Mumbai, June 12 (IANS) Upset wins were the trend in the opening round of the Rs 35 lakh prize money 360 One Masters Chess tournament, organised by Indian Chess School, in Mumbai, proving that routine results need not be the norm in the first round of a Swiss League event.
Second seed GM Sankalp Gupta was shocked by Sri Lankan IM L M S T De Silva in a short game. In another major upset, third seed GM Abhijeet Gupta, a former World junior Champion, lost to 17-year-old IM Akshay Borgaonkar from Pune. IM Kauvstuv Kundu defeated Andrey Gorovetz of Belarus.
The higher-rated overseas Grandmasters also found the going tough and had to settle for draws. Fifth seed GM Luka Paichadze of Georgia was held to a draw by FM Adak Bivor, while 9th seed GM Boris Savchenko too had to settle for a draw against Daeevik Wadhawan. FM Vivaan Shah could also earn half a point against GM Aleksandrov Aleksej. FM Kush Bhagat also earned a creditable draw against eighth seed IM Nitin Belurkar.
Amidst the spate of major and minor upsets, top seed GM Iniyan Pa, the reigning National champion, showed plenty of spirit and spunk to eke out a win from a dead- draw appearing position against L Srihari. The frequent exchange of pieces between them in a Queen’s Gambit Declined game soon transposed into a rook and identical pawn ending.
While most times these positions are declared theoretically drawn, Iniyan played a waiting game, testing Srihari’s defence, which paid dividends with Srihari blundering with a King move on the 64th turn. Iniyan pocketed the point on the 74th turn by threatening to promote his pawn.
Sankalp Gupta was on the defending side, right from the Opening stages of a French Advance Defence against an aggressive DE Silva. In a sort of a whirlwind attack, De Silva’s two knights, rook and Queen, broke through the defensive barriers after the rolled pawns had made inroads into enemy territory to set up a checkmating net. The game lasted for 26 moves.
In a Reti game, Abhijeet Gupta was pushed on the back foot almost from the initial stages by Borgaonkar. Gupta, a multiple-time Commonwealth Champion, was not in the best of form, and a few inaccurate moves resulted in his pieces pushed backwards even as Black’s pawns advanced menacingly.
Gupta castled late and tried to get a counterattack going with his queen and bishop. By the 18th turn, Borgaonkar had a couple of pawns extra and played perfectly. Gupta continued to fight a battle that kept going downhill and resigned on the 54th turn when faced with an inevitable checkmate.
The 13-year-old Madhavendra Pratap Sharma notched up a double delight by winning both his games in the junior category and the Challenger category after being seeded top in both Categories. The higher seeds had a smooth sailing in this category, albeit there were a few draws.
Results
GM Iniyan, Pa (1) beat Srihari, L (0)
De Silva, L M S T (0) lost to Sankalp, Gupta (1)
Gupta, Abhijeet (0) lost to Borgaonkar, Akshay (1)
Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh (½) Draw Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy (½)
Paichadze, Luka (½) draw Bivor, Adak (½)
GM Nikitenko, Mihail (1) beat Wagh, Suyog (0)
–IANS
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