Vidit Gujrathi In Lead At Tiruvarur

Vidit Gujrathi In Lead At Tiruvarur

By Arvind Aaron

Top seed Vidit Gujrathi of Nasik leads the ONGC National Premier Chess Championship that is taking place at Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu on November 20, 2015. Vidit drew his Maharashtra team-mate Swapnil Dhopade in 25 moves with the black pieces after reaching a level queen ending.

After six rounds, Vidit is on 4.5 points with three draws and three wins apiece. In the second spot on 4 points are Railway stars, P Karthikeyan and Arghyadip Das. Seven rounds remain to be played in this 14-player all-play-all. Saturday is a free day.

Defending champion and top seed Sethuraman repeated the opening idea used by Vidit and Swapnil in earlier games. Rathnakaran found an attacking resource to win in 24 moves with the black pieces in an English opening.

The IM norm from this event is 3.5 points and FIDE Master Praneeth Surya is already on three points.

The results (round six): Swapnil Dhopade drew Vidit Gujrathi; Arghyadip Das drew P Shyaam Nikil; M.R. Venkatesh bt A Kunte; S.P. Sethuraman lost to K Rathnakaran; P Karthikeyan bt Praneeth Surya; Karthikeyan Murali drew Shyam Sundar; Neelotpal Das drew Deep Sengupta.

The standings after six rounds:  1 GM Vidit Gujrathi (PSPB) 4.5/6; 2-3. IM P Karthikeyan (Rly), IM Arghyadip Das (Rly) 4 each; 4-6. GM M. Shyam Sundar (AAI). IM Swapnil Dhopade (Rly), GM Karthikeyan Murali (PSPB) 3.5 each; 7-9. GM Neelotpal Das (PSPB), FM K Praneeth Surya (Tel), GM S.P. Sethuraman (PSPB) 3 each; 10-11. IM K Rathnakaran (Rly), IM P Shyaamnikhil (TN) 2.5; 12 GM M.R. Venkatesh (PSPB) 2, 13-14. GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB), GM Abhijit Kunte (PSPB) 1.5 each.