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MPL National Teams 2023 R2-3: Kishan Kumar stuns Deepan Chakkravarthy

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/02/2023

Kishan Kumar of Bihar A scored the biggest upset of the second round at MPL 42nd National Team Chess Championship Open 2023. He defeated the GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB B), who has a wealth of knowledge. Kumar Gaurav held the reigning Commonwealth champion, IM P Shyam Nikhil to a draw. On the top board, WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) held GM Vaibhav Suri (PSPB) to a draw. Although the latter was losing in the endgame. GM G N Gopal (PSPB) scored a crucial victory over GM Pranesh M, to ensure his team PSPB wins over Tamil Nadu B. In the Women's event, the top three teams - PSPB, AAI and Maharashtra won their second round convincingly. Round 4 Open and Round 3 Women starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Gopal pulls through for PSPB

GM G N Gopal ensured his team PSPB remains in the lead with RSPB at 6/6 after the third round. The leaders will face each other in the fourth round. PSPB will face AAI in the Women. Maharashtra will go against Tamil Nadu B team.

Kishan Kumar (Bihar A) en route his victory over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB B) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Kishan Kumar won his third round game too, moving to 3/3 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Open Round 2: LIC - PSPB: 2.5-1.5

GM B Adhiban (2610), GM Karthikeyan Murali (2626) and GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2582) scored wins over IM Dinesh K Sharma (2211), WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2063) and GM Sriram Jha (2315) respectively. GM Vaibhav Suri (2606) sacrificed an exchange in the endgame against WGM Swati Ghate (2028) which had less than desired effect.

Vaibhav - Swati

Position after 29...Bxc5

White opted to sacrifice the exchange 30.Rxd5!? Bxg1 31.Nxf5 Re2+ 32.Kd3 Rxa2 33.h5 White had enough compensation. However, few inaccuracies later, White landed himself in a pickle.

Position after 51.Re4

White does not have any threat currently in the above position. Black needed to push her passed pawn 51...a5 as the rooks are not enough to make a checkmate threat or win the game. Eventually, Black returned the exchange and the game ended in a draw.

WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) gives a massive scare to GM Vaibhav Suri (PSPB) | Video: ChessBase India

WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) is a very strong player who prevented a whitewash by PSPB | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

LIC - PSPB: 0.5-3.5

AAI (pictured) - Tamil Nadu C: 4-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Tamil Nadu D - RSPB A (pictured): 1-3 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Tamil Nadu B (pictured) - Karnataka B: 3-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Kishan Kumar (Bihar A) on his win over GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB B) | Video: ChessBase India

Women Round 2: Telangana - PSPB: 0.5-3.5

Natura Bethi (1531), Sarayu Velpula (1899) and Sneha Bharathakoti (1475) lost to IM Eesha Karavade (2294), IM Padmini Rout (2389) and WIM Isha Sharma (2213) respectively. WCM Kheerthi Ganta (1836) held IM Soumya Swaminathan (2308) to a draw, although the former had a substantial positional advantage.

Kheerthi - Soumya

Position after 28....Be7

One of the best opportunities White had in the game was after 28...Be7. 29.Nxe7+ Rxe7 30.Bf1 Qh5 31.Qc6 Bb7 32.Qxd6 would have put Black on the verge of a loss.

WCM Kheerthi Ganta (TEL) had IM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) on the ropes | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

PSPB en route their victory over Telangana | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Telangana - PSPB: 0.5-3.5

AAI - Odisha: 4-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Tamil Nadu A - Maharashtra: 0-4 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Round 3 Open: PSPB - Tamil Nadu B: 2.5-1.5

GM G N Gopal (2589) scored the sole win for PSPB against GM Pranesh M (2504). This win ensured PSPB beat Tamil Nadu B 2.5-1.5.

