Rotachess Rapid Rating Open 2023 R1-4: Haridev stuns Karthik

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/06/2023

A total of 22 players are in the lead with a score of 4/4 at Rotachess Rapid Rating Open 2023. The six GMs who have won all four of their games are - top seed of the event, Sethuraman S P, Karthikeyan Murali, Deep Sengupta, Venkatesh M R, Bharath Subramaniyam H and Arjun Kalyan. Birthday boy Arjun won all four of his games on his 21st birthday. Haridev S scored the biggest win of the day. He defeated the reigning National Senior champion, GM Karthik Venkataraman in the third round. IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad had an exciting, topsy-turvy game against Badri Narayan S. Both had their fair share of chances. Peter Anand A missed his big opportunity to draw against GM Karthikeyan. Total Prize fund ₹550000 is up for grabs with the first prize being ₹75000. The tournament is organized by T Nagar Chess Academy, presented by YMCA Madras in association with Rotary Club of Madras Industrial City. Round 5 starts tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

22 players are at 4/4

During the opening ceremony, it was mentioned that YMCA Madras wants to make it an annual event where each edition will be bigger than the previous one in terms of prize fund and everything else. Well, the inaugural edition can already be claimed as a success when stalwarts like GM Sethuraman S P, GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Deep Sengupta are taking part. It certainly elevated the tournament to another level. That's not all, this is the biggest and strongest Rapid Rating Open of 2023 in India as 8 GMs and 11 IMs are taking part in it. Naturally first four rounds produced lots of exciting games.

Haridev S scored the biggest win of the day against GM Karthik Venkataraman

The tournament flex

Srihari L is the highest rated untitled player at 4/4

Round 3: Haridev stuns Karthik, Bala Chandra escapes against

Haridev S (1589) scored a huge victory over the reigning National Senior Open champion, GM Karthik Venkataraman (2386).

Bala Chandra - Badri Narayan

Position after 10.Ne6??

10.Re5 is what IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad (2420) needed to play to capitalize on his advantage. Instead, he went for 10.Ne6?? which turned things completely inverse Qxe6! 11.Rxe6 Rxd1+ 12.Kh2 Rxe6 and the game surprisingly ended in a draw after another 66 moves which could have gone either player's way.

The game between IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad and Badri Narayan B was a rollercoaster ride

A huge crowd gathered around their game as the game was not only exciting but also went for over an hour!

Round 4: Peter Anand misses a draw against Karthikeyan Murali

Peter Anand A (1906) had a great opportunity to draw the knight endgame against GM Karthikeyan Murali (2523). However, he missed it.

Karthikeyan - Peter

Position after 16...Nf4+

White has an advanced king, better placed knight. If anyone can push for a win here, that is White only. Where should the king move - d6 or e5? 17.Kd6 was played which allowed Black to get back in the game 17...Nxg2. Soon all kingside pawns were cleaned by each side and the game arrived at a drawn endgame.

Position after 37.Kc3

At a first glance, it seems like taking the knight is a bad game. In fact, the reality is just the opposite. Black should have taken the knight and resultant pawn ending is a draw as Black can always get an opposition to prevent the white king's entry. 37...Nc5?? was played in the game and tables once again turned in White's favor. 38.Nxb6 and White went on to win the game.

A tough loss for Peter Anand A against the very strong and creative GM Karthikeyan Murali

GM Arjun Kalyan defeated the reigning National Amateur Below 2000 Open and the newly crowned 14th KIIT B (Below 1900) champion Sham R to stay perfect 4/4

FM Ayushh Ravikumar held GM Visakh N R to a hard fought draw

Inaugural moves are being made

Lighting of the lamp

Inauguration Ceremony

Rotarian Emily Sujirtha Titus, President of the Rotary Club of Madras Industrial City, Rotarian P P Gopinath, Chairman of the tournament, Rotarian P P K Saravanaprakash, Secretary of Rotachess tournament, Ravikumar David, Vice President, YMCA Madras, Rotarian Kumar Asirvatham, Chairman, YMCA Royapettah Bracnh, P Asir Pandin, General Secretary and CEO, YMCA Madras, P Stephen Balasamy, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Chess Association, K Ganesan, Secretary of Chennai District Chess Association, Chief Guest, Rotarian immediate past district Governor J Sridhar, A L Kasi, Founder of T Nagar Chess Academy, and Srinivasa Rangan, Partner and Head Coach of T Nagar Chess Academy, were present at the inauguration ceremony.

Six GMs and seven IMs are currently at 4/4.

GM Sethuraman S P

GM Karthikeyan Murali

GM Deep Sengupta

GM Venkatesh M R

GM Bharath Subramaniyam H

and birthday boy GM Arjun Kalyan are at 4/4 each

Three endgames in the same row had a knight attempting to stop their opponent's passed pawn

Round 3 in progress

The tournament hall at YMCA Royapettah in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Top boards in action

A view from the top of the top ten boards

For more Inauguration Ceremony, Round 1, 2, 3 and 4 photos, please click at the respective links.

The two-day Rapid Rating Open observes the total participation of 528 players including 8 GMs, 11 IMs and a WGM from various parts of India and two from USA. The tournament is organized by T Nagar Chess Academy at YMCA Royapettah in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 17th and 18th June 2023, presented by YMCA Madras in association with Rotary Club of Madras Industrial City. The two-day nine-round Swiss league Rapid Rating tournament has a time control of 15 minutes + 15 seconds increment.

Round 4 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	38		Sarveshwaran V	1904	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2533	1
2	2	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2523	3	1 - 0	3		Peter Anand A	1906	37
3	44	FM	Ayushh Ravikumar	1851	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Visakh N R	2466	3
4	4	GM	Sengupta Deep	2439	3	1 - 0	3		Gugan G	1893	39
5	6	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2414	3	1 - 0	3	CM	Daakshin Arun	1877	41
6	50	AGM	Ashwin Sairam	1803	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2389	7
7	8	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2387	3	1 - 0	3		Sham R	1860	43
8	10	IM	Srihari L R	2337	3	1 - 0	3		Vijay Shreeram P	1851	45
9	54		Hiren K G	1777	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Rathanvel V S	2315	11
10	12	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2301	3	1 - 0	3		Vignesh Kannan P	1845	47
11	14	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2293	3	1 - 0	3		Nawin M S	1804	49
12	56		Mithun Anand V	1754	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Hari Madhavan N B	2275	15
13	16	IM	Avinash Ramesh	2255	3	½ - ½	3		Harini S.	1799	51
14	18		Srihari L	2189	3	1 - 0	3		Ram Alagappan S	1718	62
15	20	FM	Ashwath R.	2176	3	1 - 0	3		Rathina Sabapathi A	1710	63
16	64		Naveen K S	1694	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2175	21
17	66		Ranjith R.K.	1692	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J	2135	23
18	24	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2129	3	1 - 0	3		Ajjesh J R	1691	67
19	68		Nandish V S	1684	3	0 - 1	3	FM	Ram Aravind L N	2109	25
20	26	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2099	3	1 - 0	3		Haridev S	1589	80

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	10	IM	Srihari L R		2337	Chengalpattu	4	9	11	11,00	0	4
	11	IM	Rathanvel V S		2315	Coimbatore	4	9	11	11,00	0	4
	12	IM	Ilamparthi A R	U14	2301	Chengalpattu	4	9	11	11,00	0	4
	28		Sai Vishwesh.C		2066	Chennai	4	9	11	11,00	0	4
	56		Mithun Anand V		1754	Thoothukudi	4	9	11	11,00	0	4
6	6	GM	Venkatesh M.R.		2414	Chennai	4	9	10	10,00	0	4
	7	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H		2389	Tamil Nadu	4	9	10	10,00	0	4
	24	FM	Karthik Rajaa		2129	Chennai	4	9	10	10,00	0	4
9	8	GM	Arjun Kalyan		2387	Chennai	4	8,5	10,5	11,00	0	4
10	21	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.		2175	KVB	4	8,5	10,5	10,50	0	4
	25	FM	Ram Aravind L N		2109	Tamil Nadu	4	8,5	10,5	10,50	0	4
	31		Rohit S		1998	Chennai	4	8,5	10,5	10,50	0	4
	35		Siddharth Sabharishankar		1945	Chennai	4	8,5	10,5	10,50	0	4
14	20	FM	Ashwath R.		2176	Chennai	4	8,5	10	10,00	0	4
15	23	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J		2135	Telangana	4	8	10	10,00	0	4
16	18		Srihari L		2189	Puducherry	4	8	9,5	9,50	0	4
	26	IM	Praveen Kumar C		2099	Chennai	4	8	9,5	9,50	0	4
18	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.		2533	Chennai	4	8	9	9,00	0	4
19	14	IM	Ravi Teja S.		2293	Andhra Pradesh	4	7,5	9,5	9,50	0	4
20	2	GM	Karthikeyan Murali		2523	Tamil Nadu	4	7	9	9,00	0	4

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2533	4		4	FM	Ashwath R.	2176	20
2	21	IM	Saravana Krishnan P.	2175	4		4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2523	2
3	23	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J	2135	4		4	GM	Sengupta Deep	2439	4
4	24	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2129	4		4	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2414	6
5	7	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2389	4		4	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2099	26
6	25	FM	Ram Aravind L N	2109	4		4	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2387	8
7	28		Sai Vishwesh.C	2066	4		4	IM	Srihari L R	2337	10
8	11	IM	Rathanvel V S	2315	4		4		Arnav Maheshwari	1953	34
9	31		Rohit S	1998	4		4	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2301	12
10	35		Siddharth Sabharishankar	1945	4		4	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2293	14
11	56		Mithun Anand V	1754	4		4		Srihari L	2189	18
12	3	GM	Visakh N R	2466	3½		3½		Sridhar C S	1791	52
13	5	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2420	3½		3½	AGM	Vignesh N	1743	58
14	59		Sivan S Roshan	1730	3½		3½	IM	Avinash Ramesh	2255	16
15	51		Harini S.	1799	3½		3½	FM	Harshad S	2180	19
16	61		Pranav K P	1726	3½		3½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2004	30
17	73	WFM	Rajasurya J.	1644	3½		3½		Mehta Jwalin	1986	32
18	104		Saisarvesh S	1469	3½		3½		Krithigga K	1889	40
19	109		Rahul Ramakrishnan	1452	3½		3½	FM	Ayushh Ravikumar	1851	44
20	133		Tanmay Srinath	1388	3½		3½	FM	Vinoth Kumar M.	1849	46