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TALEIGAO: Grandmaster Anurag Mhamal and Fide Master Nitish Belurkar continued their winning momentum as they prevailed in the second round of 2nd Goa International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2019 following their wins in their respective encounters held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Taleigao on Wednesday.
Anurag, who played against Fide Master Wagh Suyog, went for a Queen’s Indian opening and managed to get advantage on flank. He also sacrificed one pawn in the middle game for compensation. Eventually in the 20th move Anurag was able to penetrate into the second rank which left the white king isolated and Goa’s 1st GM seized the opportunity to achieve the victory.
Playing against Querishi MA, FM Nitish Belurkar slowly advanced from an equal position and manoeuvred the end game to achieve a fine technical victory.
Both Nitish and Anurag are on two points each. Ritviz Parab drew with Anil Kumar OT while Niraj Saripalli won against Arpan Das.
Niraj is on one point while Ritviz is on half point. Leon Mendonca and Nandhini lost their respective encounters and are on 1 point each.
Meanwhile, defending champion GM Idani Pouyo and top seed GM Iturrizaga Bonelli were held in the second round and are now on 1.5 points.
FM Anuj Shrivatri (2336) created the first upset of the day when he held top seed Iturizzaga Eduardo (2637) to a draw.
The game between Anuj and Iturizzaga saw the middle game dominated by Iturizzaga.
Venezuela’s number 1 had one pawn less, however, his able opponent had enough compensation to match. Eventually the exchange between the rooks is what led to the draw.
On the other board, Abhishek maintained a solid pawn structure in the centre.
The defending champ Idani went for the F pawn promotion first which went on to become a block. Soon there was little counter play from both ends which led to a draw.
The game between International Master K Ponnuswamy and GM Gukesh D was a major upset for the youngster. It was a game with both sides having initiatives throughout the game. The blow came when Ponnuswany sacrificed his queen for a huge advantage in the end game. Ponnuswamy won by slowly improving his pieces while not allowing to opponents to do the same.
In Category B, at the end of Round 5, Paarth P Salvi (1625) is on 50th position with four points following his win over Velpula Sarayu.
Sairaj Dilip Vernekar (1591) is with 3.5 points in 88th position while Parsekar Anirudh and Reuban Colaco are also with 3.5 points.
Women Chess Master (WCM) Gunjal Chopdekar, Aryan Shamrao, Ehtan Vaz, Saish Fondekar, Swayam Naik and Lad Mandar Pradip are on 3 points.
