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Pavel Ponkratov wins 12th Chennai GM Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/01/2020

Top seed of the tournament Pavel Ponkratov scored an unbeaten 8.0/10 to clinch the championship. He won the Dr. N Mahalingam Trophy and ₹300000 cash prize for his efforts. Seven other players also finished at the same score. They were placed according to their tie-break score. Jose Eduardo Martinez and Sergei Yudin secured the first and second runner-up positions respectively. Among the Vishnu Prasanna was the only player to finish shared first, eighth according to tie-breaks. Total 284 players participated from 21 countries including 29 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WGMs. The tournament was organized by Tamil Nadu Chess Association at Novotel and IBIS Omar at Chennai from 18th to 25th January 2020. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Eight players finish at 8.0/10, Vishnu finishes shared first

Eight players finished with a score of 8.0/10. Top seed of the tournament GM Pavel Ponkratov, second seed GM Jose Eduardo Martinez, GM Sergei Yudin, GM Aleksej Aleksandrov, GM Ivan Rozum, GM Stanislav Bogdanovich, GM Stupak Kirill and GM Vishnu Prasanna, all of them finished with the same score. They were placed first to eighth according to their tie-break score.

Champion - GM Pavel Ponkratov receives the N Mahalingram Trophy and ₹300000 cash prize | Photo: R Anantharam

Ponkratov's unbeaten championship run

Final three rounds

In the eighth round, Ponkratov made a short theoretical draw in Giuco Piano just 14 moves against the eventual second runner-up, compatriot Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508). In the ninth round, he faced the then sole leader of the tournament GM Stanislav Bogdanovich (UKR, 2562).

Ponkratov defeated the sole leader Bogdanovich | Photo: R Anantharam

Ponkratov got a pleasant position out of the opening against Bogdanovich.

Ponkartov - Bogdanovich, Round 9

Position after 25...Qd6

White is completely dominating the position. Find out the best continuation after 25...Qd6

In the final round, Ponkratov made a comfortable draw with compatriot GM Ivan Rozum (RUS, 2573) in 42 moves as he just needed a draw in the final round to win the tournament.

Ponkratov en route his final round draw to clinch the championship | Photo: R Anantharam

After making two consecutive draws in just 32 moves in both round 8 and 9, Martinez defeated GM Venkatesh M R (2501) in the final round to secure the runner-up position and win ₹200000 cash prize.

Martinez's victory in the final round earned him the runner-up position | Photo: R Anantharam

It was evident that despite having the black pieces, Venkatesh kept pushing for an advantage out of the Bishop's opening. Eventually in the endgame, he managed to get advantage too.

Martinez - Venkatesh, Round 10

Position after 33.Rad1

Venkatesh continued with 33...Rc8. However there was a better continuation. Try to find it. Black lost the game in another 15 moves.

GM Sergei Yudin (RUS, 2508) scored a crucial victory in the final round against IM Al Muthaiah (2367) to secure the third position and receive ₹125000 cash prize.

Yudin beat Muthaiah to finish third | Photo: R Anantharam

Fourth seeded GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR, 2592) defeated GM Vishnu Prasanna in round 8 and IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev (TJK, 2420) in the final round to finish fourth and bag home ₹100000 cash prize.

Aleksandrov en route his victory over Khusenkhojaev as Neverov observes | Photo: R Anatharam

The highest finisher among Indians is GM Vishnu Prasanna (2474). He scored 8.0/10, finished shared first, eighth according to his tie-break score. He received ₹40000 cash prize. He is followed by four Indians who finished at 7.5/10 from 9th to 12th and they are GM Visakh N R (2518), FM Jubin Jimmy (2193), FM Rohith Krishna S (2289) and IM Mitrabha Guha (2448).

Vishnu scored a marathon 95-move victory in the final round | Photo: R Anantharam

Vishnu - Goganov, Round 10

Position after 56...Kh8

Vishnu enjoyed a decent advantage out of the Semi-Slav opening. However only in the endgame white got an opportunity to make a substantial advantage and White did that. What was the continuation here?

Photo Gallery

Harshavardhan G B made an IM-norm by scoring 6.5/10 with a performance rating of 2385 | Photo: IA Jitendra Choudhary

FM Jubin Jimmy also score an IM-norm by scoring 7.5/10 with a performance rating of 2485 and gained 84 Elo rating points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Pranav V scored an IM-norm, scored 6.5/10 with a performance rating of 2429 and also gained 58 Elo rating points | Photo: R Anantharam

FM Rohith Krishna S scored an unbeaten 7.5/10, scored an IM-norm, performed at rating 2443 and gained 29 Elo rating points | Photo: R Anantharam

The Arbiters' team led by Chief Arbiter IA Srivatsan R (center) | Photo: R Anantharam

Deepan, Karthikeyan P and Vishnu participated in the problem solving competition | Photo: R Anantharam

Tournament Hall | Photo: R Anantharam

The 12th edition of Chennai Open 2020 took place from 18th to 25th January comprising of 10-rounds on Swiss League basis. The tournament witnessed a total participation of 284 players from 21 countries including 29 GMs, 23 IMs, 3 WGMs and 7 FMs, organized by Tamil Nadu Chess Association at Novotel & Ibis OMR, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Total prize fund ₹1500000 was distributed among the prize winners.

