Chess Gurukul domination in London!
The London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019 is being dominated by two Indians R. Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram. Both of them hail from Chennai and go to the Chess Gurukul academy of GM R.B. Ramesh. It is quite heartening to see that both the youngsters have performed above an Elo of 2750 and gained close to 10 Elo points. While this takes Aravindh to 2615, Pragg is inching close to breaking the 2600 Elo mark and is currently 2596. The other two Indian top performers Sahaj Grover and R. Vaishali are also playing well with 4.5/6. With three rounds to go, it will be interesting to see if Pragg or Aravindh can win the title. Currently they are in the joint lead on 5.5/6 along with Anton Smirnov.
After six rounds of the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019, we have three leaders with a score of 5.5/6. Out of these three players, two of them are from India. And both of them are from Chess Gurukul in Chennai.
Standings after round 6
Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | ||
1 | 1 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr | 2605 | Gurukul | 5,5 | |||
3 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | U18 | 2586 | None | 5,5 | |||
4 | GM | Smirnov Anton | U18 | 2573 | None | 5,5 | |||
4 | 2 | GM | Moussard Jules | 2600 | Asnières | 5,0 | |||
11 | IM | Song Raymond | 2468 | None | 5,0 | ||||
12 | GM | Flear Glenn C | 2463 | Aix-En-Provence | 5,0 | ||||
7 | 5 | GM | Maze Sebastien | 2541 | None | 4,5 | |||
7 | GM | Grover Sahaj | 2508 | Port Elizabeth | 4,5 | ||||
8 | GM | Gordon Stephen J | 2505 | 3cs | 4,5 | ||||
9 | IM | Petrov Martin | 2497 | Maritza-Iztok Radnevo | 4,5 | ||||
10 | GM | Gormally Daniel W | 2491 | 4ncl Blackthorne Russia | 4,5 | ||||
13 | GM | Arkell Keith C | 2445 | Cheddleton 4ncl | 4,5 | ||||
15 | GM | Hebden Mark L | 2436 | 4ncl Guildford | 4,5 | ||||
16 | IM | Pert Richard G | 2436 | Brentwood | 4,5 | ||||
17 | IM | Kirk Ezra G | 2433 | 4ncl Cheddleton | 4,5 | ||||
20 | IM | Merry Alan B | 2426 | Barbican | 4,5 |
Aravindh, with a rating of 2605, is the top seed of the event. He drew his round four game against Martin Petrov. But apart from that he has been excellent form, beating all his strong opponents. In rounds five and six he got the better of two experienced English GMs Mark Hebden and Stephen Gordon.
Stephen Gordon vs Aravindh Chithambaram
Aravindh played Bxe4! The point of it is after Rxd4 Qxd4 fxe4 Black has Qd2+ Kb1 Qxc3.
After a 4.0/4 start Pragg drew his round five game against Anton Smirnov. The Indian youngster would definitely not be happy with his game as he couldn't pose any problems to his opponent from the white side of the Petroff. The game ended in a 17-move draw. In round six Pragg was looking for the full point. In spite of the position being very drawish, he didn't agree to a draw. Pragg kept fighting hard and was soon rewarded with a full point.
Martin Petrov vs Praggnanandhaa, Round 6
The nice thing for Indian fans is that both Pragg and Aravindh are not paired with each other in round 7. This means that both of them have a chance to move to 6.5/7.
Pairings for round 7
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 1 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr | 2605 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Smirnov Anton | 2573 | 4 | |||
2 | 3 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2586 | 5½ | 5 | GM | Moussard Jules | 2600 | 2 | |||
3 | 12 | GM | Flear Glenn C | 2463 | 5 | 5 | IM | Song Raymond | 2468 | 11 | |||
4 | 5 | GM | Maze Sebastien | 2541 | 4½ | 4½ | IM | Percivaldi Martin | 2384 | 24 | |||
5 | 16 | IM | Pert Richard G | 2436 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Grover Sahaj | 2508 | 7 | |||
6 | 17 | IM | Kirk Ezra G | 2433 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Gordon Stephen J | 2505 | 8 | |||
7 | 20 | IM | Merry Alan B | 2426 | 4½ | 4½ | IM | Petrov Martin | 2497 | 9 | |||
8 | 10 | GM | Gormally Daniel W | 2491 | 4½ | 4½ | IM | Bates Richard A | 2342 | 28 | |||
9 | 21 | FM | Gschnitzer Adrian | 2422 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Arkell Keith C | 2445 | 13 | |||
10 | 25 | WGM | Vaishali R | 2376 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Hebden Mark L | 2436 | 15 |
Youngest 2600 player in the world:
John Burke, a player from US, achieved this feat when he was 14 years and 2 months. However John's k-factor was 40 and he junped from an Elo of 2258 to 2603 in two months. Wei Yi had the record of the youngest 2600 in the world prior to Burke. Wei Yi had achieved it at the age of 14 years, 4 months and 30 days. If Pragg does it today, he would have achieved it at the age of 14 years 3 months and 25 days! It would be a tremendous feat!