Vugar Rasulov wins Letsup presents MCA GP Blitz 1
GM Vugar Rasulov of Azerbaijan won Letsup presents MCA GP Blitz 1 on 3rd June with an unbeaten score of 8.5/10. This was also his ChessBase India Online Blitz debut. The tournament was the first of five events in the Grand Prix. Rasulov won ₹6500 cash prize for his efforts. Four players finished at 8.0/10. GM Vaibhav Suri, GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara, GM D Gukesh and GM R Praggnanandhaa. They were placed second, third and fourth respectively according to their tie-break scores. In case you missed you the first event, don't worry about catching up, because only four best performance out of five will be considered for the final GP standings. Registration is on for the MCA GP Blitz. Photo: Azer news
Rasulov wins the tournament on his debut
GM Vugar Rasulov of Azerbaijan scored an unbeaten 8.5/10 to win Letsup presents MCA GP Blitz 1.Thus Rasulov took a lead at the GP standings. Four players finished at 8.0/10 and they were placed second to fifth according to their tie-break scores. They are GM Vaibhav Suri, GM Jose Eduardo Martinez, GM D Gukesh and GM R Praggnanandhaa. Rasulov won ₹6500 cash, Vaibhav earned ₹4000 and Eduargo got ₹2500 cash for their efforts. That's not all, there is ₹30000 cash up for grabs for the top five finishers in the entire GP.
Total 132 players including 28 GMs, 26 IMs and 10 WIMs from India, Algeria, Argentina, Botswana, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Ireland, Peru, Russia, Serbia, USA, Uzbekistan took part in this ten round event.
Checkmate ends the game
In Round 7, GM Vugar Rasulov was in trouble for the majority of the game against Irus1997 (GM Vaibhav Suri), however only in the final moments of the game Irus1997 blundered a checkmate allowing Rasulov to score the victory.
Rasulov Vugar - Irus1997, Round 7
Black has numerous ways to win this but due to time pressure, black made the mistake of playing 59...Qg7.
Arghyadip's brilliant sacrifice
IM Arghyadip Das made a brilliant sacrifice against Irus1997 (GM Vaibhav Suri) in the third round. It actually worked but Arghyadip in the end did not follow through correctly, although Vaibhav's error allowed him to get back one more time, but it was just not his day.
Arghyadip - Irus1997, Round 3
Can you find out the correct move for white after 14...dxe4 ?
This was a critical moment in the game. White continued with 24.Bg5+ which is of course the natural way to continue here, however there is a better continuation, can you find it?
Black is winning now, but how? The game continued with 27...Rxd5 which was not the best continuation.
Escaping from the claws of Devil
In Round 4, Devil1234 (GM Raunak Sadhwani) got quite a few winning chances including a mate in one move against Irus1997 (GM Vaibhav Suri), but unfortunately for Raunak, he missed them all and eventually he lost the game.
Devil1234 - Irus1997, Round 4
Find out white's winning plan here after 40...Qxd4
A knockout blow to Keramin
In the eighth round, Irus1997 (GM Vaibhav Suri) was up against Keramin (GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov), the no.1 player in the World among Under-16. He got advantage out of the opening and within 16 moves he was decisive advantage which of course he managed to convert into a win in another 15 moves.
John slays Jose
Johncking (IM Harshit Raja) was the only person in the entire tournament who was able to beat the in-from Js3131 (GM Jose Eduardo Martinez) of Peru. The Peruvian won the KCA 6th Seshamma Memorial Open Blitz less than three days before this event.
Eduardo - The Lion tamer
Js3131's (GM Jose Eduardo Martinez) best win was against Indian-Lion (GM Arjun Erigaisi) in the ninth round.
Highlights of the event
There are some moments which take place live in the event that only players, spectators and the arbiters can see. Since online events don't have over-the-board action, thus some photos can replicate those events.
More than often we see players continuing drawn positions to win on time but WIM Sakshi Chitlange offered a draw in a draw position which was the right thing to do. If she played then she would have won easily as her opponent would have ran out of time. Playing to flag their opponent is not wrong by any sense, but doing the right thing is definitely important.
Indian-Lion (GM Arjun Erigaisi) beat Uzbektiger95 (GM Jakhongir Vakhidov) with 0.1 second left on the clock after 111 move long battle in Round 7.
Final Standings:
GP Standings after Blitz
Main Prize winners (Top 20)
| Rank | Name | Score | Prize money |
| 1 | GM Vugar Rasulov | 8.5 | ₹6500 |
| 2 | GM Vaibhav Suri | 8 | ₹4000 |
| 3 | GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 8 | ₹2500 |
| 4 | GM D Gukesh | 8 | ₹2000 |
| 5 | GM R Praggnanandhaa | 8 | ₹1000 |
| 6 | GM Debashis Das | 7.5 | ₹800 |
| 7 | GM Arjun Erigaisi | 7.5 | ₹700 |
| 8 | GM Diptayan Ghosh | 7.5 | ₹600 |
| 9 | FM Jubin Jimmy | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 10 | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 11 | GM Alan Pichot | 7 | ₹500 |
| 12 | IM P Saravana Krishnan | 7 | ₹400 |
| 13 | IM Aleksei Kireev | 7 | ₹400 |
| 14 | GM Raunak Sadhwani | 7 | ₹400 |
| 15 | IM Rahul Srivasthav P | 7 | ₹300 |
| 16 | GM Aravindh Chithambaram | 7 | ₹300 |
| 17 | IM Praveen Kumar C | 7 | ₹300 |
| 18 | CM Kushagra Mohan | 6.5 | ₹300 |
| 19 | IM Terry Renato | 6.5 | ₹300 |
| 20 | GM Karthik Venkataraman | 6.5 | ₹300 |
Best Women
| 1 | Potluri Saye Srreezza | 6 | ₹700 |
| 2 | WIM Vantika Agrawal | 6 | ₹500 |
Best Unrated
| 1 | Ishwar Lal Patel | 4.5 | ₹700 |
| 2 | Sameer Gore | 4 | ₹500 |
Feedback of the participants
Rajan Gonde
It was great experience with MCA as it is my first tournaments with you, if you arrange tournaments with free entry suggest me, I'll be available, thanks, once again, keep going,
Sanjoy Roy, father of Chinmoy Roy
At the very outset, a big congratulation to you and your team for conducting a splendid tournament of its highest caliber with through professionalism and in a vivid way. Congratulations once again! Although my son has performed averagely, but he was so excited on playing against GM, WIM. It is a much needed boost for his career. Hope he will be perform better in the coming tmt.
