Round 11: Turov wins title
Maxim Turov of Russia won the Chennai Open 2010 international chess tournament sponsored by LIC & ONGC and organized by Sports Promotion Foundation, today, collecting 9.5 points from 11 rounds and conceding only three draws. His title fetched him a cash prize of two lakh rupees. GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, R. Siddharth of Tamil Nadu and national junior champion M.R. Lalith Babu of Andhra Pradesh, tied for the second to fourth places scoring 9 points each. They were placed in that order based on the Buchholz tiebreak.
Maxim had a formal seventeen move draw against Ziaur and Lalith Babu could not make any headway in his game against the fellow IM Richard Bitoon of Philippines and settled for a draw.
R. Siddharth extended his good show, carving out a nice win over Asian Junior champion Ashwin Jayaram, also of Tamil Nadu. He mopped up Ashwin’s king side pawns completely and Ashwin resigned when his queen was trapped by Siddharth’s aggressive rook.
After winning a knight for two pawns, Pavel Kptsur of Kazakhstan tried in vain to win against Vikramaditya Kamble of Railways. Kamble stoutly defended the position and agreed for a draw in a king vs and king and pawn position.
Six times national woman champion S. Vijayalakshmi of Indian Airlines found her rhythm against former under 25 national champion B.T. Muralikrishnan of Railways. By splitting the point with GM Alexander Zubarev of Ukriane, Anwesh Upadhyaya of Oriss lost his chances to obtain the GM norm, in addition to the IM norm already earned. Combining his queen and knight beautifully, GM Sundaarajan Kidambi checkmated former national champion P. Konguvel.
Shri. Y. Pradeep, Secretary, RMK Residential School was the chief guest for the prize distribution function. Shri. R. Ganesan, Chairman of the organizing committee presided, Mr. Nagesh, Regional Manager, LIC of India was the Guest of Honour. Shri A. Surya Narayana Rao, Correspondent, Jawahar Vidyalaya and Shri. J.C.D. Prabhakar, Vice President, TN State Chess Association offered felicitations.
Round 10: Maxim Turov maintains lead
Maxim Turov of Russia increased his chances to clinch the title in the Chennai Open 2010 international chess tournament, sponsored by LIC & ONGC and organized by Sports Promotion Foundation, Chennai. In the tenth and penultimate round today, he had a safe 41 move draw against Vikramaditya Kamble of Railways. Maxim is on 9 points and closely on his heels are former national champion M.R. Lalith Babu of A.P. and Bangladesh GM Ziaur Rahman on 8.5 points. Lalith Babu had a well deserved victory over GM Dmitry Ktyakvin of Russia. Maxim has been pitted against Ziaur and Lalith Babu crosses swords with the Filippino IM Richard Bitoon. A pyrotechnic display is expected on the top board, as Ziaur also has chances to win the title, if he beats Maxim.
Barring the first board, the other top boards went into full distance, as players fought for supremacy.
Dmitry sacrificed his knight by playing Nh4 on the 17th move, to open the castled king side against Lalith Babu. Thogh there were less pices on the board, the game became complicated and Lalith managed to maintain the upper hand. After exchanging the queens, Lalith grabbed another knight on the 67th move forcing a win. With this win, Lalith also earned his second GM norm.
Ziaur Rahman sacrificed his knight for two pawns against Rinat Jhumabyev to get an attacking position. Though Rinat was a piece up, Ziaur’s queen and rook combined beautifully to grab Rinat’s rook. Immediately Rinat surrendered. This is the first loss to Rinat in this tournament.
Asian Junior champion Ashwin Jayaram also had a convincing victory over GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan in a Pirc defence game, with an onslaught right from the start. He faces Siddharth tomorrow and interestingly there are three Indian IMs and untitled Siddharth among the eight players on the top four boards of the final round. Former Commonwealth champion RB. Ramesh of Tamil Nadu made an exchange sacrifice to create a passer pawn on the 27th move against former under 25 national champion B.T. Muralikrishnan of Railways. When he realized that there was no compensation later, he gave up the fight.
Round 9: Seven Indians get norms
Russian grandmaster Maxim Turov enhanced his lead by a full point over IM M.R. Lalith Babu of A.P., Vikramaditya Kamble of Railways, Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan and Ziaur Rahman of Bangladsh in the LIC & ONGC sponsored Chennai Open 2010 International chess tournament organized by Sports Promotion Foundation today. At the end of the ninth round, Maxim has scored 8.5 points, an amazing run in such a kind of tournament. The notable feature of the ninth round is that R. Siddharth of Tamil Nadu achieved his maiden GM norm and six other Indians – P. Shyam Nikil of Tamil Nadu, Anwesh Upadyaya and Swayams Mishra of Orissa, Vaibhav Suri of Delhi and Fenil Shah and Ankit Rajpara of Gujarat secured IM norms.
Maxim played a solid game again using his favourite Caro Kann defence against Marat Dzhimaev of Uzbekistan. His pawn capture using the rook on two consecutive moves (33 and 34) sealed the game in his favour. The hitherto unbeaten Anwesh Upadyaya met his waterloo at the hands of Rinat. Rinat controlled the e- file with his rook and his e4 move paved way for a checkmate or queen loss with Bh3, a move later.
In an exchange down position Manik Mikulas of Slovekia had a plenty of compensation in the form three extra Pawns against Ziaur Rahman. But, he had to give up his knight to prevent Ziaur’s centre pawn reaching the eighth rank. With two rooks acting in tandem, Ziaur snatched the game away from Manik in 64 moves.
In an absorbing game between Lalith Babu and Shyam Nikil, there were attacks and counter attacks. In the process, Shyam lost the exchange, losing his queen for a rook and bishop. He fought valiantly but Lalith Babu kept the pressure on to gain a point on the 33rd move. The Sicilian defence played by the top seed Eshan Ghaem Maghami against Asian Junior champion Ashwin Jayaram went against Maghami. After exchanging all the pieces, Ashwin had a pawn at the end and with his king ahead, it was not a problem for him to win.
Vikramaditya Kamble felled another grandmaster S. Arun Prasad in a semi Slav defence, launching a heavy attack on the king side. Siddharth quelled the challenge of GM Martyn Kravysiv of Ukraine in an aggressive game comprising 53 moves. The win earned him his maiden GM norm. Another GM victim is the national Blitz champion R.R. Laxman of ICF at the hands of Somak Palit of Railways.
Round 8: Maxim maitains lead
Russian grandmaster Maxim Turov (7.5 points) maintained his half point lead over Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev and unstoppable Anwesh Upadyaya of Orissa at the end of the eighth round of the LIC & ONGC sponsored Chennai Open 2010 international chess tournament organised by Sports promotion Foundation at the Multipurpose Indoor stadium, Chennai today. Six players among whom three are Indians – P. Shyam Nikil, M.R. Lalith Babu of A.P. and Vikramaditya Kamble of Railways have scored 6.5 points each.
Anwesh again played a sensational game and his fine run continued, the victim in the eighth round being Ukraine GM Martyn Kravtsiv. Playing Petroff defence, Anwesh sacrificed his knight for two central pawns on the 17th move. He again sacrificed his rook two moves later but got it back soon. When the result was clear on the wall by move 35, Anwesh was up by four pawns. By the end of the eighth round and after making the ninth round pairing, Anwesh has secured his IM norm and set to make his GM norm also, if the trend continues.
Maxim and Lalith Babu played the Caro kann defence very fast, with plenty of time left on the clock. Maxim played a strong Nf5 on move 15, which almost decided the game in his favour. The grandmaster’s vast experience helped him later to pocket the point in a bishop Vs knight ending with an extra pawn.
In a Ruy Lopez opening by Shyam Nikil, his opponent R.B. Ramesh, former Commonwealth and British champion overlooked an in between Qb3 move by Shyam. Shyam gained a minor piece in exchange for his two pawns and kept the tempo to earn a point and his final IM norm.
In a classical Sicilian defence, Marat was involved in a long drawn battle before securing a full point against Dimtry Kryakvin of Russia. Marat marched his pawn towards the eighth rank and Dmitry had to forego his knight to eliminate the pawn from the board. The rest was mere technique and Marat won in 83 moves.
Irespective of losing the queen for rook, Vikramdit Kamble brilliantly defended his position to force a draw in a French classical exchange game against Maniuk Mikulas the GM from Slovekia. After agreeing to a well fought draw in 30 moves with J. Deepan Chakkaravarthy of PSPB, R. Siddharth of Tamil Nadu obtained his IM norm, with a round to spare.
Round 7: Lalith Babu shares the lead
M.R. Lalith Babu of Andra Pradesh joined the overnight leader GM Maxim Turov of Russia at the top with 6.5 points at the end of the seventh round of the LIC & ONGC sponsored Chennai Open 2010 Chess international tournament, organized by Sports Promotion Foundation at the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Chennai, today. Russian GM Dmitry Kryakvin, Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev, Slovekian GM Manik Mikulas, Ukraine GM Martyn Kravtsiv, IM VIkramaditya Kamble of Railways and Anwesh Upadyaya of Orissa are on the second spot with 6 points each.
Lalith Babu subdued former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakkaravarthy of PSPB in a Grunfeld defence. Deepan lost a pawn on the 13th move and both exchanged the pieces in a fast pace. Both had a pawn at the centre each, but Lalith babu effectively controlled the back rank. Deepan resigned when his d- pawn was almost trapped on the 30th move. On the top board, Turov Maxim of Russia dropped half a point for the first time in the tournament to his compatriot Dmitry Kryakvin in a Ruy Lopez game lasting just 12 moves.
In another Ruy Lopez game followed by the Asian Junior champion Ashwin Jayaram of Tamil Nadu, his opponent Martyn Kravtsiv grabbed a knight in exchange for a seventh rank pawn and won easily. Orissa youngsters were on the rampage today, as Swayam Mishra outwitted GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan in 75 moves. After exchanging the queens on the 57th move, Swayams was in a good position with connected pawns on the c- and d- files. His additional g- pawn threatened promotion with the support of the king and Saidali gave up the fight.
Anwesh played a swashbuckling game, offering sacrifices at will to demolish IM Bitoon Richard of Philippines in 28 moves of a Sicilian Keres attack. Former bronze medalist in the world under 10 championship M.R. Venkatesh of PSPB drew with GM Ziaur rahman of Bangladesh R. Siddharth, the erstwhile leader from Tamil Nadu also forced a draw against Rinat Jumabaev. Fenil Sha, the Gujarat youngster had a good day defeating Saptarshi Roy of Railways.
Round 6: IM Lalith Babu shocks GM Zubarev, Maxim Turov in sole lead
On a day with mixed results on the top boards IM Norm aspirant R Siddharth lost his game against Russian GM Maxim Turov in the 6th round of Chennai Open 2010 an International Grandmaster Open Chess Tournament , being held at the Multipurpose Indoor stadium at Chennai. The ten days mega event is organized by the Sports Promotion Foundation. Playing the white side Siddharth chose an offbeat line and castled on the longside to attack. Turov exploited the weak pawns of white and exchanged pieces at regular intervals to enter a favourable rook ending. The game ended in Turov’s favour in 58 moves. Turov takes the sole lead with 6.0 pts followed by GM’s Kryakvin of Russia & Deepan Chakkravarthy of India, IM Lalith Babu with 5.5 pts apiece are in the joint second spot.
In a game between Russian GM’s Kryakvin and Gutov, the better rated Kryakvin played a powerful game from Bishop opening to outplay his team mate. Kryakvin threatened black’s king with his Queen and rook. Further array of the minor pieces focussing the f6 and h6 squares resulted in white’ win in 33 moves.
IM Lalith Babu was impeccable in his victory over GM Alexander Zhubarev of Russia . From the white side of the Semi Slav variation Lalith won a pawn on the 34th move to get a comfortable position. In time pressure the Grandmaster tried to complicate the position by sacrificing a pawn on 38th move. Unperturbed Lalith neutralized threats and threatened to promote his b and h pawns simultaneously, to force resignation in 54 moves.
Orissa’s top youngster Anwesh Upadyaya held GM Kidambi to a creditable draw from the white side of the Caro Kann defense in 26 moves. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy joined the second spot with a facile win over IM Swapnil Dhopade in 31 moves. A local youngster by name M.Siddarth caused a mild flutter by beating IM Lim Yee Weng of Malaysia. With 5 more rounds to go the event is interestingly poised. Triple IM Norm Holder Arun Karthik held experienced Uzbek GM Iuldachev despite a piece down, but having extra pawns to show far. The game was so interesting with both players entering into acute time pressure. Arun a piece down scored a valuable half point with a tactical stalemate pattern in 77 moves.
Round 5: R. Siddharth of Tamil Nadu on song
Former under age category national champion R. Sidharth of Tamil Nadu displayed a giant killing act defeating Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh in the fifth round of the Chennai Open 2010 International chess tournament sponsored by LIC of India and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and organised by Sports Promotion Foundation at the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Chennai today. He and the second seeded grandmaster Maxim Turov of Russia are leading with a cent per cent score. Thirteen players are trailing behind with 4.5 points each. Six more rounds remain to be played.
Siddharth today proved that his increase in rating by 105 points in three months last year was not a flash in the pan. The engineering student pursuing his MS degree in US played a patient waiting game and overcame Ziaur by positional play. His pair of knights played havoc to rattle the opponent and in the end, he had three pawns, of which two were connected, in comparison to the isolated pawns of Ziaur. Siddharth won the game in 49 moves.
Maxim won the English opening comfortably against Oliver Dimakiling of Philippines using his powerful connected pawns at the centre. Mehar Chenna Reddy claimed honours when he won the queen and pawn ending against experienced R.R. Laxman, the grandmaster representing ICF. The national Blitz champion Lakshman lost a pawn first and another pawn later. When Mehar was about to queen his pawn, Laxman resigned. Overnight joint leaders Anwesh Upadyaya of Orissa and Ankit Rajpara of Gujarat were content with draws against grandmaster Marat Azhumaev of Uzbekistan and IM Richard Bitoon of Philippines to stay in contention for their IM norms.
Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, the top seed had his third draw in five rounds, this time against former under 14 national champion T.U. Navin Kanna of Tamil Nadu. Grandmasters Dmitry Kryakvin of Russia, Alexander Zubraev of Ukraine, Sundarrajan Kidambi and Deepan Chakkaravarthy of PSPB, Andrey Gutov of Russia and Manik Mikulas had a field day today, scoring easy win. G.V. Sai Krishna, under 13 national champion in 2008 caused a flutter by defeating former national champion P. Konguvel of PSPB. Six times national woman champion S. Vijayalaksmi settled for a draw with T.J. Suresh Kumar of ICF.
Round 4: Eight players share lead
Untitled Indians are in the forefront, as three of them R. Sidharth of Tamil Nadu, Ankit Rajpara of Maharashtra and Anwesh Upadyaya of Orissa lead with four points each, along with three foreign grandmasters and two Philippino international masters at the end of the fourth round of the LIC & ONGC sponsored Chennai Open 2010 international chess tournament, organized by Sports Promotion Foundation at the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Chennai today. Ankit Rajpara continued his good show beating M.S. Thej Kumar, international master from Karnataka and Anwesh accounted for another IM Anup Deshmukh of LIC.
On the top board, Maxim Turov employed his favourite Caro Kann defence against P. Shyam Nikil of Tamil Nadu, a former under 17 national champion. Maxim gained a pawn on the 17th move and capitalized an unnecessary knight sacrifice by Shyam on the 23rd move. Shyam resigned fourteen moves later. In an equal position arising from a Queens Gambit Declined game, former under 25 national champion B.T. Muralikrishnan of Railways played a weak f3 move against Ziaur Rehman of Bangladesh on the second board. Eleven moves later, Murali lost a pawn and soon the game also.
Delhi youngster Vaibhav Suri upset the apple cart of GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan in a French defence game by handling his knight and rook well.
Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan played a steady game against Vikramaditye Kamble of Railways and gained a minor piece in the process. Both marched their pawn to the seventh rank, but Marat’s rook was better placed and Kamble’s rook could not prevent his opponent’s pawn from promotion. Marat won in 43 moves.
The day belonged to Ankit Rajpara again. In a queen and equal pawn ending, Ankit’s b- pawn raced towards the eighth rank, when Thej surrendered. Anwesh forced Anup to lose his knight and threatened to queen the pawn. Anup resigned when he was about to lose one more pawn. Top seeded Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran again conceded a draw to Arun Karthik of Chennai to reach 3 points. Highly rated GM, S. Arun Prasad of PSPB had to be content with a draw against Chennai’s young player S. Kaushik.
Round 3: Ankit Rajpara upsets Saidali
Ankit Rajpara of Maharashtra shocked grandmaster Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan to be among the leaders with 3 points at the end of the third round of the LIC and ONGC sponsored Chennai Open 2010 chess tournament organized by Sports Promotion Foundation here today.
Twenty three players including second seeded Maxim Turov of Russia, Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan, Manik Mikulas of Slovekia, Ankit Rajapara, Anup Deshmukh of Maharashtra, Saptarshi Roy Choudhury and B.T. Muralikrishnan of Railways and P. Shyam Nikil of Tamil Nadu have scored a centum score.
Ankit chose the exchange variation of Ruy Lopez opening and positioned his pieces well. In the end game, he had a good active knight against bad bishop of Saidali to post a fluent win.
Adopting Nimzo Indian defence, Udeshi Aditya attacked Maxim’s king side, but the latter defended well to maintain parity. He slowly developed his pieces and gained the exchange. As game went by, Maxim maximized the pressure with his queen and rook and set to win a piece, when Aditya resign
Round 2:Sayantan shocks Arun Prasad
Former world under 10 champion 2008 Sayantan Das of West Bengal achieved the biggest victory of his career by stunning the in form grand master S. Arun Prasad of PSPB in the second round of the LIC and ONGC sponsored Chennai Open 2010 chess tournament organized by Sports Promotion Foundation at the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, here today. Four grandmasters Zubraev Alexander of Ukraine, Andrey Gutov of Russia, R.R. Laxman of ICF and Deepan Chakkaravarthy of PSPB shed half a point each, four international masters lost and four more drew their games today.
Sayantan placed 365 points below Arun Prasad in the international Elo ratings did not bother about it and played a solid game. He did not try to recover the pawn he gave up in the opening phase until the end of the middle game. He controlled the e-file beautifully with his rook and Arun had to forego his rook and a pawn to Sayantan’s bishop. This paved the way for his memorable victory in 37 moves.
On the top board, second seeded Maxim Turov of Russia outwitted Fenil Shah of Gujatat in a Caro Kann game extending to 38 moves. Maxim extricated a pawn from his opponent on the 22nd move and played a positional game steadily. After exchanging the queens, Fenil resigned immediately when his rook was forked.
S. Vijayalakshmi, the first woman grandmaster from India and six times national woman champion blundered a piece and lost the game to J. Malleswar Rao of A.P. K. Rathnakaran of Railways, unexpectedly lost to the upcoming fourteen year old G. Akash, the TN state under 25 champion. Another international master Himanshu Sharma of Haryana was a casualty at the hands of Vinod Bhagwat.
Pavel Kotsur, playing black anchored his bishop at e3 and his queen penetrated into the seventh rank to make a terrific attack on Tejas Ravichandran’s (Chennai) king. It resulted in a loss of material and Tejas resigned without any hesitation. With exchange and two pawns up, Ziaur Rehman, the grandmaster from Bangladesh wrapped up the game in style in 50 moves against C.R.G. Krishna, winner of the N. Prasad memorial FIDE rated tournament in Visakhapatnam. R.R. Laxman, who represented India in the Asian Indoor Games had to agree for a draw against the Commonwealth Under 18 girls’ champion Pon N Krithika of Chennai, after losing the exchange. Local lad Ajay Srikanth forced a draw against former national champion P. Knguvel of ONGC.
Former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakkravarthy had to sweat it out before securing a draw against C. Natarajan of ICF, by perpetual checks.
Round 1:Top seeded Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran held to a draw
The 2nd Chennai International Open Chess tournament sponsored by LIC and ONGC, supported by government of India and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and organized by Sports Promotion Foundation got off with a bang, three youngsters forcing experienced grandmaster opponents to creditable draw. Thirteen year old unheralded WFM Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh held the top seeded Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, fourteen year old Osama Salim of Chennai split the point with third seeded Kryakvin Dmitry of Russia and 1998 born B. Kumaran of Chennai let India’s second grandmaster Dibyendu Barua off the hook.
Sai Nirupama opted for the Reti Opening with white pieces and both chose the main line of play. Maghami played a safe game, exchanging the queens on 20th move, thus trying to outwit his opponent through a simple end game. Once Sai Nirupama grabbed the c- pawn, the game looked heading towards a draw and Maghami could not make any breakthrough in a knight and pawn ending. Maghami had to settle for the draw after 42 moves.
In a transposed Caro Kann game, Osama Salim defended well to Dmitry’s attack and exchanged the queens on 23rd move. In the end game, Dmitry had two advantageous connected pawns on the e- and f- files in comparison to Osama’s h- pawn. Dmitry missed some winning chances and allowed Osama to escape with a draw.
Kumaran, thiry six years younger to the seasoned grandmaster Barua handled his knight very well, exchanging it later for a rook and pawn. Barua managed to get back the exchange but was left with a pawn down and he had to use all his resources to repeat the position and extract half a point. Second seeded Maxim Turov of Russia had it easy against Shiv Shankar Dave of Rajasthan and Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan posted a comfortable victory over S.L. Narayanan of Kerala. Arun Prasad, who is in good nick accounted for S. Sathyanarayanan and the Ukraine grandmaster Kravtsiv Martyn did not sweat much to dispose V.S. Sakthivel Pandian of Tamil Nadu.
Inauguration:CHENNAI OPEN INAUGURATED
The Chennai Open 2010, the prestigious international grandmaster chess tournament sponsored by LIC and ONGC, supported by Government of India and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and organized by Sports Promotion Foundation was inaugurated at the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium today. With 19 GMs and 27 IMs in the fray, the number of players in the tournament has crossed the magic figure of 400. In addition to the GMs and IMs, 13 FMs, three WGMs, 14 WIMs and 5 WFMs have confirmed their participation.
Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, winner of the Parsvnath International Open tournament in Delhi, two days back, with an international rating of 2589 is the top seeded player, followed by Maxim Turov of Russia. The Indian challenge is spearheaded by grandmaster S. Arun Prasad, a member of the Indian team which won the bronze medal in the recently concluded World Team Chess Championship at Turkey. Former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakkaravarthy, India’s second grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, former Commonwelath champion Abhijit Kunte, Sundarrajan Kidambi, former British champion R.B. Ramesh and national Blitz champion R.R. Laxman complete the list of grandmasters. India’s first woman grandmaster S. Vijayalaksmi, winner of many medals in the Women Olympiad is playing after a long lay off for about two years.
The tournament will be played under Swiss system with a time control of 90 minutes to each player with an increment of 30 seconds for each move.
The tournament was inaugurated by Mr. Satyabrata Sahoo IAS, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and Mr. V.K. Sharma, Zonal Manager, LIC of India. Mr.P.R. Venketrama Raja, Managing Director, Ramco Industries and President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Mr. Manuel Aaron, first international master and nine times national champion offered felicitations to Sasikiran, Arun Prasad and Adhiban, players from Tamil Nadu who were members of the Indian team, which won the bronze medal in the World Team championship. Sasikiran replied to the felicitation on behalf of the trio. The first round starts tomorrow morning.
|