1st Guwahati GM Open R9: C R G Krishna in a four-way race to the finish
IM C R G Krishna drew his game quickly in just 17 moves against GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (PAR) in Round 9 of 1st Guwahati International GM Open 2022. They are joined by GM Fawzy Adham (EGY) and GM Pavel Ponkratov who registered victories over IM Sayantan Das and GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE) respectively. To win the tournament, Krishna must win the last round and hope the remaining leaders draw their game. If all four leaders draw their games, there is a possibility of as many as seven players finishing with 8.0/10. It would mean the tie-breaks will decide the winner. Final Round 10 games start today at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Six-pack in the chase
Six players are at a half point behind the leaders 7.0/9 each. They are - IM Sayantan Das, IM Ratnakaran K, FM Aradhya Garg, IM Nitin S, GM Visakh N R and IM Sidhant Mohapatra.
Sayantan - Fawzy: 0-1
IM Sayantan Das (2459) went wrong in the endgame which caused his opponent GM Fawzy Adham's (EGY) bishops to become menacing.
24.a3 would have continued the game Bxa1 25.Rxa1. The rook-knight vs rook-bishop and many pawns endgame was playable for White. However, 24.Kf1 drastically turned things in Black's favor. Find out the correct continuation for Black. Remember, Black does not have to take the a1-rook immediately which means there is certainly an intermediate move which Fawzy found in the game.
Saptarshi - Visakh: 1-0
GM Saptarshi Roy (2402) who loves playing sharp chess was not able to do so. In fact it's his opponent GM Visakh N R (2522) who launched a devastating attack.
12...b5 works for a lot of reasons. White might have an extra pawn at the center of the board, however he is yet to complete development of pieces and none of them are making any real threat.
Cristhian - Dhananjay: 0.5-0.5
Dhananjay S (2310) had no choice but to go for a Queen vs Rook and many pawns endgame where he was the defender.
29...Qb4 was a safer alternative according to the computer. However, Dhananjay felt 29...Rxd4 to be a better choice. If you know how to defend a Queen vs Rook endgame, most importantly how to create a fortress, then it should be good. He eventually managed to salvage a draw without making any mistake.
Highlights
A few interesting finishes from Round 9
For more Round 9 photos, please click here.
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