With one round remaining, the tenth edition of Parsvnath International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament is heading for a close finish.
At the end of penultimate round matches at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex on Sunday, Filipino Grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and John Paul Gomez leading the table with eight and half points after registering emphatic victories over Grandmasters Mark Paragua and Deepan Chakkravarthy in the tenth round.
Indian International Masters Lalith Babu M R, K Rathnakaran and Shyam Nikil along with untitled Chinese player Ma Qun are closely following the leaders with a drift of half point in this Rs. 15 lakh prize money tournament.
Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua
In the tenth round encounters, playing with white pieces in Grunfeld defence, Barbosa not given any chances to his countrymen rival to seal the match in 33 moves. Gomez overcame his Indian rival in 42 moves while displaying a solid tactical game in the King’s Indian defence.
Rathnakaran outwitted Kazakh International Master Kiril Kuderinov while Ma Qun shocked fifth seed Russian Grandmaster Andrei Deviatkin to occupy the joint second spot with Lalith Babu and Shyam Nikil, who overcame their Indian International Master rivals Vishnu Prasanna and S Nitin respectively in the tenth round.
Meanwhile Delhi youngster Hemant Sharma brought cheers to the home crowd by making his maiden International Master norm after signing the peace treaty with International Master Ashwin Jayaram.
Gomez John Paul and Deepan Chakkravarthy
In surprising results of the day, Kerala youngster Narayanan S L stunned Grandmaster Henrik Danielsen of Iceland while International Master Himanshu Sharma suffered shock defeat by the hands of Tamilnadu based R A Pradeep Kumar.
Barbosa takes on Shyam Nikil while Gomez paired with Ma Qun in the eleventh and final round, which will be held at Monday morning.
Round 10 standings:
1-2. GM Gomez John Paul PHI 2506 and GM Barbosa Oliver PHI 2573 – 8.5
3-6. IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2484, IM Shyam Nikil P IND 2482, IM Rathnakaran K IND 2403 and Ma Qun CHN 2475 – 8.0
7-12. GM Paragua Mark PHI 2522, IM Vaibhav Suri IND 2448, GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2548, GM Gleizerov Evgeny RUS 2566, IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2513 and GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2602 – 7.5
13-33. GM Deviatkin Andrei RUS 2574, Zeng Chongsheng CHN 2400, GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2628, IM Vishnu Prasanna V IND 2392, IM Thejkumar M S IND 2455, IM Kuderinov Kirill KAZ 2497, Hemant Sharma IND 2262, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J IND 2495, GM Neelotpal Das IND 2471, Narayanan S L IND 2320, IM Debashis Das IND 2389, IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy IND 2344, IM Nitin S IND 2399, GM Laxman R R IND 2434, IM Karthikeyan P IND 2402, GM Ulibin Mikhail RUS 2587, GM Oleksienko Mikhailo UKR 2563, Abhishek Das IND 2354, IM Palit Somak IND 2399, Pradeep Kumar R A IND 2268 and IM Ravichandran Siddharth IND 2398 – 7.0 etc
Hemant Sharma
Round 11 top pairings:
IM Shyam Nikil P 2482 – GM Barbosa Oliver 2573
Ma Qun 2475 – GM Gomez John Paul 2506
IM Rathnakaran K 2403 – IM Lalith Babu M R 2484
GM Kravtsiv Martyn 2602 – IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2513
GM Paragua Mark 2522 – GM Gleizerov Evgeny 2566
IM Vaibhav Suri 2448 – GM Kunte Abhijit 2548
IM Nitin S 2399 – GM Sandipan Chanda 2628
Zeng Chongsheng 2400 – GM Ulibin Mikhail 2587
IM Palit Somak 2399 – GM Deviatkin Andrei 2574
GM Oleksienko Mikhailo 2563 – IM Ravichandran Siddharth 2398
IM Vishnu Prasanna V 2392 – IM Kuderinov Kirill 2497
GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2495 – IM Debashis Das 2389
GM Neelotpal Das 2471 – Hemant Sharma 2262
Veteran International Master Shekhar Sahu
MS Gopakumar
International Arbiter
Press Officer, 10th Parsvnath International Open
