1st Guwahati GM Open R7-8: C R G Krishna joins the three-way lead
IM C R G Krishna overcame a completely lost position and beat GM Deepan Chakkravarthy in the eighth round of 1st Guwahati International GM Open 2022. He joined IM Sayantan Das and GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR) in the lead. They drew their game against each other. IM Sidhant Mohapatra who beat GM Iniyan P in a brilliant manner in the seventh round, lost to GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE) in Round 8. GM Saptarshi Roy completed his hat-trick by beating IM Ortik Nigmatov in a picturesque finish. He is in the chase along with Azer, Pavel Ponkratov and Fawzy Adham. Round 9 starts today at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Saptarshi in pursuit
FM Aradhya Garg scored an impressive victory against GM Masoud Mosadeghpour (IRI). Kaustuv Kundu, WGM Srija Seshadri, WIM Priyanka K, CM Mayank Chakraborty and Praloy Sahoo drew with GM Stany G A, GM Iniyan P, GM Karthik Venkataraman, IM Abdisalimov Abdimalik (UZB) and WGM Divya Deshmukh respectively. Arnav Maheshwari beat Assam's first IM Shahil Dey.
Round 7: Ratnakaran - Neuris: 0-1
IM Ratnakaran K (2316) played uncharacteristically passive against GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR). The first break he made, cost him a pawn and the entire position.
20.d4 was an unnecessary break. 20...cxd4 21.Bxb5 Bb4 and White loses the c3-pawn due to pin. White eventually recovered the pawn at the cost of an onslaught on his kingside.
Sayantan - Cristhian: 1-0
GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (COL, 2449) grabbed a poisoned pawn in the opening and could not recover for the rest of the game. IM Sayantan Das (2459) wrapped up the game in just 20 moves.
Find out the best continuation for White after 8...Nxd4.
Sidhant - Iniyan: 1-0
It is not necessary to play the best moves all the time. Sometimes you just have to do something to induce a mistake by your opponent. That is exactly what IM Sidhant Mohapatra (2359) did against GM Iniyan P (2516)
The idea behind 24.Nd4 is simple, it wants to go to the e6-square and create havoc. Black's best bet would be to get rid of the knight 24...Nd4 25.Rxe7 Bf8 26.Rxb7 dxc5 and everything is alright for Black. Computer may not like Nd4, only a human can appreciate the true beauty of it. Black decided not to take the knight and play 24...Qc4. Everything fell apart for Black in a hurry 25.cxd6 Nxd5 26.Rac1 and White is completely winning. White won the game by promoting another queen.
Round 8: Deepan - C R G Krishna: 1-0
GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2520) was completely winning against IM C R G Krishna (2466).
47.Qh7 Rf8 48.g5 completely dominates the position. Black would not have much to go on. Soon White sacrificed the pawns on the kingside, blundered the knight and lost the game eventually.
Nigmatov - Saptarshi: 0-1
IM Ortik Nigmatov (UZB, 2445) blundered a mate in two against GM Saptarshi Roy (2402). The Uzbek had a decisive advantage few moves earlier.
41.Qc1 was the safer continuation for White. 41.Kd2 turned things in Black's favor 41...Rh2+ 42.Re2 Rh1 and now White blundered 43.e5. Find out the checkmate in two moves and also try to look for the better continuation for Black instead of 41...Rh2+.
Aradhya - Masoud: 1-0
FM Aradhya Garg (2236) beat his second GM of the event, Masoud Mosadeghpour (IRI, 2511).
18...Qxa4 is certainly a mistake as Black loses a lot of material. 19.Rxb7 Qxc2 20.Rxa7 Qxb2 21.Rxe7 and the rest was just a matter of time. Aradhya converted his advantage into a win in no time.
Highlights
A few interesting finishes from Round 7 and 8
For more Round 7 and Round 8 photos, please click at the respective links.
A total of 254 players including 13 GMs, 16 IMs, 2 WGMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 11 federations across the world including India. The tournament is organized by All Assam Chess Association from 14th to 20th March 2022 at Guwahati, Assam. The ten-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1