KCA 1st GM R2-3: Deekshitha Modipalli outplays Manuel Petrosyan

by R Anantharam - 02/05/2025

WCM Deekshitha Modipalli scored the biggest upset of the tournament when she defeated the second seeded, GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM). The Armenian won the strong 3rd Maharashtra GM 2025 few days ago. So this win is certainly special for the 12-year-old girl. She made a sound pawn sacrifice on the tenth move and later on built a strong pawn mass in the center which helped her to win the game. Nameet Chavan swindled IM Mehar Chinna Reddy. FM Kumar Gaurav missed a great opportunity against GM Boris Savchenko in Round 3. WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih (INA) seized her opportunity against IM Nitin S. Round 4 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photos: IA R Anantharam

Theresa beats Nitin

12-year-old Telangana girl - WCM Deekhsitha Modipalli had a dream game today by beating the second seeded Grandmaster Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) in the second round of the KCA’s 1st International Chess Festival – Category A Tournament, organised by Kottayam Chess Academy. Another higher seed to meet the disaster is the sixth seeded International Master Mehar Chinna Reddy of South Central Railway against Nameet Chavan of Maharashtra.

WCM Deekshitha Modipalli scored a huge upset over second seeded GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM)

Round 2: Nameet swindles Mehar

Top seed, GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM, 2556) won a nice game by sacrificing his queen against Afreed T Khan (1921).

GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM) - Afreed T Khan: 1-0

Deekshitha - Manuel: 1-0

In the Nimzo Indian Defence by Petrosyan, Deekshitha who was ranked fifth in the National Under-13 Girls Championship in 2024, did not bother about 620 rating points difference and sacrificed a pawn on the tenth move.

Position after 10.c5!

Petrosyan could not defend properly and Deekshitha’s three central pawns made a heavy inroad into the enemy’s camp to post a win in 44 moves.

Nameet - Mehar

Position after 41.Rxb2

IM Mehar Chinna Reddy (2418) was in an absolutely winning position against Nameet Chavan (1901), rated more than 507 points below him. In the double rook and bishop ending, Mehar made a wrong rook capture, totally changing the scenario in favour of Nameet. Which rook is safe to capture for Black in the above position?

Seventh seeded GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM) was held to a draw by Krishay Jain of West Bengal.

GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM) - Krishay Jain: 0.5-0.5

A notable result in the second round is the draw made by Justin Joseph of Kottayam against the Egypt’s International Master, Walaa Sarwat.

Round 3: Savchenko escapes against Kumar

A few questionable decisions landed GM Boris Savchenko (2463) in deep trouble against FM Kumar Gaurav (2070).

Position after 20...e3!

White king is in a precarious situation after displacing and returning to its original position. 20...e3! is what Black needed 21.fxe3 Nxe3 22.Rxe3 Bxe3 23.Qxe3 Qh4+ 24.Kd2 Qxb4+ 25.Qc3 Qxc3+ 26.Kxc3 f4 ideally Black should win. However, the GM used his king quite well to escape with a draw.

FM Kumar Gaurav had a great opportunity against GM Boris Savchenko

Nitin - Theresa

Position after 36...Nc3

IM Nitin S (2331) made a couple of mistakes in consecutive moves 37.Re1? Nxa4! 38.Qe4 Nc5-+ now the position completely turned into WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih's (INA, 1989) favor.

WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih (INA) seized her opportunity against IM Nitin S

WCM Deekshitha Modipalli continues her good form as she drew with GM Evgeniy Podolchenko

The reigning National Amateur Below 2000 Open 2025 Champion, Archisman Patra drew with IM David Gochelashvili

