MPL 58th Senior National Chess Championship-2022 : Five share lead; Senior Nationals heading for an exciting finish

Kanpur (01 Mar 22) :- The MPL 58^th Senior National Chess Championship at Ganges Club, Kanpur heading for an exciting finish as five players are now leading the point table with six and half points with just three rounds remaining in the thirty lakh prize money event hosted by Uttar Pradesh Chess Sports Association and sponsored by MPL Sports Foundation.

In the crucial eighth round on Tuesday morning, Tamil Nadu Grandmaster P Iniyan outwitted top seed B Adhiban while International Master P Pranav shocked seasoned campaigner Grandmaster Deep Sengupta to join Erigaisi Arjun and Gukesh D in the top point table along with defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram, who beat Railwayman Sayantan Das in the eighth round encounter.

Overnight joint leaders Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh signed the peace treaty with Visakh N R and Lalith Babu M R respectively which enabled Iniyan, Pranav and Aravindh to catch up the leaders with contrasting wins in the eighth round.

In other important encounters, Grandmaster Mitrabha Guha and Aryan Chopra agreed to split the points while commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta beat Nitin S of Railways. Mitrabha, Aryan and Abhijeet are now trailing behind the leaders with a drift of half point along with Lalith Babu M R, Visakh N R,  Swapnil Dhopade and Aditya Mittal. Swapnil got the better of IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal while Adiya registered victory over Srihari L R of Tamil Nadu in the eighth round battle.

Earlier, Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak, Vice Chancellor of Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj Kanpur University inaugurated the eighth round proceedings in presence of Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President All India Chess Federation.

In the ninth round, which is now in progress at the time of report, Pranav is taking on Arjun Erigaisi while Gukesh is pitted against Iniyan P and Aravindh paired against Swapnil Dhopade.

Important Results:-

Round – 8 :- GM Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana (6.5) drew with GM Visakh N R of Railways (6); GM Lalith Babu M R of PSPB (6) drew with GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu (6.5); GM Iniyan P of Tamil Nadu (6.5)  beat GM Adhiban B of PSPB (5.5); GM Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu (6.5) beat IM Sayantan Das of Railways (5.5); GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (6) drew with GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (6); GM Deep Sengupta of PSPB (5.5) lost to IM Pranav V of Tamil Nadu (6.5); IM Nitin S of Railways (5) lost to GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (6); IM Himal Gusain of Railways (5.5) drew with GM Sethuraman S P of PSPB (5.5); IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal (5) lost to GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways (6); IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (6) beat IM Srihari L R of Tamil Nadu (5); IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra (5.5) drew with IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (5.5); IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (5.5) drew with IM K Ratnakaran of Railways (5.5); Sambit Panda of Odisha (5.5) drew with GM Laxman R R of Railways (5.5); IM Sarvana Krishnan of Tamil Nadu (4.5) lost to GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (5.5); GM Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana (5) drew with FM Ayush Sharma of Madhya Pradesh (5); IM Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh (4.5) lost to IM Ravi Teja S of Railways (5.5); Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (5) drew with IM Pranesh M of Tamil Nadu (5); IM Neelash Saha of West Bengal lost to FM Aaryan Varshney of Delhi (5.5); FM Sharan Rao of Karnataka (4.5) lost to IM Vignesh N R of Railways (5.5); IM Shyaamnikhil P of Railways (5.5) beat Anilkumar O T of Kerala (4.5).

Round – 7 :- Aryan Chopra drew with Arjun Erigaisi; Gukesh D drew with Aravindh Chithambaram; Iniyan P drew with Lalith Babu M R; Abhijeet Gupta drew with Mitrabha Guha; Adhiban B beat Neelash Saha; Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh lost to Deep Sengupta; Visakh N R beat Utsab Chatterjee; Sayantan Dad beat Harsha Bharathakoti; Laxman RR drew with Adiyta Mittal; Pranav V beat Anustoop Biswas; Sambit Panda drew with Koustav Chatterjee; Nitin S drew with Ravi Teja S; Karthikeyan Murali drew with Anuj Shrivatri; Sethuraman S P beat Ravi T S; Ratnakaran beat Abhimanyu Puranik; Swapnil Dhopade beat Aradhya Garg; Aronyak Ghosh beat Suyog Wagh; Vignesh N R drew with Akshit Kumar J; Sanket Chakravarty drew with Shyaamnikhil P; Ojasva Singh lost to Srijit Paul.