15th Chennai GM Open R2-3: Bhaavan Kolla and ten more make a perfect start

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/01/2025

Eleven players including Bhaavan Kolla have made a perfect start at 15th Chennai GM Open 2025. Bhaavan is the sole untitled player among the leaders pack. 13-year-old, IM Sathvik Adiga, the youngest with perfect score 3/3, had to work hard against Dinesh Rajan M to win a long queen endgame which lasted over 55 moves. The top three seeds - IM Aronyak Ghosh, GM Siddharth Jagadeesh (SGP) and GM Iniyan Pa, have scored comfortable wins so far. In Round 2, Siddhant Gawai, Siddhanth Poonja and Mayukh Majumder held GM Cristhian Camilo Rios Gomez (COL), GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE) and GM Evgeniy Podolchenko to a draw each respectively. CM Rajarishi Karthi outplayed GM Alexei Fedorov. Round 4 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Rajarishi Karthi outplays Alexei Fedorov

Round 2

IM Aronyak Ghosh - Aditya Varun Gampa: 1-0 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

GM Cristhian Camilo Rios (COL) - Siddhant Gawai (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Alexei - Rajarishi: 0-1

CM Rajarishi Karthi (2131) positionally outplayed GM Alexei Fedorov (2409).

CM Rajarishi Karthi scored a fine victory over GM Alexei Fedorov

Siddhanth Poonja held GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE) to a solid draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Notable results

GM Evgeniy Podolchenko - Mayukh Majumder : 0.5-0.5

Midilesh Ms - IM Nitin S : 1-0

Sourabh Mhamane - IM P Saravana Krishnan: 0.5-0.5

WCM Prishita Gupta - GM Shyam Sundar M: 0.5-0.5

Viresh Sharnarthi - IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg: 0.5-0.5

WCM Arshiya Das - GM Attila Czebe: 0.5-0.5

WIM Mrudul Dehankar - Rupam Mukherjee: 0.5-0.5

IM Walaa Sarwat - Soumick Bandyopadhyay: 0.5-0.5

Round 3

IM Alexander Slizhevsky went down against the top seed IM Aronyak Ghosh | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Sayantan - Priyanshu

Position after 62.exf5

The counter-intuitive 62...Nxd5 turns out to be the best choice for Black. 63.f6+ is the primary reason why anyone would reject that thought. 63...Kf8 64.fxe7+ Nxe7 and Black can hold this. Instead, Priyanshu Patil (2298) opted for the human 62...Rd7?? 63.f6+ Kg8 64.Bc4 Kh7 65.Kh5 Ne8 66.Bxf7 Ng7+ 67.fxg7 and GM Sayantan Das (2434) won.

Dinesh - Sathvik

Position after 54...Qxf8

Computer might say the above queen ending is equal. However, in reality it is quite difficult to defend in a practical game. IM Sathvik Adiga (2395) won the long queen endgame which lasted over 55 moves, the majority of the game against Dinesh Rajan M (2189).

IM Sathvik Adiga won a 112-move long grueling battle against Dinesh Rajan M | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

India's first IM in history, the legend, Manuel Aaron made the inaugural first move with Dr. M Manickam, Chairman, Sakthi Group of Companies and President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Arbiters' team | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The tournament hall at Hotel Ramada Egmore in Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Notable results

IM P Saravana Krishnan - Agnivo Chakraborty: 0.5-0.5

Naitik R Mehta - GM Alexei Fedorov: 0.5-0.5

IM Semetei Tologon Tegin - Viresh Sharnarthi: 0.5-0.5

GM Laxman R R - Shrayan Majumder: 0.5-0.5

Mukund Hemant Agarwal - IM David Gochelashvili: 0.5-0.5

Soumick Bandyopadhyay - WIM Mrudul Dehankar: 1-0

CM Nimay Agrawal - IM Walaa Sarwat: 0.5-0.5

IM Yehya Rahman - Yadav Tarala Yohan: 0.5-0.5

Esshan Wadhawan - IM Sekhar Chandra Sahu: 1-0

IM Kudzanai Mamombe - Aakash K P : 0-1

A total of 174 players including 16 GMs, 25 IMs and 4 WIMs are taking part from 19 countries across the world including India in Category A (>2000). The tournament is organized by Tamil Nadu State Chess Association from 2nd to 9th January 2025 at Hotel Ramada Egmore in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The ten-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 2-3 games

