Month: July 2015

Indian Women Challengers Round 10: In for an exciting finish!

The penultimate round of the RamRatna 42nd National Challengers Chess Championship 2015 proved to be the most exciting one so far. The top-board encounter saw Soumya Swaminathan convincingly win against overnight leader Vaishali R. In a game which took off with the Scotch Opening, Soumya calmly and swiftly overcame her in-form opponent.

This defeat of Vaishali’s allowed Soumya Swaminathan, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni to catch up with her on the top spot. The aforementioned four players lead the table with 8 points apiece, closely followed by Michelle Catherina on 7.5 points.

With a lot of players packed closely together ahead of the 11th round, the final round promises to be nothing short of exciting.

Round 10 Results: Click Here

 

Benasque Open Round 8: Jorge Cori in sole lead

With a victory over GM Gretarsson of Iceland, leading Peruvian GM Jorge Cori has taken up sole lead at the Benasque Open 2015 with a tally of 7 points. The Gretarsson-Jorge Cori game turned out to be a rather complicated affair out of a topical variation of the Grunfeld Defence. However, in the middlegame, Gretarsson quickly went astray, thus enabling Jorge to secure a relatively comfortable victory.

Jorge is being trailed by as many as 10 (!) players on 6.5 points each, which includes two Indians namely GM Adhiban and IM Shardul Gagare. Gagare notably overcame GM Ubilava in the 8th round of this 10-round event.

Round 8 Results: Click Here

Indian Women Challengers Round 9: Vaishali back in lead!

A swift victory by Vaishali R over Michelle Catherina in the 9th round of the RamRatna 42nd National Women Challengers 2015 saw the former regain her sole lead with a tally of 8/9. Vaishali emerged a pawn up out of the opening and never really allowed Michelle to get back in the game. Michelle resigned on move 41, thus marking Vaishali’s 8th full-point of the tournament.

Meanwhile, the top-board game between Bhakti Kulkarni and Tania Sachdev turned out to be a rather long draw with 88 moves being played. This draw has pushed Tania back to the second spot whilst Bhakti Kulkarni and Soumya Swaminathan are ranked joint-3rd.

Results of Round 9: Click Here

World Open 2015 Final: Lendermann triumphs on Tie-Breaks!

After 9 rounds of gruelling chess at the World Open 2015, as many as 8 (!) Grandmasters tied for the 1st-8th spots in the final rankings with 7 points apiece. However, GM Alex Lendermann secured the sole first rank as he won the Tie-breaks after overcoming GM Rauf Mamedov in an Armageddon game.

Meanwhile, John Michael Burke of USA, rated 2258, recorded an amazing performance as he finished tied for the 9th-17th spots along with several strong Grandmasters.

Amongst Indians, GM Panchanathan and GM-elect Ashwin Jayaram turned out to be the best performers with 6 points each and a tie for 18th-34th places.

Final Rankings: Click Here

Indian Women Challengers Round 8: Tania defeats Vaishali

A Caruana-like start by Vaishali R at the RamRatna 42nd National Challengers Chess Championship was brought to a halt by top-seed Tania Sachdev as the latter won a convincing game against the overnight leader with a nice tactical blow on move 33. With this win, Tania has joined Vaishali at the top of the rankings with 7 points apiece.

In other top games, Bhakti Kulkarni overcame Rucha Pujari while Michelle Catherina won against Ivana Maria Furtado. With these wins, Bhakti and Michelle have taken up the joint second spot with 6.5 points each.

Round 8 Results: Click Here

Paracin 06: Four share lead

Four players shared the lead with 5.0/6 at the International Championship of Central Serbia, 2015. Erstwhile leader GM Nikola Sedlak could only draw his last two games to allow others to join him.

IM N. Srinath (2464) slumped to a loss due to which he remains stranded at 4.0/6. He is joined at the same score by Md. Nubairshah Shaikh (2423) who won his sixth round game.

Check the Round 7 pairings here.

Indian Women Challengers Round 7: Vaishali does a ‘Caruana’!

Tamil Nadu youngster Vaishali R continued her unchallenged dominance at the RamRatna 42nd National Challengers Chess Championship as she overcame Saranya J in a fine attacking game with the White pieces. Vaishali dramatically sacrificed a knight on move 14 with the idea of exposing her opponent’s King in the centre, and after that, there was no looking back. Saranya resigned on the 23rd move. With this win, Vaishali has notched up an exhilarating ‘Caruana-like’ start with 7 points in as many games.

Meanwhile, on the 2nd board, top seed Tania Sachdev won a convincing game with the White pieces in the Main Line of Slav Defence. Tania is now ranked a sole second, one point behind Vaishali.

The top-board game in Round 8 promises to be a crucial one as Vaishali R, playing black, will take on Tania Sachdev. A draw or win for Vaishali will keep her comfortably placed ahead of the rest of the field. However, a victory for Tania will leave the field wide open.

Round 7 Results: Click Here

 

Hainan Danzhou 05: Wang Yue beats Ding Liren

GM Wang Yue (2716) beat the highest rated Chinese GM Ding Liren (2749) with the white pieces to grab pole position with 4.0/5.

GM Ni Hua (2703) put it across GM Lu Shanglei (2595) with the black pieces to stand at second position with 3.5/5. India’s GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2640) meanwhile drew with GM Wei Yi (2724) to move to 1.5/5.

Check the pairings for Round 6 here.