Shanya Mishra stuns Grandmaster Thipsay

Commonwealth Chess Championship – 2017

Young Delhi girl Shanya Mishra stunned veteran Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay in the second round of the Commonwealth Chess Championship now underway here at the Leela Convention center.

On what turned out to be a strictly one sided affair, Shanya was at the top of her game in a Kign’s Indian defense game. Thipsay is known to be an expert on the opening but on this day his form deserted him as the Delhi girl, rated more than 600 points below the Grandmaster gave no chances.

The middle game saw Shanya coming out on top with some thematic display on the queen side and as the game progressed, she tightened the noose. Winning one pawn, Shanya penetrated on the queen’s wing with all her might and it was all over when Thipsay lost a piece and then his queen.

Top Seeded Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta continued with his winning run defeating P V Nandhidhaa. Itb was an English opening wherein Abhijeet got a stronghold thanks to a tactical trick in the middle game and Nandhidhaa did not get many chances.

Grandmaster Vaibhav Suri accounted for Srija Sheshadri in a clean game with white pieces. It was Semi Slav defense where Suri won a pawn and never looked back.

Yesterday’s giant killer Kumar Gaurav played out a draw with International Master C Praven Kumar to remain on course for what would be his second International Master norm.
Important second round results:

Open (Indian unless stated): Abhijeet Gupta (2) bt P. V. Nandhidhaa(1); Chakravarthi Reddy (1) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (2); Vaibhav Suri (2) bt Srija Seshadari (1); Swapnil Dhopade (2) bt Mrudul Dehankar (1); Ooi Zhi Yang (1) lost to Abhijit Kunte (2); Deepan Chakravarthy (2) bt D. Jishitha; Rajesh Nayak (1.5) drew with Abdullah Al Rakib (Ban, 1.5); Ankita Rajpara (2) bt Parnali Dharia (1); Kiran Mohanty (1.5) drew with Shardul Gagare (1.5); G. B. Joshi (1.5) drew with Niaz Murshed (Ban, 1.5); K. Priyanka (2) bt Padmini Rout (1); Shamima Akter (Ban, 1) lost to Soumya Swaminathan (2); Mary Ann Gomes (2) bt Tarini Goyal (1); Kumar Gaurav (1.5) drew with C. Praveen Kumar (1.5); Swati Ghate (2) bt Rohit Vassan (1); Shanya Mishra (1.5) btPraveen Thipsay (0.5).