KCA 1st GM R7: Balkishan crushes Mehar, maintains pursuit with Aakash

by R Anantharam - 05/05/2025

GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) defeated one of his coleaders, GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) to emerge sole leader 6.5/7 at KCA's God's Own Country's 1st GM 2025. IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) scored a big win over GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM). Balkishan A scored a brilliant win over IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H. He made his intentions clear early in the game and did not give any chance to his opponent to get back in the game. FM Aakash G converted his longterm extra pawn advantage into a win against GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM). Balkishan will have the tall task to stop the sole leader, Pantsulaia. The remaining two pursuers - Aakash and Semetei will clash against each other. Round 8 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Pantsulaia emerges sole leader

GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) emerged sole leader with 6.5 points at the end of the eighth round of the KCA’s 1st International Chess Festival – Category A Tournament, organised by Kottayam Chess Academy, today. In a major upset of the tournament, top seed GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM) was shocked by IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) and the latter is in second position with G Aakash of Tamil Nadu and Balkishan A of Karnataka, who scalped grandmaster Karen Movsziszian (ARM) and IM Mehar Chinna Reddy of SC Railway respectively.

Levan - Marat

Position after 38.c6

Should Black take the c6-pawn in the above diagram? The obvious answer is yes. Because if Black doesn't, there is a good chance that it will haunt him by becoming a passed pawn which is what happened. 38...bxc6 39.Rxc6 Bf8 and Black would have been fine. Instead, 38...b6?? 39.Re4 Bc3 40.Re7 Rd2 41.e4 Bxb4 42.Rxc7 and White went on to win the game, thanks to his passed c6-pawn.

GM Levan Pantsualaia (GEO) defeated GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) to gain sole lead 6.5/7 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Semetei - Karen

Position after 33...Kg7

IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ, 2313) sacrificed his knight 34.Nxf3! to improve his position 34...gxf3 35.Qe6 Qd2 36.Qd7+ Kh6?? Black needed to retreat his king to h8 and allow perpetual check by the queen to accept a draw. 37.Qxd6+- Qxd3 38.g4 Qe2 39.Kg3 Qe8 40.Qc7 Qe1 41.g5+ Kxg5 42.Qf4+ Black resigned as there is a checkmate on the next move.

IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) scored a big win over GM Karen Grigoryan (ARM) | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Balkishan - Mehar

Position after 17.g5

Balkishan made his intentions clear that he is playing for only one result when he went 16.g4 followed by 17.g5 attacking on his opponent IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H's (2398) hook on h6. 17...hxg5 18.Rhg1! now Black cannot take it as Rxg7+ leads to checkmate. 18...f6 19.Bg6 Nd3+ 20.Kb1 Nxe5 21.Bxe5 fxe5 22.Qh5 Rf6 23.Rxg5 bringing more pieces into the attack is always a great idea. 23...Qd6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Qh8+ Ke7 26.Qxg7+Kd8 27.Rh5 threatening Rh8+ 27...Rf8 28.Rxd5! and it's over. White just gave absolutely no chance to his opponent.

Balkishan A completely outplayed IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H | Photo: IA R Anantharam

FM Aakash G converted his long-term extra pawn advantage against GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM) into a win | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Shrayan Majumder - IM Nitin S: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

IM Rajesh Vav got back to winning ways against FM Matta Vinay Kumar | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Afreed T Khan - GM P Karthikeyan: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih (INA) bounced back with a win after suffering two losses in-a-row| Photo: IA R Anantharam

A total of 234 players including 16 GMs, 12 IMs and a WIM are taking part from 13 countries across the world. The eight-day ten round GM tournament is being organized by Kottayam Chess Academy from 30th April to 7th May 2025 at The Courtyard Banquet Hall Kanjikuzhi in Kottayam, Kerala. The time control of the event is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		2352	UZB	13
2	12	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei		2358	KGZ	5	1 - 0	5½	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM	1
3	26		Balkishan, A.		2134	KAR	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		2418	SCR	6
4	30	FM	Aakash, G		2100	TN	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Movsziszian, Karen		2417	ARM	7
5	2	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		2544	ARM	4½	½ - ½	5	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		2363	VIE	11
6	4	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Laxman, R.R.		2290	ICF	19
7	8	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		2396	BLR	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Gochelashvili, David		2227	RUS	22
8	9	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	ICF	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Teterev, Vitaly		2266	BLR	21
9	10	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Sharma, Dinesh K.		2164	UP	25
10	28		Majumder, Shrayan		2110	MAH	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Nitin, S.		2331	TN	14
11	15	IM	Rajesh, V A V		2331	SCR	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Matta, Vinay Kumar		2054	UBI	37
12	16	FM	Sanz Wawer, Daniel		2316	ESP	4½	1 - 0	4½		Abhishek, T M		2044	KER	41
13	67		Afreed, T Khan		1921	AP	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		2312	ICF	17
14	79		Krishay, Jain		1891	WB	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR	18
15	61		Gowrishankar, Jayaraj		1943	KER	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO	5

