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Kaustuv Kundu clinches Anantapur All India Rapid Rating Open

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/12/2021

Untitled Kaustuv Kundu scored 8.5/9, remained undefeated to win All India Rapid Rating Open at Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. He beat the seemingly invincible IM Ratnakaran K in the penultimate round to take sole lead. A win in the final round would have ensured his triumph and that is exact what Kaustuv did as he beat Balkishan A in the final round to win the tournament and finish ahead of all IMs. A total of 272 players including six IMs from various states across the country, took part in this nine-round Rapid Rating tournament with a time control of 25 mins + 5 seconds each. The total prize fund was ₹200000. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Kaustuv finishes a full point ahead

Kaustuv faced three out of six IMs who took part in the event, defeated the eventual runner-up, IM Ratnakaran K and drew with the second runner-up, IM Himal Gusain. The winner received a trophy and ₹30000 cash prize. Runner-up got a trophy and ₹20000 cash. The second runner-up earned a trophy and ₹12500 cash as a prize.

Top 3 finishers (L to R) - 2nd IM Ratnakaran K, 1st Kaustuv Kundu and 3rd IM Himal Gusain

Kaustuv scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 and gained 39.4 Elo rating points in the process

Harikrishnan - Kaustuv, Round 7

Position after 40.Rff7

In the final moments of the game, White made a practical mistake, 40.Rff7 which allowed Black to get back in the game 40...Qxf7 41.Rxf7 Kxf7

Position after 46...Be4

Black capitalized on White's mistake 47.b4, by creating a nice mating net 47...Be4. There is no way for White to defend this and Black soon won the game. This win allowed Kaustuv to be in the title fray, just a half point behind 6.5/7 the seemingly unstoppable sole leader IM Ratnakaran K who was at 7.0/7.

Kaustuv - Ratnakaran, Round 8

Position after 18.Qxd5

Should Black take the exchange at a1? Correct answer is no. In general, most of the time giving up the kingside fianchetto'd bishop especially when the castling is done on the same side, should not be used to capture the undeveloped rook. In this case, it is a particularly bad idea for multiple reasons - White still has a dark square bishop, g4-knight is in a pin and h-file can be opened very soon. So, Black might have gained an exchange with 18...Qxa1 but lost a huge positional advantage. Kaustuv converted his advantage into win very nicely to go into the final round with a half point lead 7.5/8.

First ever chess tournament conducted in Police Training College and AP Police was a co-organizer

Tournament organizer - Ammineni Uday Kumar and Chief Arbiter - IA Dharmendra Kumar

This was the first-ever All India Open FIDE Rapid Rating Chess Tournament organized at Anantapur district, previously a Classical tournament was held in 2016.

Tournament Director Ammineni Uday Kumar Naidu (right) with the support of K V V Sarma. President of Andhra Chess Association

The tournament was organized by All Anantapur Chess Association, co-organized by AP Police in association with Andhra Chess Association on 13th and 14th November 2021 at Police Training College, Anantapur. A total of 272 players including six IMs took part in the nine-round Swiss league event which had a time control of 25 minutes + 5 seconds increment from move no.1.

Final Standings

Rk.SNo NameTypsexFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 
17
Kaustuv KunduIND2098WB8,554,058,054,250,08
22
IMRatnakaran K.IND2347S RAILWAYS7,555,060,045,750,07
31
IMGusain HimalIND2394CH7,554,557,046,000,06
44
IMRajesh V A VIND2277SC RAILWAYS7,553,057,045,750,07
58
IMHarikrishnan.A.RaIND2074TN7,550,555,043,250,07
66
FMSenthil Maran KIND2171TN7,549,554,544,250,06
75
IMMuthaiah AlIND2214TN7,549,554,043,500,06
819
CMKushagra MohanIND1769TG7,548,051,540,250,07
93
IMRavi Teja S.IND2343AP7,049,553,039,000,07
109
Arpan DasIND1960WB7,049,552,538,500,06
1110
Balkishan A.IND1946KA7,048,551,536,500,07
1228
Sameer Kumar YIND1623TG7,047,047,532,500,07
1331
Velpula SarayuwIND1588TG7,046,550,036,500,07
1425
Sri Sai Baswanth PIND1704AP7,045,048,035,000,07
1542
Vankadara Praveen KumarIND1395AP7,044,547,033,000,07
1624
Sham RIND1725TN7,042,045,535,000,07
1732
Joglekar AbhijitIND1548MH7,041,045,035,500,07
1864
Bhuvana KoppineniF12wIND1227AP7,041,045,032,000,07
1943
Md Bashiq ImroseU14IND1383TG6,553,057,038,750,05
2020
Raghav Srivathsav VIND1756TG6,553,055,537,250,06

Complete standings