Senior National Chess Championship: Koustav Chatterjee on song; five share lead after fifth round

Koustav Chatterjee was on song at the MPL 58th Senior National Chess Championship at the Ganges Club in Kanpur on Sunday.

International Master Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal continued with his impressive showing and downed fourth seed and two-time national champion Karthikeyan Murali in the fifth round.

Playing on the black side of Steinitz's defense of Ruy Lopez's opener, Koustav sacrificed his rook for Bishop and pawn on 39th move to garner a full point against his fancied rival. Koustav needed 20 more moves to record a brilliant win.

Today's matches were inaugurated by MP Satyadev Pachauri and AICF president Dr Sanjay Kapoor. (Picture: AICF)

Koustav upset fifth seed Sethuraman in the fourth round

Earlier in the fourth round, Koustav stunned fifth seed Sethuraman to post his third win of the tournament.

Koustav did well to hold top seed B Adhiban in the third round on Saturday.

In another important fifth-round encounter, former champion Grandmaster Lalith Babu M R of PSPB defeated Grandmaster Aryan Chopra of Delhi.

The much-anticipated top board battle between young Grandmasters D Gukesh of Tamil Nadu and Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana ended in a peace treaty after 46 moves arrived out of the Semi Slav-Botvinnik System.

On completion of their fifth-round matches, Koustav and four others shared the lead with four-and-a-half points to their credit.

Arjun Erigaisi along with D. Gukesh, Lalith Babu MR and Commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta, who beat International Master Aditya Mittal, are sharing the lead with four-and-a-half points.

A pack of 14 players, including top seed Adhiban, are now trailing behind the leaders with a drift of half a point.

Earlier, the fifth-round matches were inaugurated by Satyadev Pachauri, Member of Parliament in the presence of Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President of the All India Chess Federation. The sixth round matches of this eleven-round Swiss Systems tournament, sponsored by the MPL Sports Foundation, will be played on Monday morning.

Players in action during the fifth round matches on Sunday. (Picture: AICF)

Results

Round 5

GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu (4.5) drew with GM Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana (4.5)

GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (4) lost to GM Lalith Babu M R of PSPB (4.5)

GM Adhiban B of PSPB (4) drew with GM Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana (4)

GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (4.5) beat IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (3.5)

IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (4) drew with GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (4)

GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (3) lost to IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (4.5)

IM Sidhant Mohapatra of Railways (3.5) drew with GM Abhimanyu Puranik of Maharashtra (3.5)

FM Harshad S of Tamil Nadu (3) lost to GM Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu (4)

Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri of Telangana (3) lost to Deep Sengupta of PSPB (4)

Sambit Panda of Odisha (4) beat GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of Railways (3)

Jain Shrenhik Daklia of Chhattisgarh (3) lost to GM Iniyan P of Tami Nadu (4)

GM Arjun Kalyan of Tamil Nadu (3.5) drew with IM Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh (3.5)

GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways (3.5) drew with FM Mohamed Anees of Tamil Nadu (3.5)

IM Pranav V of Tamil Nadu (3.5) drew with Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (3.5)

IM Ravi Teja S of Railways (4) beat FM Aradhya Garg of Delhi (3)

IM Sayantan Das of Railways (4) beat FM Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra (3)

IM Vignesh N R of Railways (4) beat Sanket Chakravarty of West Bengal (3)

GM Laxman R R of Railways (4) beat Anjaneyaa Phatak of Maharashtra (3)

IM Nitin S of Railways (3.5) drew with CM Ojasva Singh of Madhya Pradesh (3.5)

IM Himal Gusain of Railways (3) lost to Shreyansh Daklia of Chhattisgarh (4)

IM Srihari L R (3.5) drew with Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal (3.5)

GM Sethuraman S P of PSPB (3.5) beat Vedant Pimpalkhare of Maharashtra (3).