Round 3 results

Bo.	No.		White	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	23	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander		RUS	2340	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh		IND	2544	1	PGN
2	2	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh		SGP	2515	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Mohamed, Anees M		IND	2334	25	PGN
3	27	IM	Avinash, Ramesh		IND	2331	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Iniyan, Pa		IND	2508	3	PGN
4	8	GM	Das, Sayantan		IND	2434	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Patil, Priyanshu		IND	2298	32	PGN
5	35	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		IND	2286	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2413	9	PGN
6	10	IM	Vaz, Ethan		IND	2412	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Ratnakaran, K.		IND	2225	44	PGN
7	12	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu		IND	2409	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Buscara, Sevan		FRA	2185	54	PGN
8	51	CM	Dinesh, Rajan M		IND	2189	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Sathvik, Adiga		IND	2395	13	PGN
9	69	CM	Rajarishi, Karthi		IND	2131	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete		IND	2379	15	PGN
10	86		Midilesh, Ms		IND	2096	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Shahil, Dey		IND	2374	17	PGN
11	18	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.		IND	2362	2	1 - 0	2		Avirat, Chauhan		IND	2010	133	PGN
12	22	CM	Mrithyunjay, Mahadevan		IND	2345	2	0 - 1	2		Kolla, Bhaavan		IND	1946	162	PGN
13	57		Nithin, Babu		IND	2168	1½	0 - 1	1½	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		IND	2457	5	PGN
14	65	WIM	Priyanka, K		IND	2144	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Rios Gomez, Cristhian Camilo		COL	2435	7	PGN
15	16	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty		IND	2374	1½	1 - 0	1½		Gawai, Siddhant		IND	2154	61	PGN
16	71		Soham, Roy		IND	2126	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa		VIE	2358	19
17	83		Daksh, Goyal		IND	2101	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		BLR	2346	21
18	26	FM	Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi		IND	2334	1½	½ - ½	1½		Jai, Sankar Subramanian		IND	2113	76
19	28	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F		IND	2328	1½	1 - 0	1½	IM	Elgabry, Mohsen		EGY	2107	78
20	87		Siddhanth, Poonja		IND	2096	1½	0 - 1	1½	FM	Adireddy, Arjun		IND	2326	29

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1
1	13	IM	Sathvik, Adiga	U14	IND	2395	KA	3	5,5
2	3	GM	Iniyan, Pa		IND	2508	TN	3	5
	15	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete		IND	2379	MH	3	5
	18	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.		IND	2362	TN	3	5
5	1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh		IND	2544	RSPB	3	4,5
	2	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	U18	SGP	2515	SGP	3	4,5
	8	GM	Das, Sayantan		IND	2434	WB	3	4,5
	10	IM	Vaz, Ethan	U14	IND	2412	GA	3	4,5
	17	IM	Shahil, Dey	U18	IND	2374	AS	3	4,5
10	12	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu		IND	2409	WB	3	4
	162		Kolla, Bhaavan	U14	IND	1946	AP	3	4
12	9	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2413	TN	2,5	5,5
	128		Mayukh, Majumder	U12	IND	2013	WB	2,5	5,5
14	21	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		BLR	2346	BLR	2,5	5
15	7	GM	Rios Gomez, Cristhian Camilo		COL	2435	COL	2,5	4,5
	35	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		IND	2286	TN	2,5	4,5
	56		Varun, V		IND	2173	TG	2,5	4,5
18	19	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa		VIE	2358	VIE	2,5	4
19	5	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	U16	IND	2457	AS	2,5	3,5
	16	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty	U20	IND	2374	WB	2,5	3,5

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Bdld	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Bdld	FED	Rtg	No.
1	1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh		IND	2544	3		3	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu		IND	2409	12
2	13	IM	Sathvik, Adiga		IND	2395	3		3	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh		SGP	2515	2
3	3	GM	Iniyan, Pa		IND	2508	3		3	GM	Venkatesh, M.R.		IND	2362	18
4	15	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete		IND	2379	3		3	GM	Das, Sayantan		IND	2434	8
5	17	IM	Shahil, Dey		IND	2374	3		3	IM	Vaz, Ethan		IND	2412	10
6	7	GM	Rios Gomez, Cristhian Camilo		COL	2435	2½		3		Kolla, Bhaavan		IND	1946	162
7	5	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		IND	2457	2½		2½	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F		IND	2328	28
8	9	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2413	2½		2½	FM	Adireddy, Arjun		IND	2326	29
9	38	FM	Dhananjay, S		IND	2270	2½		2½	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty		IND	2374	16
10	19	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa		VIE	2358	2½		2½		Mayukh, Majumder		IND	2013	128
11	21	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy		BLR	2346	2½		2½	GM	Karthikeyan, P.		IND	2286	35
12	56		Varun, V		IND	2173	2½		2	GM	Shyaam, Nikhil P		IND	2449	6
13	59		Sri, Sai Baswanth P		IND	2161	2		2	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh		MGL	2392	14
14	63	CM	Sarveshwaran, V		IND	2150	2		2	CM	Mrithyunjay, Mahadevan		IND	2345	22
15	67		Anadkat, Kartavya		IND	2139	2		2	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander		RUS	2340	23
16	69	CM	Rajarishi, Karthi		IND	2131	2		2	IM	Nitin, S.		IND	2338	24
17	25	FM	Mohamed, Anees M		IND	2334	2		2	AIM	Banik, Hrishikesh Kumar		IND	2123	73
18	72		Bhosale, Shriraj		IND	2125	2		2	FM	Setumadhav, Yellumahanthi		IND	2334	26
19	75	AFM	Pavan, Karthikeya Varma Gunturi		IND	2115	2		2	IM	Avinash, Ramesh		IND	2331	27
20	32	FM	Patil, Priyanshu		IND	2298	2		2		Jihan, Tejas Shah		IND	2109	77

Details

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