Replay all games

Round 10 results

Bo.No.NameBdldFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameBdldFEDRtgNo.
17GMRozum IvanRUS2573½ - ½GMPonkratov PavelRUS26221
22GMMartinez Alcantara Jose EduardoPER260671 - 07GMVenkatesh M.R.IND250114
330IMKhusenkhojaev MuhammadTJK242070 - 17GMAleksandrov AleksejBLR25924
418GMVishnu Prasanna. VIND247471 - 07GMGoganov AlekseyRUS25835
56GMMchedlishvili MikheilGEO25787- - +7GMStupak KirillBLR250613
68GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR256271 - 07GMLugovskoy MaximRUS245323
712GMYudin SergeiRUS250871 - 07IMMuthaiah AlIND236738
810GMFedorov AlexeiBLR25621 - 0IMAmeir MohebEGY236339
940IMRavichandran SiddharthIND23580 - 1GMVisakh N RIND251811
1042IMSidhant MohapatraIND2346½ - ½GMRios Cristhian CamiloCOL249815
1147IMSaravanan V.IND23250 - 1GMNeverov ValeriyUKR246021
1224IMMitrabha GuhaIND24481 - 0Harshavardhan G BIND234343
1352FMRohith Krishna SIND22891 - 0IMViani Antonio DcunhaIND241731
1432GMKarthikeyan P.IND24161 - 0FMSrihari L RIND230250
1556GMZiatdinov RasetUSA2203½ - ½GMSundararajan KidambiIND241433
1660FMJubin JimmyIND21931 - 0IMEraschenkov DenisRUS237037
1749IMSaravana Krishnan P.IND23136½ - ½6GMDavid AlbertoITA25629
1816GMVasquez Schroeder RodrigoCHI248761 - 06Samant Aditya SIND229651
1953Kunal M.IND228860 - 16IMVignesh N RIND247219
2020IMTaher Yoseph TheolifusINA246261 - 06IMMurali Krishnan B TIND220257
2122GMSaptarshi RoyIND24606½ - ½6Pranav VIND226555
2265AGMLakshmi Narayanan M VIND21626½ - ½6IMHarikrishnan.A.RaIND244425
2354IMNavin Kanna T.U.IND226560 - 16GMRahman ZiaurBAN243427
2428GMHesham AbdelrahmanEGY242961 - 06Dinesh Rajan MIND1741131
25114Mayank ChakrabortyIND182760 - 16GMCzebe AttilaHUN239235

Complete results

Final standings

Rk.SNoNameFEDRtgBdldPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4 
11GMPonkratov PavelRUS26228,00,065,070,554,75
22GMMartinez Alcantara Jose EduardoPER26068,00,062,067,552,75
312GMYudin SergeiRUS25088,00,062,067,052,25
44GMAleksandrov AleksejBLR25928,00,060,566,051,50
57GMRozum IvanRUS25738,00,060,065,050,75
68GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR25628,00,059,563,549,00
713GMStupak KirillBLR25068,00,058,563,548,75
818GMVishnu Prasanna. VIND24748,00,057,061,544,75
911GMVisakh N RIND25187,50,063,568,548,75
1060FMJubin JimmyIND21937,50,062,066,048,25
1152FMRohith Krishna SIND22897,50,059,563,045,50
1224IMMitrabha GuhaIND24487,50,058,062,545,50
1310GMFedorov AlexeiBLR25627,50,057,062,045,75
1421GMNeverov ValeriyUKR24607,50,057,062,045,25
1532GMKarthikeyan P.IND24167,50,056,060,543,50
165GMGoganov AlekseyRUS25837,00,062,567,544,50
1738IMMuthaiah AlIND23677,00,059,564,542,50
186GMMchedlishvili MikheilGEO25787,00,059,064,042,25
1930IMKhusenkhojaev MuhammadTJK24207,00,058,563,041,50
2020IMTaher Yoseph TheolifusINA24627,00,058,063,042,50
2123GMLugovskoy MaximRUS24537,00,056,561,039,00
2233GMSundararajan KidambiIND24147,00,056,060,540,50
2342IMSidhant MohapatraIND23467,00,056,060,539,25
2414GMVenkatesh M.R.IND25017,00,055,559,039,50
2516GMVasquez Schroeder RodrigoCHI24877,00,054,559,540,00
2628GMHesham AbdelrahmanEGY24297,00,054,058,539,00
2756GMZiatdinov RasetUSA22037,00,053,558,039,00
2819IMVignesh N RIND24727,00,053,057,538,00
2915GMRios Cristhian CamiloCOL24987,00,053,057,538,00
3073FMRamakrishna J.IND20687,00,051,055,034,50

Complete pairings



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