Lakecity GM R09: Deepan hoodwinks Sidhant, Neelotpal's stoic resistance triumphs!

by Satanick Mukhuty - 20/09/2019

Deepan Chakkravarthy won against Sidhant Mohapatra to get back on the lead with 7.5/9 points after the penultimate round of the Lakecity GM Open here in Udaipur. He is joined by three other players including Grandmaster Neelotpal Das who beat the in-form Mitrabha Guha with the black pieces to join the leaders. Elsewhere, Hesham Abdelrahman was defeated by the top seed Ivan Rozum, while GM Maxim Lugovskoy got the better of IM Sayantan Das. The fight for the title would be tight in the final round not just between the leaders but also the six players who follow them closely just half a point behind. In this article we bring you the games, analyses, photos, and much more from the ninth round of the event.

Deepan's mystifying bishop sac gets the better of Sidhant!

Deepan Chakkravarthy (left) finished off Sidhant Mohapatra (right) in just 25 moves to get back on the lead once again. In the final round he is pitted against compatriot Swapnil Dhopade, who do you think will come out strong in that encounter? | Photo: Sunil Soni

The second seeded Deepan Chakkravarthy took his opponent IM Sidhant Mohapatra into tricky waters yesterday on the penultimate round of the 1st Lakecity GM Open. The former had the white pieces and the game opened with a Semi-Slav defense. Till about the ninth move theory was adhered to but after that the players seemed to be on their own. Then on move sixteen Deepan hatched a devious plan to sacrifice his dark-squared bishop for a strong initiative on the kingside. Let's see what happened!

Deepan Chakkravarthy - Sidhant Mohapatra, Round 9

Black played the move 14...Be7 here which looked slightly passive and allowed White to go ahead with an aggressive kingside expansion. Perhaps 14...h6 15.Bd2 Qb6 would have been better.

And this was the trick Deepan had up his sleeve - 16.h4!? trapping his own bishop on g5. But what's the idea behind this move?

Well, the point is clear, after 16...f6 17.0-0-0 fxg5 18.hxg5 White has active pieces and this nice open h-file to work on, while Black has to tread very carefully in order to not wind up in a mating attack.

18...Rxf4? was greedy and gave White exactly what he needed!

Next, after 19.Qb3+ Kf8 20.Rxh7 the above position was reached. Black is already threatening mate on h8 and there's no good way to prevent it. Resignation came only after five moves from here!

Neelotpal topples Mitrabha Guha to join the lead!

Neelotpal Das (right) in action against Mitrabha Guha (left). IM Sayantan Das takes a peek at the encounter from behind | Photo: Sunil Soni

Mitrabha Guha - Neelotpal Das, Round 9

The critical position of this Catalan encounter was reached when 24.Nfg5+ ... What would you do if you were in Black's shoes here?

Actually, 24.Nfg5+, 24.Neg5+, and 24.Bg5 are the main moves in this position. Anything slow like 24.Rd1 doesn't work because Black has Nb3! next which allows him to exchange of the c1 bishop with a comfortable position. The game followed 24.Nfg5+ Kh8, 24...hxg5 was also possible but would have led to complications. Neelotpal held his nerves and calmly refused the sacrifice! 25.Nxf7+ Rxf7 came next.

Position after 25...Rxf7: White went Qg6 here, can you do better?

It turns out that 26.Qg6 was a slip. After 26...Kg8 27.Bh3 Nc6 28.Bxe6 Nxe5 29.Qh5 Nf6 30.Qxe5 Nxe4 Black stood clearly better. There was however a fairly straightforward draw with 26.Qxe6 Rf8 27.Qg6 after which Bxh6 follows with a perpetual.

The game was resigned on move 37 when Black was a clear piece up.

The full game with annotations is presented below:

IM Sayantan Das (left) went down against GM Maxim Lugovskoy to lose his spot on the top and is now on 6.5/9 | Photo: Sunil Soni

Top seed Ivan Rozum (right) defeated Hesham Abdelrahman, the sole leader after round eight, to get back on the lead | Photo: Sunil Soni

Results of round nine

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	GM	Rozum Ivan		2596	RUS	6½	1 - 0	7	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman		2396	EGY	13
2	2	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		2539	ICF	6½	1 - 0	6½	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra		2357	ODI	19
3	8	IM	Das Sayantan		2434	WB	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		2422	RUS	10
4	11	FM	Mitrabha Guha		2414	WB	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Neelotpal Das		2433	WB	9
5	17	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy		2374	TN	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade		2501	RLYS	3
6	6	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo		2476	CHI	6	0 - 1	6		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri		2304	AP	21
7	24	IM	Sarwat Walaa		2236	EGY	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Laxman R.R.		2437	ICF	7
8	12	GM	Himanshu Sharma		2408	HAR	6	1 - 0	6		Pranav Shetty		2124	MAH	33
9	22	FM	Shailesh Dravid		2299	MAH	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Manik Mikulas		2375	SVK	16
10	39		Anadkat Kartavya	U15	2088	GUJ	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Saptarshi Roy		2480	WB	5

Standings after round nine

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.			IND	2539	ICF	7,5	0,0	53,0	58,0	47,25	6
2	1	GM	Rozum Ivan			RUS	2596	RUS	7,5	0,0	50,5	54,0	44,00	6
3	10	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim			RUS	2422	RUS	7,5	0,0	49,0	53,0	43,25	7
4	9	GM	Neelotpal Das			IND	2433	WB	7,5	0,0	47,0	51,5	41,75	7
5	13	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman			EGY	2396	EGY	7,0	0,0	50,0	55,0	40,00	7
6	21		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri			IND	2304	AP	7,0	0,0	48,5	52,0	37,50	7
7	7	GM	Laxman R.R.			IND	2437	ICF	7,0	0,0	47,5	52,0	40,25	6
8	3	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade			IND	2501	RLYS	7,0	0,0	46,0	51,0	38,50	6
9	12	GM	Himanshu Sharma			IND	2408	HAR	7,0	0,0	45,5	49,0	36,75	6
10	22	FM	Shailesh Dravid			IND	2299	MAH	7,0	0,0	45,0	49,0	35,50	7

Final round pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	9	GM	Neelotpal Das		2433	WB	7½		7½	GM	Rozum Ivan		2596	RUS	1
2	3	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade		2501	RLYS	7		7½	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.		2539	ICF	2
3	10	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim		2422	RUS	7½		7	GM	Laxman R.R.		2437	ICF	7
4	21		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri		2304	AP	7		7	GM	Himanshu Sharma		2408	HAR	12
5	13	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman		2396	EGY	7		7	FM	Shailesh Dravid		2299	MAH	22
6	20		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan		2329	ODI	6½		6½	IM	Das Sayantan		2434	WB	8
7	25		Nayak Rajesh		2227	ODI	6½		6½	FM	Mitrabha Guha		2414	WB	11
8	28	FM	Mehdi Hasan Parag		2183	BAN	6½		6½	IM	Eraschenkov Denis		2390	RUS	14
9	19	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra		2357	ODI	6½		6½		Aniruddh Chatterjee	U15	1805	WB	86
10	31		Aradhya Garg		2157	DEL	6		6	GM	Rahman Ziaur		2492	BAN	4

For complete results and standings check here.

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