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National Challengers 2017 Round 4: Mary Ann Gomes wins an instructive rook endgame

by Gopakumar Sudhakaran - 16/08/2017

Perfect scorers were chopped down from seventeen to just six in the fourth round of the 55th National Challengers. The round witnessed some nail-biting action: Mary Ann Gomes won the day with her instructive endgame against GM Deepan Chakravarthy; GM Abhijit Kunte squeezed a win out in a seemingly drawn endgame against Arjun Erigaisi; while players from team Railways showed no mercy beating down their own teammates on the top two boards. A report with pictures and games from Ahmedabad.

Six players including former National champion Abhijit Kunte of PSPB are leading with a perfect score after the fourth round of the ongoing National Challengers Chess Championship at Karnavati Club on Monday.

 

Pune based GM Abhijit Kunte has the company of Mary Ann Gomes, Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra and Railway men Swapnil Dhopade, Himanshu Sharma and S. Nitin at top of the points table.

[Event "55th National Challengers Chess Champion"]
[Site "Ahmedabad "]
[Date "2017.08.15"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Kunte, Abhijit"]
[Black "Erigaisi, Arjun"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2342"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2017.08.13"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 6. Nbd2 Nbd7 7. g3 e6 8.
Bg2 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qb3 Rb8 11. Rd1 Qe7 12. Nc4 Bc7 13. Bd2 b6 14. Rac1 Rfd8
15. Nce5 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 c5 17. Qa3 a5 18. Be3 Bd6 19. Qb3 h6 20. dxc5 Bxc5 21.
Nd4 Ne5 22. Nb5 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Neg4 24. Bxc5 Qxc5 25. e3 Rc8 26. h3 Ne5 27. Nd4
Kh8 28. Ne2 Rb8 29. Rc1 Qb4 30. Qc2 Qd6 31. Nd4 Nd5 32. a3 Rd8 33. Qb3 Ne7 34.
Qb5 Nd7 35. Nb3 Rc8 36. Rxc8+ Nxc8 37. Nd4 Qc7 38. Nc6 Nd6 39. Qe2 Nc5 40. b4
axb4 41. axb4 Nd7 42. Qa2 Kh7 43. Qa8 Qc8 44. Qa7 Qb7 45. Qxb7 Nxb7 {Let's
study this endgame. White has the superior minor piece. His bishop is very
strong on g2 as compared to Black's knight on b7. However, it's not so easy to
win this position. Kunte shows great technique.} 46. e4 (46. Ne5 Nxe5 47. Bxb7
Kg8 {This might be easier to hold for Black than in the game.}) 46... Nd6 (
46... e5 {is met with the strong} 47. h4 {and the bishop comes out from h3.})
47. e5 Nc4 48. f4 g5 49. Kf2 {First Kunte gained space, and now he activates
the king.} gxf4 50. gxf4 Kg7 51. Bf1 b5 (51... Na3 52. Ke3 {The knight on a3
feels uncomfortable.}) 52. Nd4 $1 {White wins a pawn.} Ncb6 53. Bxb5 {The rest
shouldn't be too difficult for a player like Abhijit, but it's worthy of close
inspection.} Nf8 54. Bc6 f6 55. Nf3 Ng6 56. Ke3 Kf7 57. h4 Ne7 58. b5 Nf5+ 59.
Kd3 Ke7 60. Be4 Ng3 61. Nd4 Nh5 62. Ne2 fxe5 63. fxe5 Kd7 64. Kd4 Kc7 65. Bf3
Ng7 66. Bg4 Nd7 67. Nf4 Nf8 68. Nh5 Ne8 69. Nf6 Nxf6 70. exf6 Kd6 71. b6 Nd7
72. b7 Kc7 73. f7 Kxb7 74. Bxe6 Nf8 75. Ke5 {A great endgame by Abhijit Kunte.}
1-0

 


Playing with white pieces, Kunte defeated Asian Under-14 champion Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana with some brilliant endgame play

Abhijit Kunte did a ChessBase India show with IM Sagar Shah a few days ago in which he discusses his brilliant performance at the Olympiad in Istanbul in 2000. Have a look at one hour show and also some brilliant endgame play by the Pune grandmaster. His technique is really something to learn from.

Macro alias: EmbedProduct

 Mary Ann Gomes registered a victory over grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy in a very complicated rook and pawn ending which was drawn
[Event "55th National Challengers Chess Champion"]
[Site "Ahmedabad "]
[Date "2017.08.15"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Gomes, Mary Ann"]
[Black "Deepan, Chakkravarthy J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2344"]
[BlackElo "2466"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2017.08.13"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. c4 bxc4 5. Na3 e5 6. Nxc4 e4 7. Nd4 c5 8. Nf5
d5 9. Qb3 Ba6 10. Qa4+ Qd7 11. Ncd6+ Bxd6 12. Nxd6+ Kf8 13. Qxd7 Nbxd7 14. a4
Ne5 15. b3 Rb8 16. Ba3 Nfd7 17. d4 exd3 18. Bxd5 dxe2 19. Nb5 Bxb5 20. axb5
Rxb5 21. Kxe2 Ke7 22. f4 Nf6 23. Bc4 Nxc4 24. bxc4 Rb3 25. Bxc5+ Kd7 26. Rxa7+
Kc6 27. Bd4 Re8+ 28. Kd2 Ne4+ 29. Kc2 Rb4 30. Rha1 Nc5 31. Bxc5 Kxc5 32. Rc7+
Kb6 33. Raa7 Rxc4+ 34. Rxc4 Kxa7 35. Rc7+ Kb6 36. Rxf7 g5 37. fxg5 Re2+ 38. Kd3
Rxh2 39. Ke3 Kc6 40. Rf8 Kd6 41. Re8 Rh1 42. Kf4 Kd7 43. Re3 Kd6 44. g6 hxg6
45. Kg5 Rh3 46. Kxg6 {This position is theoretically winning. However, Mary
didn't play accurately and allowed Deepan to get to a draw, and then Deepan
botched it up.} Kd7 47. Kf6 Kd8 48. Kf5 Kd7 49. Kf4 Rh8 50. Re5 $2 {This move
is understandable as Mary wants to block the check. But turns out that Black
is able to draw the game with accurate moves.} (50. g4 {This simple pawn push
seals the deal. Now there is a rule that if the pawn is on the 5th rank, this
position is easily winning. However, here the pawn is on the fourth rank and
this must have led Mary to not go for the pawn push. However, the black king
is cut of by two files from the pawn and also on a bad square on d7 and this
is decisive. Let's see how White wins.} Rf8+ 51. Kg3 (51. Kg5 Rg8+ 52. Kf5 Rf8+
53. Kg6 Rg8+ {And this is exactly the problem with the pawn on the fourth rank.
The rook keeps checking and the white king is unable to attack it.}) 51... Rg8
{Stopping g5.} 52. Re4 $1 {An important move. The rook defends the pawn and
allows the white king to move freely to attack the black rook. If the king
were on d6 right now, then Kd5 would have drawn.} Kd6 53. Kf4 $1 Rf8+ (53...
Kd5 54. Re5+ Kd6 55. g5 $18 {And that's game over.}) 54. Kg5 Kd5 55. Re7 $1 Kd6
(55... Rg8+ 56. Kf5 Rf8+ 57. Kg6 Rg8+ 58. Rg7 $18) 56. Rg7 Ke6 57. Kg6 Rf6+ 58.
Kh5 {And this just wins because the black king is unable to get back in the
game.} Rf1 59. g5 $1 $18 Rg1 60. Ra7 Kf5 61. Rf7+ Ke6 62. g6 $18 {And soon we
will reach a Lucena position.}) 50... Rf8+ $1 51. Rf5 Rg8 $2 {The crucial
mistake of the game.} (51... Ra8 $1 52. g4 Ke7 {The king comes back and now it
is not possible to win.} 53. g5 Ra4+ 54. Kf3 Ke6 $11) 52. g4 $1 Ke7 {The king
is coming close once again, but this time he will not be allowed to enter.} 53.
g5 Rg7 (53... Rf8 {I am pretty sure that Deepan was planning this move and
later saw that White has the killing} 54. g6 $1 $18 {An easy move to miss. And
the pawn ending is winning for White.}) 54. Kg4 {Now the pawn has reached the
fifth rank and the king is cut off by one file and this is easily winning.} Rh7
(54... Rf7 55. g6 $18) 55. g6 Rh1 56. Kg5 Rh2 57. g7 Rg2+ 58. Kh6 Rh2+ 59. Kg6
Rg2+ 60. Kh7 Rh2+ 61. Kg8 Rh1 62. Rf7+ Ke8 63. Rf4 Re1 64. Rh4 {A very
instructive endgame.} 1-0

In the all-railways encounters, GM Swapnil Dhopade and GM Himanshu Sharma defeated team mates CRG Krishna and Hemant Sharma respectively to maintain their clean slate.  IM S Nitin joined the leaders after beating Chakkravarthy Reddy while Jaykumar Shete received a walk over from ninth seeded M.S. Thejkumar, who later withdrew from the championship due to health issues.

Chess is a war over the board. And team railways showed their warriorhood. GM Swapnil Dhopade showed no mercy finishing off his round 4 opponent and teammate, IM CRG Krishna on board 1... 

...while GM Himanshu Sharma went all guns blazing against Hemant Sharma on the second board. Do enjoy the games below.
[Event "55th National Challengers Chess Champio"]
[Site "Ahmedabad "]
[Date "2017.08.15"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Swapnil, S. Dhopade"]
[Black "Krishna, C R G."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2387"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.08.13"]
1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 g6 6. h4 h6 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 8. Qc2
e5 9. O-O-O Qe7 10. c5 Bd7 11. h5 dxc5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Nf3 Qe6 14. hxg6 Bg7
15. Nh4 Rf8 16. Nb5 O-O-O 17. Qxc5 Bxb5 18. Bxb5 Nd5 19. Rd2 Nb6 20. Rhd1 Rxd2
21. Rxd2 Qxa2 22. Kd1 f4 23. Rc2 Rd8+ 24. Ke2 Nd5 25. Bc4 Nc3+ 26. Kf3 Qb1 27.
Rxc3 Bxc3 28. bxc3 Qh1 29. Qf5+ Kb8 30. Qxf4 1-0

 

[Event "55th National Challengers Chess Champio"]
[Site "Ahmedabad "]
[Date "2017.08.15"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Hemant, Sharma (del)"]
[Black "Himanshu, Sharma"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2371"]
[BlackElo "2514"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.08.13"]
1. e4 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. d3 Nf6 7. Nge2 O-O 8. O-O
Ne8 9. a3 Nc7 10. Rb1 Bd7 11. h3 Ne6 12. b4 b6 13. Be3 Rc8 14. Kh2 Ned4 15. Qd2
Re8 16. Bh6 Nxe2 17. Nxe2 Bf6 18. b5 Nd4 19. f4 e6 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21. g4 Rc7 22.
a4 Bc8 23. Rbe1 Bb7 24. e5 Bxg2 25. Kxg2 f5 26. exf6 Bxf6 27. f5 exf5 28. gxf5
Qa8+ 29. Kh2 Rxe1 30. Rxe1 Rf7 31. Bf4 Bd4 32. fxg6 hxg6 33. Re4 Qf8 34. Qg2
Rf6 35. Bg3 Qf7 36. Re2 Be5 37. Qa8+ Kh7 38. Rxe5 dxe5 39. Bxe5 Qf8 40. Qd5
Rf2+ 41. Kg3 Rf5 42. Qd6 0-1

This round, like the previous ones, also had its fair share of upsets. Besides Mary Ann Gomes' success post an audacious opening against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, there were quite a few other underdogs who made their presence felt.

Ankit Gajwa held top seed Aravindh Chithambaram to a draw
[Event "55th National Challengers Chess Champio"]
[Site "Ahmedabad "]
[Date "2017.08.15"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Gajwa, Ankit"]
[Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2267"]
[BlackElo "2579"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2017.08.13"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Be7 8. a4
O-O 9. Re1 d6 10. c3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. Nbd2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Bg5 h6 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Ne3 Qd8 17. Qd2 Nc6 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. Nd5 Qd8 21.
d4 exd4 22. cxd4 g6 23. dxc5 dxc5 24. Rd1 Bg7 25. Qf4 Ne5 26. Nxe5 Rxe5 27. Ne3
Qe7 28. Ng4 Rg5 29. h4 Rh5 30. g3 c4 31. b3 c3 32. b4 Kh7 33. Rd6 Rf5 34. Qe3
Rxf2 35. Rxg6 fxg6 36. Nxf2 Qd6 37. h5 Be5 38. Qf3 Kg7 39. hxg6 Qxg6 40. Ng4
Bd4+ 41. Kg2 Qg5 42. Qf4 Qxf4 43. gxf4 h5 44. Nh2 Bf6 45. Nf3 Bc6 46. Kg3 Be7
47. Nd4 Bd7 48. e5 h4+ 49. Kf3 Bxb4 50. Nf5+ Bxf5 51. Bxf5 Be7 52. Bc2 Kf7 53.
f5 b4 54. Kg4 Kg7 55. f6+ Bxf6 56. exf6+ Kxf6 57. Kxh4 Ke5 58. Kg3 Kd4 59. Kf2
Kc4 60. Ke2 b3 61. Kd1 1/2-1/2

Ram S Krishnan of BSNL stunned fifth seeded Grandmaster N Srinath of Air India.

Third round hero, national Under-13 runner up Kushagra Mohan held International Master Aghyadip Das to a creditable draw.
[Event "55th National Challengers Chess Champio"]
[Site "Ahmedabad "]
[Date "2017.08.15"]
[Round "4.8"]
[White "Das, Arghyadip"]
[Black "Kushagra, Mohan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2419"]
[BlackElo "2159"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.08.13"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O c5 5. c4 O-O 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Qb6 9. Nc2 Qc5 10. Ne3 d6 11. Bd2 Ng4 12. Nxg4 Bxg4 13. h3 Be6 14. b3 Qh5
15. e3 Qxd1 16. Raxd1 Rac8 17. Nd5 Rfd8 18. f4 Bxd5 19. Bxd5 e6 20. Bf3 d5 21.
cxd5 exd5 22. Kg2 d4 23. Rc1 dxe3 24. Bxe3 Bd4 25. Bd2 Bb6 26. Bc3 Be3 27. Rcd1
Nd4 28. Rd3 Nf5 29. Rfd1 Bb6 30. Rxd8+ Bxd8 31. Rd3 Bb6 32. Bxb7 Re8 33. Kf3 h5
34. Bc6 Rc8 35. Bd7 Rc7 36. Bb5 Rxc3 37. Rxc3 Nd4+ 38. Ke4 Nxb5 39. Rd3 1/2-1/2

Continuing his fine form, Udit Kamdar held National Women Champion Padmini Rout while defending champion Ravi Teja had to be satisfied with half point against young Anand Nadar of Maharashtra.

 

Results of Round 4

Bo.

No.

 

Name

Rtg

Pts.

Result

Pts.

 

Name

Rtg

No.

1

5

GM

Swapnil S. Dhopade

2516

3

1 - 0

3

IM

Krishna C R G

2387

18

2

21

 

Hemant Sharma (del)

2371

3

0 - 1

3

GM

Himanshu Sharma

2514

6

3

7

GM

Kunte Abhijit

2505

3

1 - 0

3

FM

Erigaisi Arjun

2342

24

4

9

IM

Thejkumar M. S.