Samarth Rajesh Ragavan (USA) - IM Rahul Sangma: 1-0

Fazil Safal - GM Laxman R R: 1-0

Replay Round 2-3 games

Round 3 results

Bo.	No.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	38		Sivathanujan, S		2050	Sri L	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM	1
2	40		Siddhanth, Poonja		2046	KAR	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	3
3	4	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Kumar, Gaurav		2079	BIH	33
4	42	GM	Ziatdinov, Raset		2041	USA	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO	5
5	51		Advik, Amit Agrawal		2007	MAH	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	ICF	9
6	10	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	2	1 - 0	2		Jyotshnav, Talukdar		2040	ODI	43
7	55		Sharnarthi, Shlok		1991	MAH	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		2363	VIE	11
8	57		Shourya, Paul		1982	WB	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		2352	UZB	13
9	14	IM	Nitin, S.		2331	TN	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Singgih, Diajeng Theresa		1931	INA	64
10	59		Chukka, Vineel Radha Karthik		1958	AP	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Rajesh, V A V		2331	SCR	15
11	18	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR	2	½ - ½	2	WCM	Modipalli, Deekshitha		1924	TEL	66
12	20	GM	Manik, Mikulas		2273	SVK	2	1 - 0	2		Chavan, Nameet		1901	MAH	74
13	63		Prakhar, Tripathi		1932	UP	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Teterev, Vitaly		2266	BLR	21
14	65		Archisman, Patra		1929	WB	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS	22
15	103		Sidharth, Mohan		1834	KER	2	½ - ½	2		Arnav, Agrawal		2194	UP	23

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	32		Bhoir, Paras Dilip		IND	2085	MAH	3	6	2531	3	3	2,61	0,39	40	15,6
2	155		Ragavan, Samarth Rajesh		USA	1736	USA	3	5,5	2853	3	3	0,42	2,58	40	103,2
3	11	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		VIE	2363	VIE	3	5	2684	3	3	2,74	0,26	10	2,6
4	13	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		UZB	2352	UZB	3	5	2675	3	3	2,74	0,26	10	2,6
5	15	IM	Rajesh, V A V		IND	2331	SCR	3	5	2667	3	3	2,74	0,26	10	2,6
6	20	GM	Manik, Mikulas		SVK	2273	SVK	3	5	2643	3	3	2,74	0,26	10	2,6
7	21	GM	Teterev, Vitaly		BLR	2266	BLR	3	5	2653	3	3	2,72	0,28	10	2,8
8	25	IM	Sharma, Dinesh K.		IND	2164	UP	3	5	2580	3	3	2,71	0,29	10	2,9
9	28		Majumder, Shrayan		IND	2110	MAH	3	5	2599	3	3	2,58	0,42	20	8,4
10	1	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		ARM	2556	ARM	3	4,5	2727	3	3	2,76	0,24	10	2,4
11	3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		GEO	2532	GEO	3	4,5	2720	3	3	2,76	0,24	10	2,4
12	5	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		GEO	2448	GEO	3	4,5	2712	3	3	2,76	0,24	10	2,4
13	10	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		FID	2370	FIDE	3	4,5	2706	3	3	2,72	0,28	10	2,8
14	9	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2394	ICF	3	4	2696	3	3	2,75	0,25	10	2,5
15	24		Ahaz, E U		IND	2191	KER	3	4	2611	3	3	2,70	0,30	40	12

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM	3		3	GM	Manik, Mikulas		2273	SVK	20
2	3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	3		3	GM	Teterev, Vitaly		2266	BLR	21
3	5	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO	3		3		Ahaz, E U		2191	KER	24
4	9	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	ICF	3		3	IM	Sharma, Dinesh K.		2164	UP	25
5	64	WIM	Singgih, Diajeng Theresa		1931	INA	3		3	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	10
6	11	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		2363	VIE	3		3		Majumder, Shrayan		2110	MAH	28
7	13	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		2352	UZB	3		3		Bhoir, Paras Dilip		2085	MAH	32
8	15	IM	Rajesh, V A V		2331	SCR	3		3		Ragavan, Samarth Rajesh		1736	USA	155
9	50	CM	Chinmay, Kowshik		2011	KAR	2½		2½	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS	4
10	7	GM	Movsziszian, Karen		2417	ARM	2½		2½		Samuel, Stephen Noble S		1999	AP	53
11	17	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		2312	ICF	2½		2½		Archisman, Patra		1929	WB	65
12	52		Sree, Shaunak Chanda		2001	TEL	2½		2½	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR	18
13	58		Swayham, P Das		1968	GUJ	2½		2½	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS	22
14	23		Arnav, Agrawal		2194	UP	2½		2½		Safal, Fazil		1893	KER	77
15	66	WCM	Modipalli, Deekshitha		1924	TEL	2½		2½		Balkishan, A.		2134	KAR	26

Details

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed