Diptayan Ghosh wins Gujarat-Goa Online Blitz 2018

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/09/2018

GM Diptayan Ghosh wins Gujarat-Goa ChessBase India Online Blitz Chess Tournament 2018. Diptayan scored 8.5/10 and finished half point ahead of a pack of four players who finished 8.0/10. They are GM Abhimanyu Puranik, Sankalp Gupta, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and GM R Pragnnanandhaa. The tournament witnessed the participation of over 150 players including 10 GMs, 15 IMs and 3 WIMs. Over 700 games were played within a span of just over 90 minutes. For the first time the tournament was conducted from ChessBase's headquarters at Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Diptayan clinches Gujarat-Goa ChessBase India Online Blitz 2018

Top two highest untitled finishers within top 15 in the final standings were supposed to get free entry at Gujarat and Goa GM 2018, unfortunately no one got it

The only untitled player to finish in top 15 and eligible for free entry was Sankalp Gupta. However he has informed us that he is unavailable to participate in either of the events, due to his prior commitment to another event.

GM Diptayan Ghosh scored 8.5/10 and three draws in the last three round turned out to be in his favor

Here is an annotated game by the champion, Diptayan himself against pranav_vip (Pranav V) from the 7th round

Diptayan's best game was against Fighter64 (GM Karthikeyan Murali) in the 6th round of the tournament. Unfortunately, Karthikeyan's 54th pre-move Rxf5 proved to be fatal as that blundered his rook and cost the game.

Pune's youngest GM Abhimanyu Puranik scored 8.0/10 and claimed 2nd position due to a better tie-break score

In the last round, Pabh (Abhimanyu) was pitted against RATHNAKARN (IM Ratnakaran K) in the last round. Abhimanyu dominated the entire match, Ratnakaran tried to extract something by sacrificing an exchange, however Abhimanyu did not budge, maintained his advantage until his opponent blundered in time pressure.

Sankalp Gupta is the only untitled player to finish in top 15 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Junior Tyson (Sankalp Gupta) arguably had the best game of the entire tournament when he won against Refresh (GM Aravindh Chithambaram) in the penultimate round.

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy also scored 8.0/10 and secured 4th position | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Dchakkravarthy (GM Deepan Chakkravarthy) defeated LAXMAN (GM R R Laxman) by launching a devastating attack after getting dominated in the early part of the game.

India's youngest and World's second youngest GM R Praggnanandhaa finished at 5th position with 7.5/10 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

chessworld1 (R Praggnanandhaa) defeated Pabh (GM Abhimanyu Puranik) in a marathon game of 84 moves

Telengana's first GM Erigaisi Arjun scored 7.5/10 and was placed 6th | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Indian-Lion (IM Erigaisi Arjun) defeated chessworld1 (GM R Praggnanandhaa) convincingly in the 6th round after the latter blundered an exchange early in the game.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram scored 7.5/10 and secured 7th position | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Refresh (Aravindh) drew with Indian-Lion (Erigaisi Arjun) in the 7th round where things could have in either way.

India's newly minted WGM R Vaishali scored 7.5/10 and she was declared 8th | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Rvaishali2001 (R Vaishali) shows her patience when she waits for her opponent to make a mistake in a deadlock position against Suyu28 (Suyog Wagh) in the final round of the tournament.

Former two-time National champion, GM Karthikeyan Murali scored 7.0/10 and due to a better tie-break score secured 9th position | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Fighter64 (Karthikeyan Murali) had a good game with Refresh (Aravindh Chithambaram) until the latter blundered a rook.

10th position was secured by former National blitz champion, GM Laxman R R who scored 7.0/10 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

LAXMAN ( Laxman R R) survived by the skin of his teeth against Fighter64 (Karthikeyan Murali) in the penultimate round.

Main Prize winners:

1	GM Diptayan Ghosh	2527	₹7500
2	GM Abhimanyu Puranik	2328	₹5000
3	Sankalp Gupta	2250	₹3000
4	GM Deepan Chakravarthy	2524	₹2000
5	GM R Pragnnanandhaa	2335	₹1500
6	IM Erigaisi Arjun	2412	₹1300
7	GM Aravindh Chithambaram	2505	₹1200
8	WIM R Vaishali	2296	₹900
9	GM Karthikeyan Murali	2487	₹800
10	GM Laxman R R	2527	₹800

Lucky prize winners:

20	FM Niranjan Navalgund	2296	₹750
30	Ajay Karthikeyan	1804	₹750
40	Ram S Krishnan	2324	₹750
50	Krishna Karthik Nerella	1659	₹750
60	Potluri Saye Srreezza	1779	₹750
70	Amithpal Singh	2107	₹750

Reviews from the participants:

Diptayan Ghosh, Grandmaster, Kolkata

"I would like to thank Chessbase India for organizing such a wonderful tournament. It was conducted very smoothly and there were no problems at all. Hope such tournament will continue in the future as well."

Saurabh Anand, former South Asian Amateur and two-time State Champion of Bihar

"I am glad that I took part in this tournament. Tournament was conducted very nicely. I didn’t face any issue. It was perfect. "

Vinod Bhagwat, Nashik, Maharashtra

"It was really a very organised event. But playing it first time I failed to enjoy the event fully as I have joined from 7th round. By opening playchess normally, I could not get the desired window and main playing hall. But going through fritz I got the right path but that time it was too late. However, I have no regrets and I would like to congratulate your whole team for the event. Pl keep informing. Thanks and regards"

Priti Mahendru, mother of Jaiveer Mahendru, Mumbai, Maharashtra

"It was a great tournament, just that there should have been 2 sec increment at each move. With no increment, it became difficult."

Download all games from the tournament here