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		GEO	2532	GEO	6,5	33	2546	7	6,5	5,71	0,79	10	7,9
2	26		Balkishan, A.		IND	2134	KAR	6	30	2408	7	6	3,79	2,21	20	44,2
3	30	FM	Aakash, G		IND	2100	TN	6	30	2357	7	6	3,90	2,10	20	42
4	12	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei		KGZ	2358	KGZ	6	28,5	2285	7	6	5,62	0,38	10	3,8
5	1	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		ARM	2556	ARM	5,5	33,5	2412	7	5,5	5,67	-0,17	10	-1,7
6	11	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		VIE	2363	VIE	5,5	33,5	2312	7	5,5	5,39	0,11	10	1,1
7	13	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		UZB	2352	UZB	5,5	32,5	2346	7	5,5	4,97	0,53	10	5,3
8	9	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2394	ICF	5,5	30	2250	7	5,5	5,95	-0,45	10	-4,5
9	15	IM	Rajesh, V A V		IND	2331	SCR	5,5	28,5	2229	7	5,5	5,55	-0,05	10	-0,5
10	18	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		BLR	2307	BLR	5,5	28,5	2216	7	5,5	5,65	-0,15	10	-1,5
11	16	FM	Sanz Wawer, Daniel		ESP	2316	ESP	5,5	24	2038	7	5,5	6,29	-0,79	20	-15,8
12	7	GM	Movsziszian, Karen		ARM	2417	ARM	5	33	2138	7	5	6,26	-1,26	10	-12,6
13	22	IM	Gochelashvili, David		RUS	2227	RUS	5	33	2286	6	4	3,38	0,62	10	6,2
14	5	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		GEO	2448	GEO	5	32	2191	7	5	6,14	-1,14	10	-11,4
15	4	GM	Savchenko, Boris		RUS	2459	RUS	5	31,5	2194	7	5	5,96	-0,96	10	-9,6

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	3	GM	Pantsulaia, Levan		2532	GEO	6½		6		Balkishan, A.		2134	KAR	26
2	30	FM	Aakash, G		2100	TN	6		6	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei		2358	KGZ	12
3	1	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.		2556	ARM	5½		5½	FM	Sanz Wawer, Daniel		2316	ESP	16
4	13	GM	Dzhumaev, Marat		2352	UZB	5½		5½	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		2394	ICF	9
5	11	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy		2363	VIE	5½		5½	IM	Rajesh, V A V		2331	SCR	15
6	18	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		2307	BLR	5½		5	GM	Savchenko, Boris		2459	RUS	4
7	28		Majumder, Shrayan		2110	MAH	5		5	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel		2544	ARM	2
8	5	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike		2448	GEO	5		5		Bhoir, Paras Dilip		2085	MAH	32
9	6	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		2418	SCR	5		5	AIM	Arul, Prakash N		2075	TN	34
10	7	GM	Movsziszian, Karen		2417	ARM	5		5		Karan, J P		2067	KER	36
11	33	FM	Kumar, Gaurav		2079	BIH	5		5	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		2396	BLR	8
12	39	IM	Sarwat, Walaa		2047	EGY	5		5	IM	Schekachikhin, Maksim		2370	FIDE	10
13	46	FM	Ramakrishna, J.		2032	UBI	5		5	IM	Nitin, S.		2331	TN	14
14	17	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		2312	ICF	5		5		Siddhanth, Poonja		2046	KAR	40
15	19	GM	Laxman, R.R.		2290	ICF	5		5		Jayanth, Suravarapu		1948	TEL	60

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