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National Challengers round 9: Swapnil Dhopade is unstoppable

by Gopakumar Sudhakaran - 20/08/2017

Having registered another victory to his name, GM Swapnil Dhopade seems to be running away with the title this year at the 55th National Challengers, Ahmedabad. In round 9 he played against the much lower rated Udit Kamdar. Although Swapnil was the clear favourite in this matchup, the youngster really cracked the whip before giving away the full point. Report with pictures, games and analysis.

Grandmaster Swapnil Dhopade maintained his sole lead after beating Gujarat youngster Udit Kamdar in the ninth round of 55th National Challengers Chess Championship at the Karnavati Club on Saturday.

 

Until the endgame, Dhopade was unable to claim an advantage against Udit Kamdar who is rated more than 500 points below him!

Playing from the black side of exchange variation of Caro-Kan Defence, Dhopade seemed to be unable to claim any advantage against Kamdar until the endgame. But in order to harvest some pawns in his opponent’s position, Swapnil allowed both of Kamdar’s rook onto his seventh rank. The position was pretty equal until this double rook endgame arose when on move 37 when Kamdar went for the kill instead of saving his pawns. As play proceeded, the Amravati based GM was able to stifle all of his opponent’s counterplay and make his two extra pawns count. After limping on for a few moves after his counterplay was neutralized, Kamdar threw in the towel on move 64.

[Event "55 National challengers"]
[Site "ChessKast.com"]
[Date "2017.08.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kamdar Udit"]
[Black "Swapnil S. Dhopade"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:18"]
[BlackClock "1:31:35"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ne5 Bh5 12. Qc2 Bg6 13. Nxg6 {B13:
Caro-Kann: Exchange Variation and Panov-Botvinnik Attack} hxg6 14. Nf3 Nh5 {
LiveBook: 3 Games} (14... Qd8 15. g3 Rc8 16. Qe2 Re8 17. h4 Nh5 18. Bg5 Bf6 19.
Rae1 Ne7 20. Bc1 e5 21. Nxe5 Bxe5 22. Qxe5 {1/2-1/2 (66) Sedlak,N (2523)
-Sprenger,J (2520) Mali Losinj 2017}) 15. Be3 {White is slightly better.} Bd6
16. g3 a6 17. Rae1 $146 ({Predecessor:} 17. Qe2 Re8 18. Rac1 Nf6 19. Rfe1 b5
20. b3 e5 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Nxe5 Bxe5 {0-1 (32) Fischer,K-Verbesek,W DESC
email 2007}) 17... b5 18. a3 Qb7 19. Qe2 Rfe8 20. Bc1 Nf6 21. Ne5 Bxe5 22. dxe5
Nd7 23. f4 Nc5 24. Bb1 d4 25. cxd4 Nxd4 26. Qf2 (26. Qg2 $14) 26... Rad8 $11
27. b4 Na4 28. g4 Nc3 29. Bb2 Nxb1 30. Rxb1 Qd5 31. Bxd4 Qxd4 32. Rbc1 Qxf2+
33. Rxf2 $15 {Endgame KRR-KRR} (33. Kxf2 {with more complications.} Rd3 34.
Rfd1 Rxa3 35. Rc7 Rf8 36. Rd4) 33... Rd3 34. Rc7 Rxa3 35. Rd2 Rb3 36. Rdd7 Rf8
37. f5 (37. Rd4 $15) 37... gxf5 $19 (37... Rxb4 38. fxe6 Rb1+ 39. Kg2 $18) 38.
gxf5 exf5 {[#]} ({Black should play} 38... Rxb4 $19 39. fxe6 Rg4+ 40. Kf2 fxe6+
41. Ke3 Rf5) 39. e6 $1 $15 {aiming for e7.} Re3 $1 (39... Rxb4 $2 40. e7 $18) (
39... fxe6 40. Rxg7+) 40. exf7+ Kh7 41. Rc6 Re4 42. Rxa6 Rxb4 43. Re6 {And now
Re8 would win.} g6 44. Kf2 Kg7 {Threatens to win with ...Rh4.} 45. Rdd6 Rf4+ (
45... Kxf7 $6 46. Rf6+ Kg7 47. Rxg6+ Kf7 48. Rgf6+ Kg8 49. Rg6+ Kh8 50. Rh6+
Kg7 51. Rhg6+ Kh8 52. Rh6+ Kg8 53. Rhg6+ Kf7 54. Rgf6+ Kg8 55. Rg6+ $11) 46.
Ke2 (46. Ke3 $142 Rg4 47. h3 Rg3+ 48. Kf4) 46... Rg4 $1 $17 ({Much weaker is}
46... Kxf7 $6 47. Rf6+ Ke8 48. Rde6+ Kd7 49. Rd6+ Ke8 50. Rde6+ Kd7 51. Rd6+
Ke8 $11) ({Much less strong is} 46... Rxf7 47. Rxg6+ Kh8 48. Ke3 $11) 47. Rb6
Rxf7 48. h3 (48. Kf3 $17) 48... Rg3 $19 49. Kf2 f4 ({Inferior is} 49... Rxh3
50. Rxg6+ Kh7 51. Rg5 $11) 50. h4 Rf5 51. Re7+ {[#]} (51. Re8 {is a better
defense.}) 51... Kh6 $1 52. Re8 Rc5 53. Re2 (53. Rh8+ $142 Kg7 54. Re8) 53...
Kh5 {Black is clearly winning.} 54. Rf6 Rg4 55. Ree6 Rc2+ 56. Kf3 Rc3+ 57. Kf2
Kxh4 58. Rxg6 Rxg6 59. Rxg6 {KR-KR} b4 60. Rg8 b3 61. Rg7 Kh5 62. Rg8 Rc1 {
White must now prevent ...b2.} 63. Rb8 {[#]} Rb1 $1 64. Kg2 b2 0-1