Gopal - Pranesh

Position after 21.e5

Black was already misplaying the position by making moves on the queenside without making any impact. 20...Re7 completely ended things as 21.e5 disintegrated Black's position completely. 21...Nd5 22.Nh5 Nxe3 23.Rxe3 Qb6 24.Nf6+ and Black's position fell apart.

GM G N Gopal scored the key victory for PSPB | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

PSPB - Tamil Nadu B: 2.5-1.5

RSPB A - AAI: 2-2 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

RSPB B - Odisha: 3.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more photos, please click at the respective links: Round 2 Open and Women and Round 3 Open.

When a 59-year-old player takes on a 13-year-old - Nihal Swarna vs Jayakumar P | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 2-3 Open games

Replay Round 2 Women games

Round 3 Open results

No.SNoTeamMPRes.:Res.MPTeamSNo
11PSPB Men4:4Tamil Nadu B4
23RSPB A42:24AAI2
35RSPB B4:½3Odisha A6
47Telangana3:3Madhya Pradesh15
513Kerala B33:13Kerala A14
619DASCB20:42LIC8
79Tamil Nadu C2:2Tamil Nadu A18
821Bihar B2:2Tamil Nadu D10
911Karnataka B21:32Haryana A20
1023SSCB21:32Bihar A12
1117BSNL21:32Tamil Nadu E22
1224Andhra Pradesh B0:1Pondicherry16
1325Karnataka A04:00Haryana B28
1429Himachal C01:30Himachal A26
1527Andhra Pradesh A04:00Himachal B30

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.SNoTeamGames  +   =   -  TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 
15RSPB B330060106724,5
21PSPB Men3300608,564,820,5
32AAI321050106025
43RSPB A32105095122
513Kerala B3210508,54022,5
67Telangana32105085921
78LIC3201408,534,320,5
812Bihar A32014084619
94Tamil Nadu B320140841,321,5
1022Tamil Nadu E3201407,52018,5

Details

Round 4 Open pairings

No.SNoTeamMPRes.:Res.MPTeamSNo
15RSPB B6:6PSPB Men1
22AAI5:5Telangana7
313Kerala B5:5RSPB A3
44Tamil Nadu B4:4Bihar A12
58LIC4:4Bihar B21
620Haryana A4:4Tamil Nadu C9
715Madhya Pradesh3:4Tamil Nadu E22
86Odisha A3:3Pondicherry16
914Kerala A3:2Karnataka B11
1010Tamil Nadu D2:2SSCB23
1126Himachal A2:2BSNL17
1218Tamil Nadu A2:2Andhra Pradesh A27
1325Karnataka A2:2DASCB19
1430Himachal B0:0Andhra Pradesh B24
1528Haryana B0:0Himachal C29

Details

Round 2 Women results

No.SNoTeamMPRes.:Res.MPTeamSNo
15Telangana Women2½:2PSPB Women1
22AAI Women24:02Odisha Women A7
36Tamil Nadu Women A20:42Maharashtra Women A3
44Tamil Nadu Women B1:0Tamil Nadu Women D8
510Tamil Nadu Women C02:21Andhra Pradesh Women11
614Himachal Women A00:40Kerala Women9
712Himachal Women B0:½0Himachal Women C13

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.SNoTeamGames  +   =   -  TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 
12AAI Women22004083020
23Maharashtra Women A22004082420
31PSPB Women2200407,521,819
44Tamil Nadu Women B2110304,511,89
55Telangana Women2101204,517,811

Details

Round 3 Women pairings

No.SNoTeamMPRes.:Res.MPTeamSNo
11PSPB Women4:4AAI Women2
23Maharashtra Women A4:3Tamil Nadu Women B4
39Kerala Women2:2Telangana Women5
411Andhra Pradesh Women2:2Tamil Nadu Women A6
57Odisha Women A2:2Himachal Women B12
613Himachal Women C0:1Tamil Nadu Women C10
78Tamil Nadu Women D0:0Himachal Women A14

Details