rxe7 49.Qxe7 and White converted his advantage into a win in another dozen moves.
Manuel - Dinesh
GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM, 2554) made an interesting knight sacrifice for a couple of pawns 35.Nxe6+!? fxe6 36.Qxe6 The reason behind the sacrifice is, White does not get anything immediately. Black's bishop is virtually stuck at c8 and the knight cannot freely move. Eventually, the passed b-pawn paid dividends. White got the material back and captured another pawn on the kingside where he rolled down his newly created passed h-pawn to win the game.
A total of 234 players including 16 GMs, 12 IMs and a WIM are taking part from 13 countries across the world. The eight-day ten round GM tournament is being organized by Kottayam Chess Academy from 30th April to 7th May 2025 at The Courtyard Banquet Hall Kanjikuzhi in Kottayam, Kerala. The time control of the event is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Replay Round 9 games
Round 9 results
Standings after Round 9
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | Rp | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | GEO | 2532 | GEO | 8 | 50 | 54,5 | 0 | 47,00 | 7 | 2502 | 9 | 8 | 7,36 | 0,64 | 10 | 6,4 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | ARM | 2556 | ARM | 7,5 | 52,5 | 56 | 0 | 44,50 | 7 | 2493 | 9 | 7,5 | 7,18 | 0,32 | 10 | 3,2 | ||
| 3 | 12 | IM | Tologon Tegin, Semetei | KGZ | 2358 | KGZ | 7,5 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 43,00 | 7 | 2324 | 9 | 7,5 | 6,71 | 0,79 | 10 | 7,9 | ||
| 4 | 15 | IM | Rajesh, V A V | IND | 2331 | SCR | 7,5 | 45 | 49 | 0 | 38,50 | 7 | 2362 | 9 | 7,5 | 6,35 | 1,15 | 10 | 11,5 | ||
| 5 | 22 | IM | Gochelashvili, David | RUS | 2227 | RUS | 7 | 48 | 53 | 0 | 41,00 | 5 | 2322 | 8 | 6 | 4,86 | 1,14 | 10 | 11,4 | ||
| 6 | 4 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | RUS | 2459 | RUS | 7 | 46 | 49,5 | 0 | 37,25 | 6 | 2293 | 9 | 7 | 7,56 | -0,56 | 10 | -5,6 | ||
| 7 | 2 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | ARM | 2544 | ARM | 7 | 44,5 | 49 | 0 | 37,75 | 6 | 2261 | 9 | 7 | 7,97 | -0,97 | 10 | -9,7 | ||
| 8 | 8 | GM | Fedorov, Alexei | BLR | 2396 | BLR | 7 | 43,5 | 47,5 | 0 | 36,25 | 5 | 2212 | 9 | 7 | 7,77 | -0,77 | 10 | -7,7 | ||
| 9 | 24 | Ahaz, E U | IND | 2191 | KER | 6,5 | 47 | 51,5 | 0 | 35,50 | 5 | 2265 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,27 | 1,23 | 40 | 49,2 | |||
| 10 | 9 | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | IND | 2394 | ICF | 6,5 | 46 | 50 | 0 | 34,25 | 5 | 2283 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,80 | -0,30 | 10 | -3 | ||
| 11 | 6 | IM | Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H. | IND | 2418 | SCR | 6,5 | 45,5 | 48,5 | 0 | 34,25 | 6 | 2157 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,97 | -1,47 | 10 | -14,7 | ||
| 12 | 55 | Sharnarthi, Shlok | IND | 1991 | MAH | 6,5 | 44 | 48 | 0 | 31,75 | 6 | 2116 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,10 | 1,40 | 40 | 56 | |||
| 13 | 7 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | ARM | 2417 | ARM | 6,5 | 43,5 | 48 | 0 | 33,25 | 5 | 2164 | 9 | 6,5 | 8,05 | -1,55 | 10 | -15,5 | ||
| 14 | 18 | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | BLR | 2307 | BLR | 6,5 | 43,5 | 47 | 0 | 31,75 | 5 | 2207 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,80 | -0,30 | 10 | -3 | ||
| 15 | 36 | Karan, J P | IND | 2067 | KER | 6,5 | 42 | 46 | 0 | 33,50 | 5 | 2056 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,50 | 0,00 | 20 | 0,0 |
Round 10 pairings
| Bo. | No. | White | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | 2532 | GEO | 8 | 7½ | IM | Rajesh, V A V | 2331 | SCR | 15 | |||||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | 2556 | ARM | 7½ | 7 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | 2544 | ARM | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 8 | GM | Fedorov, Alexei | 2396 | BLR | 7 | 7½ | IM | Tologon Tegin, Semetei | 2358 | KGZ | 12 | |||||
| 4 | 22 | IM | Gochelashvili, David | 2227 | RUS | 7 | 7 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | 2459 | RUS | 4 | |||||
| 5 | 36 | Karan, J P | 2067 | KER | 6½ | 6½ | IM | Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H. | 2418 | SCR | 6 | ||||||
| 6 | 7 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | 2417 | ARM | 6½ | 6½ | Jaidambareesh, N R | 2037 | TN | 45 | ||||||
| 7 | 24 | Ahaz, E U | 2191 | KER | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | 2394 | ICF | 9 | ||||||
| 8 | 39 | IM | Sarwat, Walaa | 2047 | EGY | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | 2307 | BLR | 18 | |||||
| 9 | 19 | GM | Laxman, R.R. | 2290 | ICF | 6½ | 6½ | Sharnarthi, Shlok | 1991 | MAH | 55 | ||||||
| 10 | 5 | GM | Sanikidze, Tornike | 2448 | GEO | 6 | 6 | AIM | Arul, Prakash N | 2075 | TN | 34 | |||||
| 11 | 46 | FM | Ramakrishna, J. | 2032 | UBI | 6 | 6 | IM | Schekachikhin, Maksim | 2370 | FIDE | 10 | |||||
| 12 | 11 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | 2363 | VIE | 6 | 6 | Abhishek, T M | 2044 | KER | 41 | ||||||
| 13 | 13 | GM | Dzhumaev, Marat | 2352 | UZB | 6 | 6 | Siddhanth, Poonja | 2046 | KAR | 40 | ||||||
| 14 | 43 | Jyotshnav, Talukdar | 2040 | ODI | 6 | 6 | IM | Nitin, S. | 2331 | TN | 14 | ||||||
| 15 | 58 | Swayham, P Das | 1968 | GUJ | 6 | 6 | FM | Sanz Wawer, Daniel | 2316 | ESP | 16 |
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. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.
The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed
