Sankalp Gupta [Photo: Amruta Mokal/ ChessBase India]
2nd Goa International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament-2019
Report by IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran
Round 1
The 2nd edition of Goa International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament got off to a surprising start as Chennai based BSNL employee Ram S Krishnan stunned seventh seed Grandmaster Aleksej Aleksandrov in the opening round.
Playing white side of Ragozin Defence variation of Queen’s Gambit Declined, Ram was a class act on Tuesday afternoon against his Belarusian opponent as he put enormous pressure on the king side of his rival in the middle game to secure a memorable victory after 42 moves.
It was a day of big upsets as Grandmasters found the going tough. Apart from Aleksandrov, Grandmaster Karthik Venkataraman, RR Luxman, Himanshu Sharma and Maximum Lugovskoy of Russia bit the dust against their lower rated Indian opponents.
National Junior Champion Karthik Venkatarman suffered shock defeat from the hands of Manish Anto Cristiano of Tamilnadu while Balkishan A, Bihar youngster Kumar Gaurav and Karthik Rajaa outwitted RR Luxman, Lugovskoy and Himanshu Sharma respectively in the first round.
There were numerous instances of lower rated Indian youngsters holding their higher rated counterparts as Dhairya Ghelani of Maharashtra held Grandmaster Schroeder Rodrigo Vasquez of Chile and Grandmaster Debashis Das forced to split the point with Saina Salonika. Unheralded Maharashtrian girl Prachiti Chandratreya held seasoned International Master Muhammad Khusenkhojaev of Tajikistan while International Master Shyaamnikhil agreed to sign the peace treaty with Karthick Narayanan.
Meanwhile top rated Indian Grandmaster former World Junior Champion Abhijeet Gupta had an easy outing against Rishpal Singh and defending champion Idani Pouya of Iran defeated Rathneesh R without much struggle. Goa’s first Grandmaster Anurag Mhamal started his campaign in positive note as he defeated Atharva Jaeel in the first round.
A total number of 246 players from 23 countries, which include 35 Grandmasters, 29 International Masters, 02 Women Grandmasters and 10 Women International Masters are taking part in the premier section while in the Category ‘B’ for the players below 1999 international rating which is underway simultaneously with the premier section attracted a total number of 458 players. The third category for the players below 1599 elo rating will start on Saturday and this section already crossed the barrier 500 and entries are pouring day by day.
Earlier, in the opening ceremony, Shri. Nilesh Cabral, Minister of Power, Government of Goa formally inaugurated the tournament by making the customary first move against top seed Grandmaster Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela in presence of Shri. Vassant M Prabudessai, Executive Director Sports Authority of Goa, Shri. Sekhar Chandra Sahu, Vice President All India Chess Federation and Shri. Kishore Bandekar, Treasurer All India Chess Federation and Secretary Goa Chess Association.
Round 2
Madhya Pradesh youngster Anuj Shrivatri held top seed and favourite Venezuelan Grandmaster Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli with dark pieces in the second round in an English Opening game. Anuj tactically utilized the mistake committed by his fancied rival on 17th move to register a creditable draw after 36 moves.
In other upsets of the day, Tamilnadu lad Pranesh M held fourth seed Grandmaster Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia while defending champion Grandmaster Idani Pouya forced to sign the peace treaty with Abhishek Kelkar. Neelash Saha of West Bengal held Grandmaster Kirill Stupak of Belarus. Grandmaster Davij Jojua of Georgia and Grandmaster Maxim Turov of Russia satisfied with half point with Rathanvel V S and Sameer Kathmale respectively. Grandmaster Adam Tukhaev of Ukraine and Grandmaster Vladimir Burmakin of Russia also forced to split the point
In other important second round outings, seasoned campaigner International Master Konguvel Ponnuswamy used his experience to beat India’s youngest Grandmaster D Gukesh in a fine crafted endgame.
Sankalp Gupta brought cheers to Indian chess buffs by becoming the new International Master of the country as he crossed the rating barrier of 2400 after outwitting Brazilian Grandmaster Alexandr Fier in the third round game. Already having required number of International Masters Norms in the kitty, Gupta now completed all the formalities to become an International Master.
