Shardul Gagare wins Letsup MCA GP Blitz 4

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/07/2020

GM Shardul Gagare surprised everyone and won his first ChessBase India Online Blitz tournament. He scored 8.5/10, finished a half point ahead of the competition to win Letsup MCA GP Blitz 4. He will receive ₹7800 for his efforts. IM Terry Renato and GM Vugar Rasulov were placed second and third according to tie-breaks as both of them finished with 8.0/10. GM Vaibhav Suri maintained his GP standings lead with 31/40, followed by GP1 winner Rasulov at 26/40 and Abdusattorov at 21/40. Since best four out of five results will be counted, GP is still wide open. Registration for Blitz 5 is open. Can Vaibhav Suri win Letsup MCA Grand Prix?

Vaibhav Suri is the favorite to win the GP

GM Shardul Gagare won his first ChessBase India Online Blitz event as he scored 8.5/10 and finished a half point ahead of the remaining podium finishers to win Letsup MCA GP Blitz 4. He is also the first Indian to win a Letsup MCA GP and he is also from Maharashtra. IM Terry Renato of Peru and GM Vugar Rasulov of Azerbaijan both scored 8.0/10 and they were placed second and third according to their tie-break scores. GM Vaibhav Suri maintained his GP standings lead with 31/40, followed by GP1 winner Rasulov at 26/40 and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov at 21/40. Total Prize Fund of Blitz 4 was increased by 20% for each prizes as the event had to be rescheduled to 1st July due to some technical issues on the originally scheduled date of 24th June.

Letsup presents MCA Blitz GP 2020

Total 108 players including 21 GMs, 17 IMs, 4 WIMs and WFM took part from Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Chile, England, Indonesia, Peru, Russia, USA, Uzbekistan and India.

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan is the winner of MCA GP Blitz 3

Shardul shared his joy of winning the tournament on his page

Uzbektiger95 got the better of IndianKing97

Uzbektiger95 (GM Jakhongir Vakhdov) defeated IndianKing97 (GM Shardul Gagare) in Round 5 after the latter incorrectly tried to break the position wide open after having an already cramped position.

Uzbektiger95 - IndianKing97, Round 5

Position after 22...f5

How do you think white should react to 22...f5 ?

GM Jakhongir Vakhidov scored 7.0/10 and finished 7th | Photo: gamesmaven.io

A prolonged endgame with the Devil

Perhaps IndianKing97's (GM Shardul Gagare) best win of the tournament was against Devil1234 (GM Raunak Sadhwani) in Round 6 as Shardul played the endgame precisely and made sure the advantage doesn't slip off his grasp.

IndianKing97 - Devil1234, Round 6

Position after 33...Ra8

Shardul converted his advantage without any difficulty as he managed to push his passed pawns on the king side after 34.Bxh6 with little to no resistance.

GM Raunak Sadhwani finished 9th with 7.0/10 | Photo: Niki Riga

Battle of the podium finishers

Terryr (IM Terry Renato) of Peru came very close to winning against IndianKing97 (GM Shardul Gagare) in Round 8, but he missed it. Of course there was time scramble in the end it was difficult to spot the win.

IndianKing97 - Terryr, Round 8

Position after 43.Qa7

The game continued with 43...Qd7 and a draw was agreed after repeating moves. What was the better continuation for black?

IM Terry Renato scored 8.0/10 and he was placed second

The '97 thrillers

In the penultimate round of the game, GP standings leader irus1997 (GM Vaibhav Suri) had a brilliant position against the eventual winner IndianKing97 (GM Shardul Gagare). However he missed an opportunity and eventually blundered to lose the game.

Irus1997 - IndianKing97, Round 9

Position after 20...Nc6

Find out the best continuation for white after 20...Nc6

Position after 31.Bf2

Find out why 31.Bf2 is a blunder and what white should have done instead.

GM Vaibhav Suri maintained his GP Standings lead, scored 7.5/10 and finished sixth | Photo: Niki Riga

GP1 winner GM Vugar Rasulov of Azerbaijan scored 8.0/10 to finish third | Photo: Azer news

Chilled win by Chillax

Chillax (GM Shyamsundar M) scored a fine victory over Devil1234 (GM Raunak Sadhwani) in Round 8.

Chillax - Devil1234, Round 8

Position after 23...Qe6

Find out why 23...Qe6 is a blunder and what black should have played instead.

GM Shyamsundar M scored 7.5/10 and finished fifth | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Final Standings:

GP Standings after Blitz 4

Main Prize winners (Top 20)

Rank	Name	Score	Prize money
1	GM Shardul Gagare	8.5	₹7800
2	IM Terry Renato	8	₹4800
3	GM Vugar Rasulov	8	₹3000
4	GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara	7.5	₹2400
5	GM Shyamsundar M	7.5	₹1200
6	GM Vaibhav Suri	7.5	₹960
7	GM Jakhongir Vakhidov	7	₹840
8	FM Pranav Anand	7	₹720
9	GM Raunak Sadhwani	7	₹600
10	IM Aronyak Ghosh	7	₹600
11	IM Mitrabha Guha	7	₹600
12	GM Alan Pichot	7	₹480
13	FM L R Srihari	7	₹480
14	GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov	7	₹480
15	CM Kushagra Mohan	7	₹360
16	GM D Gukesh	6.5	₹360
17	GM Diptayan Ghosh	6.5	₹360
18	FM Jubin Jimmy	6.5	₹360
19	IM Arghyadip Das	6.5	₹360
20	GM Debashis Das	6.5	₹360