2481

3

- - +

3

 

Sammed Jaykumar Shete

2277

34

5

23

WGM

Gomes Mary Ann

2344

3

1 - 0

3

GM

Deepan Chakkravarthy J.

2466

10

6

27

 

Fenil Shah

2326

3

½ - ½

3

IM

Swayams Mishra

2455

12

7

33

IM

Chakravarthi Reddy M

2277

3

0 - 1

3

IM

Nitin S.

2421

14

8

15

IM

Das Arghyadip

2419

3

½ - ½

3

CM

Kushagra Mohan

2159

52

9

35

IM

Kathmale Sameer

2275

3

0 - 1

GM

Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan

2564

2

10

37

FM

Gajwa Ankit

2267

½ - ½

GM

Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.

2579

1

Rankings after Round 4

Rk.

SNo

 

Name

sex

FED

Rtg

Club/City

Pts.

 TB1 

 TB2 

 TB3 

 TB4 

 TB5 

1

5

GM

Swapnil S. Dhopade

 

IND

2516

RSPB

4,0

0,0

8,5

10,5

10,50

4,0

2

14

IM

Nitin S.

 

IND

2421

RSPB

4,0

0,0

8,5

10,0

10,00

4,0

3

34

 

Sammed Jaykumar Shete

 

IND

2277

MAH

4,0

0,0

8,0

10,0

10,00

4,0

4

6

GM

Himanshu Sharma

 

IND

2514

RSPB

4,0

0,0

8,0

9,5

9,50

4,0

 

7

GM

Kunte Abhijit

 

IND

2505

PSPB

4,0

0,0

8,0

9,5

9,50

4,0

6

23

WGM

Gomes Mary Ann

w

IND

2344

PSPB

4,0

0,0

7,0

9,0

9,00

4,0

7

12

IM

Swayams Mishra

 

IND

2455

AI

3,5

0,0

9,0

10,0

8,25

3,0

8

29

GM

Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi

 

IND

2317

RSPB

3,5

0,0

8,5

11,0

9,50

3,0

9

2

GM

Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan

 

IND

2564

KER

3,5

0,0

8,5

10,5

9,00

3,0

10

15

IM

Das Arghyadip

 

IND

2419

RSPB

3,5

0,0

8,5

10,5

8,75

3,0

Round 5 Pairings

Bo.

No.

 

Name

Rtg

Pts.

Result

Pts.

 

Name

Rtg

No.

1

14

IM

Nitin S.

2421

4

 

4

GM

Swapnil S. Dhopade

2516

5

2

6

GM

Himanshu Sharma

2514

4

 

4

WGM

Gomes Mary Ann

2344

23

3

7

GM

Kunte Abhijit

2505

4

 

4

 

Sammed Jaykumar Shete

2277

34

4

2

GM

Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan

2564

 

 

Fenil Shah

2326

27

5

8

GM

Debashis Das

2493

 

GM

Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi

2317

29

6

30

 

Akash Pc Iyer

2304

 

GM

Bakre Tejas

2464

11

7

12

IM

Swayams Mishra

2455

 

 

Ram S. Krishnan

2214

43

8

63

 

Pranavananda V

2122

 

IM

Das Arghyadip

2419

15

9

52

CM

Kushagra Mohan

2159

 

3

GM

Lalith Babu M R

2529

3

10

1

GM

Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.

2579

3

 

3

 

Moksh Amit Doshi

2148

53

 

About the author:

Gopakumar became an A-grade International Arbiter during the FIDE Arbiter's Commission meeting. He is only the fifth Indian to achieve this feat. He was the chief arbiter at two 2600+ double round robin events, Asian Youth Chief Arbiter at South Korea, Deputy chief arbiter at Asian Youth and Asian Junior at New Delhi. He dedicates his success to the Air Force background that he comes from. 

Previous reports on National Challengers 2017:

Parthiv Patel at the opening ceremony

14-year-old holds Sriram Jha to a draw

National Challengers 2017 Round 2+3: Day of underdogs!