 

 

GM Himanshu Sharma came back strongly after his loss in the last round

Swapnil’s railway teammate, Himanshu Sharma moved to the sole second spot with 7.5/9 after defeating another Gujarati youngster, Fenil Shah. Playing from the black side of a Sicilian Taimanov, the local lad was able to equalize the position after a few minor middle-game skirmishes. But while reaching the end of the time control, Fenil had to defend with very little time on his clock. Although he succeeded, the time pressure seemed to have taken a toll on him as he began fumbling post the first time control. On move 42, he made the mistake of allowing Sharma’s Queen on to the d5 square. Ten moves later ended up with a terribly pinned bishop on b2 which was knocked off the board in no time. A piece down with no compensation whatsoever, Fenil decided to call it quits just a move after losing the piece on move 55.  

 

The Bengali WGM joined the shared third spot after her win against IM Swayams Mishra.

Facing Mishra’s Trompowsky, Mary got out of the opening with a decent position. Mishra too didn’t have much to fear until he erred on moves 24 and 26 and allowed his opponent gain initiative on the kingside. Even though queens were off the board at this point, Black posed some real threats to her opponent’s king as well as the clumsily placed rook and bishop. After a few precise moves, Mary was a clear piece up and had no difficulties mopping up.

[Event "55 National challengers"]
[Site "ChessKast.com"]
[Date "2017.08.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Swayams Mishra"]
[Black "Gomes Mary Ann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Annotator "Administrator"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "1:01:04"]
[BlackClock "2:01:46"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 h6 5. Be3 Nfd7 6. f4 {A45: Trompowsky Attack
} (6. c3 c5 7. f4 Nc6 8. Nf3 Be7 9. Bd3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nb4 11. Be2 Nb6 {0-1 (32)
Adams,M (2729)-Ivanchuk,V (2787) Moscow 2007}) 6... c5 {LiveBook: 9 Games} 7.
Nf3 Nc6 8. Nc3 $146 {The position is equal.} ({Predecessor:} 8. c3 Qb6 9. Qc1
Be7 10. Be2 Nf8 11. Nbd2 Bd7 {1-0 (62) Wirig,A (2408)-Bruch,J (2304) Izmir 2004
}) 8... cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bc5 10. Qd2 {[#]} g5 $1 11. g3 (11. fxg5 Nxd4) 11... gxf4
12. gxf4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Qh4+ 14. Bf2 Bxf2+ 15. Qxf2 Qxf2+ 16. Kxf2 f6 17. Bh3
fxe5 18. Bxe6 {Black must now prevent Rhe1.} Nb6 19. Bxd5 {Threatens to win
with Rae1.} ({Much weaker is} 19. Nxd5 Bxe6 20. Nc7+ Ke7 $17) 19... Rf8 20.
Rhe1 Rxf4+ 21. Bf3 Nc4 22. Nd5 Rf7 23. Kg2 {aiming for Bh5.} Be6 {And now ...
0-0-0 would win.} 24. b3 $2 (24. Ne3 $1 $11 {and White has nothing to worry.}
Rg7+ 25. Kh1) 24... Nd2 $19 25. Rxe5 Kd7 $1 26. Bh5 $2 {[#]} (26. Be2 Rg8+ 27.
Kh1) 26... Rg8+ $1 27. Kh1 {[#]} Ne4 $1 28. h3 ({Don't blunder} 28. Nb6+ $2
axb6 29. Rd1+ Kc7 $19) (28. Rxe4 Bxd5) 28... Ng3+ 29. Kh2 Rf2+ 30. Kg1 Rf5 ({
Inferior is} 30... Rxc2 31. Nf6+ Kd6 32. Rxe6+ Kxe6 33. Nxg8 $11) 31. Bg4 (31.
Rxf5) 31... Rxe5 32. Nf6+ Ke7 33. Nxg8+ Bxg8 34. Rd1 Be6 35. Bf3 b6 36. Kf2
Ne4+ 37. Bxe4 Rxe4 {Endgame KRB-KR} 38. Rd3 Kf6 39. Rc3 Rd4 40. Kg3 h5 41. Rc7
h4+ {Black is clearly winning.} 42. Kg2 Rd7 43. Rc3 Rd2+ 44. Kg1 Bf5 45. Rc7
Rd7 46. Rc3 Rd1+ 47. Kf2 Rd2+ 48. Kf3 Rxc2 49. Rxc2 Bxc2 {KB-K3P} 50. Kg4 Ke5
51. Kxh4 Kd4 52. Kg5 Kc3 53. Kf4 Kb2 54. Ke5 Kxa2 55. b4 Kb3 {Strongly
threatening ...a5.} 56. b5 Kc4 57. h4 0-1

 

Another game that grabbed eyeballs was the eighth board encounter between IM S Satyapragyan and Akash PC Iyer. Kicking off with a Ruy Lopez Steinitz, Satyapragyan was able to catch his opponent in the opening and finish the game off in merely 25 moves. Sacrificing an exchange on the twelfth move, Satya exploited Akash’s pinned knight on f6 and forced his opponent to give up his queen for a rook and a minor piece. Once he had accomplished a material advantage, he quickly ripped open Black’s king and forced resignation. 

[Event "55 National challengers"]
[Site "ChessKast.com"]
[Date "2017.08.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Satyapragyan Swayangsu"]
[Black "Akash Pc Iyer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C66"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:21:13"]
[BlackClock "0:09:56"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 d6 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 {LiveBook:
159 Games} a6 {C66: Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defence} (7... exd4 8. Nxd4 O-O 9. Bxc6
bxc6 10. Bf4 c5 11. Nb3 Bg4 12. Qd3 Nh5 13. Be3 Re8 14. Na5 Bf8 15. Nd5 Bd7 16.
Nc3 h6 17. Rad1 Qc8 18. f4 {1/2-1/2 (46) Dzhumaev,M (2557)-Mirzoev,A (2557)
Tashkent 2013}) 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. Bg5 exd4 (9... Ng4 $142) 10. Nxd4 $16 Bd7 {[#]}
11. Nf5 $146 ({But not} 11. e5 dxe5 12. Rxe5 O-O $14) ({Predecessor:} 11. Nf3
O-O 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 c6 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 {0-1 (45) Bienfait,G (1540)-Potier,
M (1561) Gorges 2012}) 11... Bxf5 12. exf5 (12. Bxf6 $1 $16 Bxf6 13. exf5+ Kf8
14. Qf3) 12... O-O $14 13. Rxe7 (13. Qd3 $14) 13... Qxe7 $11 14. Nd5 Qd8 $2 {
[#]} (14... Qe5 $1 $11 {and Black stays safe.} 15. Nxf6+ gxf6) 15. Qd4 $1 $18
c5 16. Qh4 Nxd5 17. Bxd8 Raxd8 18. Qe4 Nb4 19. c3 Nc6 20. f6 gxf6 21. Re1 Ne5 (
21... d5 {is a better defense.} 22. Qg4+ Kh8) 22. f4 {White is clearly winning.
} Ng6 23. f5 Ne5 24. Qh4 Kg7 25. Re3 1-0

 

At the conclusion of round 9, Gomes and S Satyapragyan were also joined by Lalith Babu and defending champion Ravi Teja at the joint third spot with seven points.

Lalith signed the peace with Debashis Das 

Ravi Teja moved to seven points with a 33 move victory of Nikhil Dixit of Maharashtra.

Results of Round 9

Bo.

No.

 

Name

Rtg

Pts.

Result

Pts.

 

Name

Rtg

No.

1

96

 

Kamdar Udit

1947

0 - 1

GM

Swapnil S. Dhopade

2516

5

2

6

GM

Himanshu Sharma

2514

1 - 0

 

Fenil Shah

2326

27

3

8

GM

Debashis Das

2493

6

½ - ½

GM

Lalith Babu M R

2529

3

4

20

GM

Sriram Jha

2375

6

½ - ½

6

GM

Kunte Abhijit

2505

7

5

12

IM

Swayams Mishra

2455

6

0 - 1

6

WGM

Gomes Mary Ann

2344

23

6

14

IM

Nitin S.

2421

6

½ - ½

6

 

Koustav Chatterjee

2108

65

7

24

FM

Erigaisi Arjun

2342

6

½ - ½

6

IM

Das Arghyadip

2419

15

8

16

IM

Satyapragyan Swayangsu

2410

6

1 - 0

6

 

Akash Pc Iyer

2304

30

9

64

 

Dixit Nikhil

2121

6

0 - 1

6

IM

Ravi Teja S.

2383

19

10

34

 

Sammed Jaykumar Shete

2277

6

0 - 1

IM

Shyaamnikhil P

2447

13

                       

Rank after Round 9

Rk.

SNo

 

Name

sex

FED

Rtg

Club/City

Pts.

 TB1 

 TB2 

 TB3 

 TB4 

 TB5 

1

5

GM

Swapnil S. Dhopade

 

IND

2516

RSPB

8,5

0,0

49,5

54,0

50,25

8,0

2

6

GM

Himanshu Sharma

 

IND

2514

RSPB

7,5

0,0

51,5

56,5

45,25

7,0

3

3

GM

Lalith Babu M R

 

IND

2529

PSPB

7,0

0,0

47,0

51,5

40,00

5,0

4

23

WGM

Gomes Mary Ann

w

IND

2344

PSPB

7,0

0,0

47,0

51,0

37,75

6,0

5

16

IM

Satyapragyan Swayangsu

 

IND

2410

AI

7,0

0,0

45,5

50,0

38,25

5,0

6

19

IM

Ravi Teja S.

 

IND

2383

RSPB

7,0

0,0

42,5

46,5

35,75

5,0

7

96

 

Kamdar Udit

 

IND

1947

GUJ

6,5

0,0

50,0

52,5

34,75

5,0

8

27

 

Fenil Shah

 

IND

2326

GUJ

6,5

0,0

49,0

52,5

35,50

5,0

9

1

GM

Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.

 

IND

2579

TN

6,5

0,0

48,5

53,0

35,75

5,0

10

7

GM

Kunte Abhijit

 

IND

2505

PSPB

6,5

0,0

48,5

52,0

36,75

4,0

Round 10 Pairing

Bo.

No.

 

Name

Rtg

Pts.

Result

Pts.

 

Name

Rtg

No.

1

5

GM

Swapnil S. Dhopade

2516

 

7

IM

Satyapragyan Swayangsu

2410

16

2

19

IM

Ravi Teja S.

2383

7

 

GM

Himanshu Sharma

2514

6

3

3

GM

Lalith Babu M R

2529

7

 

7

WGM

Gomes Mary Ann

2344

23

4

27

 

Fenil Shah

2326

 

GM

Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.

2579

1

5

7

GM

Kunte Abhijit

2505

 

IM

Padmini Rout

2327

26

6

25

 

Navalgund Niranjan

2335

 

GM

Debashis Das

2493

8

7

65

 

Koustav Chatterjee

2108

 

GM

Deepan Chakkravarthy J.

2466

10

8

13

IM

Shyaamnikhil P

2447

 

GM

Sriram Jha

2375

20

9

96

 

Kamdar Udit

1947

 

IM

Nitin S.

2421

14

10

15

IM

Das Arghyadip

2419

 

 

Jayakumaar S

2197

48

                       

 


About the author:

Gopakumar became an A-grade International Arbiter during the FIDE Arbiter's Commission meeting. He is only the fifth Indian to achieve this feat. He was the chief arbiter at two 2600+ double round robin events, Asian Youth Chief Arbiter at South Korea, Deputy chief arbiter at Asian Youth and Asian Junior at New Delhi. He dedicates his success to the Air Force background that he comes from. 

Previous reports on National Challengers 2017:

Parthiv Patel at the opening ceremony

14-year-old holds Sriram Jha to a draw

National Challengers 2017 Round 2+3: Day of underdogs!

Mary Ann Gomes wins an instructive rook endgame

National Challengers Round 5+6: Swapnil, Himanshu, Sammed lead with 5.5/6

National challengers round 7: Railway GMs Swapnil and Himanshu maintain their stronghold

National challengers round 8: Himanshu's fumble catapults Swapnil into sole lead