Pantsulaia among leaders, Neelotpal held
Fresh from his Delhi Open title victory, Georgian GM Pantsulaia Levan (2.0) worked his way through five hours to defeat WFM Saranya in the second round of the 11th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament 2019 for Sakthi Group Dr N Mahaligam Trophy at Novotel IBIS OMR Hotel, Chennai here today. Sharing the lead at 2.0 points with Pantsulaia were GMs Rozum Ivan, Popov Ivan (both Russia), Paichadze Luka (Georgia), Aleksandrov Aleksej, Stupak Kirill (both Belarus), Ziatdinov Raset (USA), Tran Tuan Minh (Vietnam), Megaranto Susanto (Indonesia), Czebe Attila (Hungary), Manik Mikulas (Slovakia) Sundararajan Kidambi, Laxman R R (both India) among others.
In a hard fought Sicilian game, Chennai girl Saranya J held her own against Grandmaster Pantsulaia Levan (Georgia) till the very end. The knight and pawn ending offered minor chances for the Georgian as he squeezed out a tough win after 108 moves. It was the last game to finish, showing the resilience of Saranya against the second seed Grandmaster. The day saw seeded players going through to the third round sans big upset.
In the second board, talented Chennai boy Rajarishi Karthi went down to Grandmaster Rozum Ivan of Russia. With some original play in Queens Gambit Rajarishi rattled the Russian and looked poised for an upset win. But a speculative sacrifice late into the middle-game did him in, as he gave up after 40 moves.
A few draws in the main playing hall, where the lower seeded players fought tooth and nail managing to hold higher seeds to a draw. Experienced Kolkata Grandmaster Neelotpal Das drew with fellow Indian Karthik Rajaa, while Rakesh Kumar Nayak snatched half a point from International Master Khusenkhojaev Muhammad of Tajikistan. Local favorites Grandmasters Deepan Chakkravarthy, Sundararajan Kidambi and defending Champion Laxman R R sailed through to comfortable victories.
The ten round Swiss tournament carrying a prize fund of Rupees fifteen lakhs concludes on Friday 25th January, 2019.
Round 2 Results (Indians unless specified) : Saranya J (1) lost to Pantsulaia Levan (Geo) 2, Rozum Ivan (Rus) 2 bt Rajarishi Karthi (1), Rathneesh R (1) lost to Popov Ivan (Rus) 2, Paichadze Luka (Geo) 2 bt Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U (1), Bala Kannamma P (1) lost to Aleksandrov Aleksej (Blr) 2, Erigaisi Arjun (2) bt Md. Abzid Rahman (Bdesh) 1, Dahale Atul (1) lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy J (2).
Saranya J – Pantsulaia Levan
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 e5 6. Nb3 Nc6 7. c4 Bb4+ 8. Nc3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 d6 10. O-O O-O 11. h3 Be6 12. f4 exf4 13. Bxf4 Rc8 14. Bg5 Qb6+ 15. Kh1 Nd7 16. Be2 h6 17. Bf4 Nce5 18. Nd4 Nxc4 19. Rb1 Qc7 20. Bxc4 Qxc4 21. Bxd6 Rfd8 22. Rxb7 Nf6 23. Nxe6 Rxd6 24. Qxd6 Qxf1+ 25. Kh2 Re8 26. Qf4 Qxf4+ 27. Nxf4 Rxe4 28. Rb4 a5 29. Rd4 Kf8 30. Nd3 Rxd4 31. cxd4 Ne4 32. a4 Ke8 33. Ne5 Nd6 34. Kg3 Nf5+ 35. Kf4 Nxd4 36. Ke4 Ne6 37. Nc6 Nc5+ 38. Kd4 Nxa4 39. Nxa5 Kd7 40. Nc4 Ke6 41. Ke4 Nc3+ 42. Kf3 Nb5 43. Ne3 Nd6 44. g4 Ke5 45. Ng2 Ne4 46. Ne3 g6 47. h4 Nd2+ 48. Ke2 Nb3 49. Kf3 Nd4+ 50. Kg3 Ke4 51. Nc4 Nb5 52. Nd2+ Ke3 53. Nc4+ Kd4 54. Nb6 Ke4 55. Nc4 Kd4 56. Nb6 Nd6 57. Kf4 Ne4 58. Nd7 Nc3 59. Nb8 Nd5+ 60. Kf3 Nb4 61. Nd7 Nd3 62. Nf6 Ke5 63. Ng8 h5 64. g5 Ne1+ 65. Kg3 Nc2 66. Nf6 Nd4 67. Nd7+ Ke4 68. Nf6+ Ke5 69. Nd7+ Kd6 70. Nf6 Nf5+ 71. Kh3 Ke5 72. Nd7+ Kf4 73. Nf6 Nd6 74. Ng8 Nc4 75. Nh6 Ne5 76. Kg2 Ke4 77. Kg3 Kd5 78. Ng8 Nd7 79. Ne7+ Kd6 80. Nc8+ Ke6 81. Kf4 Ne5 82. Nb6 Nc6 83. Nc4 Ne7 84. Kg3 Nf5+ 85. Kh3 Kd5 86. Nb6+ Ke4 87. Nd7 Kf4 88. Nf6 Ne3 89. Ng8 Kf3 90. Nf6 Ng2 91. Nd7 Nf4+ 92. Kh2 Kg4 93. Ne5+ Kxh4 94. Nxf7 Kg4 95. Kg1 Nh3+ 96. Kg2 Nxg5 97. Nh6+ Kf4 98. Ng8 Nf3 99. Ne7 g5 100. Nd5+ Ke5 101. Ne3 Nh4+ 102. Kh3 Nf5 103. Ng2 g4+ 104. Kh2 Ke4 105. Ne1 h4 106. Ng2 h3 107. Ne1 Nd4 108. Kg3 Ke5 0-1
Rozum Ivan – Rajarishi Karthi
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 Re8 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. O-O-O b5 12. Kb1 a5 13. f3 Nb6 14. Bf2 a4 15. a3 b4 16. axb4 Ba6 17. Bxa6 Rxa6 18. Na2 Nc4 19. Nec1 a3 20. b3 Nb2 21. Rdg1 Qb8 22. g4 Bxb4 23. h4 Nd7 24. g5 h5 25. g6 f6 26. Ka1 Qb5 27. e4 c5 28. exd5 cxd4 29. Nxb4 Qxb4 30. Re1 Ne5 31. f4 d3 32. Qc7 Qe7 33. Qc3 Qb7 34. fxe5 fxe5 35. Nxd3 Rxg6 36. Nxe5 Rf6 37. Nc6 Rxe1+ 38. Rxe1 Nd1 39. Rxd1 Rxf2 40. d6 1-0
Rathneesh R – Popov Ivan
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 b6 7. a4 a5 8. Na3 e5 9. Nc4 f6 10. Be3 Nh6 11. b4 cxb4 12. Bxb6 Qe7 13. Nxa5 Rxa5 14. Bxa5 Qc5 15. Bc7 Kd7 16. a5 Kxc7 17. a6 Qb6 18. a7 Ba6 19. Qd2 Ra8 20. O-O Rxa7 21. Rfb1 Bf8 22. d4 Nf7 23. dxe5 fxe5 24. Ng5 Nxg5 25. Qxg5 Qc5 26. Rd1 Be7 27. Qg3 Kb6 28. Ra2 Be2 29. Rxa7 Bxd1 30. Ra8 Qc3 31. Qxc3 bxc3 32. Ra2 Bg5 33. Kf1 Bd2 34. Kg1 Kb5 35. Kf1 Kb4 36. f3 Bxc2 37. Ke2 Bb3 38. Ra8 Bc4+ 39. Kd1 Kb3 40. Ra1 Kb2 0-1
Bala Kannamma P – Aleksandrov, Aleksej
1. g3 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. d3 h6 5. Nbd2 Bf5 6. b3 a5 7. a3 e6 8. Bb2 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe1 Bh7 11. e4 Na6 12. e5 Nd7 13. Qe2 b5 14. Ne1 Qb6 15. Kh1 a4 16. b4 c5 17. bxc5 Ndxc5 18. d4 Nb7 19. c3 Na5 20. Nd3 Rfc8 21. f4 Nc4 22. Nxc4 bxc4 23. Nf2 Rcb8 24. Bc1 Qa5 25. Qd2 Rb3 26. Nd1 Nc7 27. g4 Bd3 28. Rg1 Nb5 29. f5 Nxc3 30. f6 Bf8 31. fxg7 Bxg7 32. Nxc3 Qxc3 33. Qxc3 Rxc3 34. Bd2 Rb3 35. Bb4 Bf8 36. Bxf8 Kxf8 37. Rgd1 Rab8 38. h3 Rb2 39. Kg1 R8b3 40. Kh1 Rf2 41. Kg1 Rbb2 42. Bh1 Rh2 0-1
Harikrishnan A Ra – Gokhale Rishabh Chandrashekhar
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7 5. O-O Nf6 6. d4 Bb6 7. Re1 d6 8. h3 O-O 9. Bb3 a6 10. Bc2 h6 11. Be3 Ba7 12. Nbd2 Kh7 13. Nf1 g6 14. Ng3 Ng8 15. Nh2 Qf6 16. Nf3 Nge7 17. Qd2 Qg7 18. Rad1 b5 19. Nh2 Na5 20. b3 Nb7 21. Ne2 f5 22. dxe5 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 dxe5 24. f4 fxe4 25. Bxe4 exf4 26. Nxf4 Nf5 27. Qc1 Rb8 28. Nf3 Nbd6 29. Bb1 Re8 30. g4 Bb7 31. gxf5 Bxf3 32. fxg6+ Kh8 33. Rd3 Be4 34. Rxd6 Bxb1 35. Nh5 1-0
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