Meanwhile four players are leading with perfect score at the end of fifth round matches in the Category B section for the players Below 2000 rating category which is underway simultaneously with premier section.
Results
Round 2 on 2019/06/19 at 0930 hrs
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 1 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | 2637 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | FM | Anuj Shrivatri | 2336 | 72 | ||
| 2 | 73 | Pranav V | 2336 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | GM | Pantsulaia Levan | 2614 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | 2611 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | Ajay Krishna S | 2335 | 74 | |||
| 4 | 75 | FM | Pranesh M | 2328 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Mchedlishvili Mikheil | 2609 | 4 | ||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2606 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | FM | Dang Hoang Son | 2320 | 78 | ||
| 6 | 77 | IM | Abhishek Kelkar | 2323 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Idani Pouya | 2597 | 6 | ||
| 7 | 79 | Neelash Saha | 2315 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Stupak Kirill | 2584 | 8 | |||
| 8 | 9 | GM | Jojua Davit | 2580 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | FM | Rathanvel V S | 2314 | 80 | ||
| 9 | 83 | IM | Kathmale Sameer | 2307 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Turov Maxim | 2579 | 10 | ||
| 10 | 11 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | 2573 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | 2302 | 84 | ||
| 11 | 85 | IM | Siva Mahadevan | 2298 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | GM | Deepan Chakkravarthy J. | 2557 | 12 | ||
| 12 | 13 | GM | Paichadze Luka | 2557 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | WGM | Babiy Olga | 2294 | 86 | ||
| 13 | 15 | GM | Fier Alexandr | 2543 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | Raahul V S | 2292 | 88 | |||
| 14 | 87 | IM | Konguvel Ponnuswamy | 2293 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | GM | Gukesh D | 2543 | 16 | ||
| 15 | 17 | GM | Tukhaev Adam | 2527 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | IM | Saravana Krishnan P. | 2290 | 90 | ||
| 16 | 91 | FM | Gajwa Ankit | 2273 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Burmakin Vladimir | 2526 | 18 | ||
| 17 | 19 | IM | Iniyan P | 2525 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | 2271 | 92 | ||
| 18 | 93 | Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri | 2270 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Malakhatko Vadim | 2505 | 20 | |||
| 19 | 95 | FM | Wagh Suyog | 2250 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | GM | Anurag Mhamal | 2497 | 22 | ||
| 20 | 23 | GM | Venkatesh M.R. | 2490 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | Bhambure Shantanu | 2248 | 96 | |||
| 21 | 97 | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | 2245 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Gagare Shardul | 2482 | 24 | ||
| 22 | 25 | GM | Rahman Ziaur | 2481 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | Shelke Sankarsha | 2239 | 100 | |||
| 23 | 99 | FM | Deshpande Aniruddha | 2242 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Kunte Abhijit | 2478 | 26 | ||
| 24 | 107 | FM | Srihari L R | 2214 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | GM | Kostenko Petr | 2473 | 28 | ||
| 25 | 29 | GM | Neverov Valeriy | 2470 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | IM | Deshmukh Anup | 2229 | 102 | ||
| 26 | 113 | FM | Aaryan Varshney | 2196 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | CM | Aditya Mittal | 2461 | 30 | ||
| 27 | 31 | IM | Vignesh N R | 2459 | 1 | 1 – 0 | 1 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | 2223 | 106 | ||
| 28 | 115 | Senthil Maran K | 2187 | 1 | ½ – ½ | 1 | GM | Karthikeyan P. | 2445 | 36 | |||
| 29 | 117 | Patil Pratik | 2184 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | IM | Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh | 2436 | 38 | |||
| 30 | 119 | WIM | Michelle Catherina P | 2182 | 1 | 0 – 1 | 1 | Sammed Jaykumar Shete | 2431 | 40 |
Certificate of SNA seminar and exam in Rajahmundry on 30 November & 01 December 2024. 
Final Report of Senior National Arbiter Seminar & Examination in Panjim Goa on 7th and 8th December 2024 
Grandmaster Chess Camp in Aizawl, Mizoram from 09-13 December 2024 
Live Games Link for 37th National Under 13 Open and Girls Chess Championship 2024 
Live Game links: ODISHA OPEN (Category ‘A’) 
Certificate of SNA seminar held in DImapur of 28 & 29 November 2024