MPL 58th National Senior R6-7: Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh share the lead 6.0/7

by Shahid Ahmed - 01/03/2022

GM D Gukesh halted IM Koustav Chatterjee's fantastic run in the sixth round. He drew with GM Aravindh Chithambaram in Round 7 from a completely lost position on at least two different occasion. GM Arjun Erigaisi defeated GM Abhijeet Gupta and then drew with GM Aryan Chopra to maintain his lead. While Arjun Erigaisi is yet to show any weakness, Gukesh has already overcome a disaster. Ten players are in the chase at 5.5/7. They are - Lalith, Adhiban, Aryan, Aravindh, Mitrabha, Sayantan, Visakh, Deep, Pranav and Iniyan. Last three rounds to go. Round 8 starts today at 10:00 a.m. IST today. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Aravindh's missed opportunity

The only time a chink in Gukesh's armor was found by Indian's first Triple Crown champion, Aravindh Chithambaram. Had he seized either of the two opportunities he missed, it would have been Aravindh who would be in the lead along with Arjun Erigaisi.

Gukesh survived well against Aravindh | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Round 6: Arjun Erigaisi - Abhijeet: 1-0

GM Abhijeet Gupta's (PSPB) attack on GM Arjun Erigaisi's (TEL) kingside did not turn out to be fruitful.

Position after 25...Qh4

25...Qh4 pins his own knight at d4, but it also threatens to capture h2. In all variations, it is White who comes out at the top. 26.Bxd4 allowed Black to equalize momentarily Rxd4 27.g3 Rxc4 28.gxh4 Rxc5. Eventually, an inaccuracy in the final moments of the double rook and minor piece endgame cost the full point for Black.

Arjun Erigaisi got the better of Abhijeet Gupta | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Koustav - Gukesh: 0-1

IM Koustav Chatterjee's (WB) fantastic run came to a halt as he suffered his first loss of the event against GM D Gukesh (TN).

Position after 42...Ke8

White should have kept the passed pawn at c7. Instead, he opted to abandon it 43.Rcd2 Kd7 44.Bd4 Rxc7 45.Bxf6 Nxh3+ 46.Kg2 Nf4+. Now, White is neither getting the g5-pawn nor d5. The pressure is alleviated due to the absence of c7. Black made a well-timed exchange sacrifice to seize his opportunity and score a victory.

Koustav's brilliant run was halted by Gukesh | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Lalit Rohit (PSPB) - GM B Adhiban (PSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Aravindh - Aronyak: 1-0

IM Aronyak Ghosh (WB) was unable to get out of the gate against GM Aravindh Chithambaram (TN). India's first National Triple Crown champion brought an element of surprise 6.Rg1 which caught his opponent off guard.

Aravindh's signature Rg1 earned him a full point | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB) - IM Sayantan Das (RSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sambit Panda (ODI) drew with GM Abhimanyu Puranik (MAH) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Srihari L R (TN) - GM Sethuraman S P (PSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Utsab Chatterjee (WB) beat his second GM of the event, Arjun Kalyan (TN) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Anuj Shrivatri (MP) - GM Swapnil Dhopade (RSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Anustoop Biswas (WB) and Akshit Kumar J (AP) beat IM Shahil Dey (ASM) and IM C R G Krishna (RSPB) respectively. CM Ojasva Singh (MP), Srihari L (PON), Imtiaz Islam Bora (ASM) and Kumar Gaurav (BIH) drew with IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (MAH), GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB) and IM D K Sharma (LIC) respectively.

For more Round 6 photos, click here.

Round 7

GM Aryan Chopra (DEL) - GM Arjun Erigaisi (TEL): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Gukesh - Aravindh: 0.5-0.5

Aravindh was completely winning the better part of the endgame against Gukesh.

Position after 40.Ke1

40...Rg1 is completely winning for Black as White cannot avoid material loss. The game continued 40...Rxh4 41.Rc3 Re4+ and so on. Soon Black had another clear opportunity.

Position after 45.Kc3

Can you find the winning continuation for Black here? It's not easy, especially if you are down on time. 45...Bb5 was played and White immediately saved the game 46.Rd2. The game eventually ended in a draw.

How do 2600+ GMs analyze after their game | Final moments of Gukesh vs Aravindh | Video: ChessBase India

Aravindh was on the brink of victory twice against Gukesh | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Iniyan (TN) - GM Lalit Rohit (PSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) - GM Mitrabha Guha (WB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Apart from Aravindh, Iniyan, Lalit and Abhijeet, six more players are at 5.5/7. They are -

GM B Adhiban 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Deep Sengupta 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Visakh N R 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Sayantan Das 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Pranav V 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Laxman R R (RSPB) - IM Aditya Mittal (MAH): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sambit Panda (ODI) - IM Koustav Chatterjee (WB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Karthikeyan Murali (PSPB) - IM Anuj Shrivatri (MP): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Ratnakaran K (RSPB) - GM Abhimanyu Puranik (MAH): 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

FM Aaryan Varshney (DEL) defeated GM Vishnu Prasanna (TN). Akshit Kumar J (AP), Sanket Chakravarty (WB), Anikumar OT (KER), IM D K Sharma (LIC), Rajesh Nayak (ODI), Ritviz Parab (Goa) and Imtiaz Islam Bora (ASM) drew with IM Vignesh N R (RSPB), IM P Shyam Nikhil (TN), IM Harshavardhan G B (TN), GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB), IM Sidhant Mohapatra (RSPB), IM R Balasubramaniam (TN) and IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh (RSPB) respectively.

National Championships 2022 | Day 4 highlights | Video: ChessBase India

For more Round 7 photos, click here.

A total of 184 players including 22 GMs and 30 IMs are taking part in this tournament organized by UP Chess Sports Association. The event is taking place at Ganges Club at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh from 25th February to 3rd March 2022. The eleven-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1

Replay Round 6-7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	9	GM	Aryan Chopra	2585	DEL	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2633	TEL	2
2	7	GM	Gukesh D	2614	TN	5½	½ - ½	5	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2611	TN	8
3	15	GM	Iniyan P	2516	TN	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2563	PSPB	10
4	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	PSPB	4½	½ - ½	5	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	WB	16
5	1	GM	Adhiban B.	2648	PSPB	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	WB	30
6	33	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2436	MAH	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2528	PSPB	12
7	13	GM	Visakh N R	2522	Rlys	4½	1 - 0	4½		Utsab Chatterjee	2321	WB	48
8	28	IM	Das Sayantan	2459	Rlys	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	TEL	18
9	34	GM	Laxman R.R.	2429	Rlys	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Aditya Mittal	2487	MAH	20
10	21	IM	Pranav V	2486	TN	4½	1 - 0	4½		Anustoop Biswas	2126	WB	80
11	87		Panda Sambit	2059	ODI	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2466	WB	26
12	35	IM	Nitin S.	2427	Rlys	4½	½ - ½	4	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2469	Rlys	25
13	4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2622	PSPB	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2350	MP	44
14	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	PSPB	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Ravi Thandalam Shanmugam	2236	TN	64
15	49	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2316	Rlys	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2618	MAH	6
16	19	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2495	Rlys	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Aradhya Garg	2236	DEL	65
17	22	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2482	WB	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Wagh Suyog	2232	MAH	66
18	31	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	Rlys	4	½ - ½	4		Akshit Kumar J	2162	AP	74
19	70		Sanket Chakravarty	2171	WB	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2442	Rlys	32
20	77	CM	Singh Ojasva	2141	MP	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Srijit Paul	2419	WB	36

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	2	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2633	TEL	6		5½	GM	Visakh N R	2522	Rlys	13
2	10	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2563	PSPB	5½		6	GM	Gukesh D	2614	TN	7
3	15	GM	Iniyan P	2516	TN	5½		5½	GM	Adhiban B.	2648	PSPB	1
4	8	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2611	TN	5½		5½	IM	Das Sayantan	2459	Rlys	28
5	16	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	WB	5½		5½	GM	Aryan Chopra	2585	DEL	9
6	12	GM	Sengupta Deep	2528	PSPB	5½		5½	IM	Pranav V	2486	TN	21
7	35	IM	Nitin S.	2427	Rlys	5		5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	PSPB	3
8	37	IM	Gusain Himal	2408	Rlys	5		5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	PSPB	5
9	36	IM	Srijit Paul	2419	WB	5		5	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	2495	Rlys	19
10	20	IM	Aditya Mittal	2487	MAH	5		5	IM	Srihari L R	2400	TN	41
11	38	IM	Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2408	MAH	5		5	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	2482	WB	22
12	26	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2466	WB	5		5	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2316	Rlys	49
13	87		Panda Sambit	2059	ODI	5		5	GM	Laxman R.R.	2429	Rlys	34
14	46	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2340	TN	4½		4½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2622	PSPB	4
15	18	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	TEL	4½		4½	FM	Ayush Sharma	2302	MP	51
16	44	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2350	MP	4½		4½	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2469	Rlys	25
17	48		Utsab Chatterjee	2321	WB	4½		4½	IM	Pranesh M	2455	TN	29
18	30	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	WB	4½		4½	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	DEL	57
19	52	FM	Sharan Rao	2292	KAR	4½		4½	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	Rlys	31
20	32	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2442	Rlys	4½		4½		Anilkumar O.T.	1915	KER	114

Details

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