Five share lead as Senior Chess Nationals heading for an exciting finish

The MPL 58th Senior National Chess Championship, also known as the Senior Chess Nationals, at Ganges Club, Kanpur, is heading for an exciting finish.

As many as five players are now leading the points table with six and a half points with just three rounds remaining in the ₹30 lakh prize money tournament. The week-long chess event is being hosted by the Uttar Pradesh Chess Sports Association and sponsored by the MPL Sports Foundation.

In the crucial eighth round of the Chess Nationals on Tuesday morning, Tamil Nadu Grandmaster P Iniyan outwitted top seed B Adhiban.

Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak, Vice Chancellor of Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj Kanpur University, feted by Dr. Sanjay Kapoor, President, All India Chess Federation, at the Chess Nationals event (Picture: AICF)

International Master P Pranav shocked seasoned campaigner Grandmaster Deep Sengupta to join Erigaisi Arjun and Gukesh D at the top of the points table. In addition to these four players, defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram, who beat Railwayman Sayantan Das in the eighth round encounter of the, has also jumped to the top joint spot in the ongoing 58th edition of the Senior Chess Nationals.

Chess Nationals: Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh play out a draw

Overnight joint leaders Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh signed a peace treaty with Visakh N R and Lalith Babu MR, respectively. The result enabled Iniyan, Pranav, and Aravindh to catch the leaders with contrasting wins in the eighth round.

In other important encounters at the 58th Chess Nationals, Grandmaster Mitrabha Guha and Aryan Chopra agreed to split the points while Commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta beat Nitin S of Railways.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu beat IM Sayantan Das of Railways at the Chess Nationals (Picture: AICF)

Mitrabha, Aryan, and Abhijeet are now trailing behind the leaders, adrift by half points, along with Lalith Babu M R, Visakh N R, Swapnil Dhopade, and Aditya Mittal.

Vidarbha’s Swapnil Dhopade got the better of IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal to take his points tally to six. Adiya registered victory over Srihari L R of Tamil Nadu in the eighth round battle.

Earlier, Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak, Vice Chancellor of Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj Kanpur University, inaugurated the eighth round proceedings of the Chess Nationals in the presence of Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President of the All India Chess Federation.

Chess Nationals: Important Results

Round 8

GM Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana (6.5) drew with GM Visakh NR of Railways (6)

GM Lalith Babu MR of PSPB (6) drew with GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu (6.5)

GM Iniyan P of Tamil Nadu (6.5) beat GM Adhiban B of PSPB (5.5)

GM Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu (6.5) beat IM Sayantan Das of Railways (5.5)

GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (6) drew with GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (6)

GM Deep Sengupta of PSPB (5.5) lost to IM Pranav V of Tamil Nadu (6.5)

IM Nitin S of Railways (5) lost to GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (6)

IM Himal Gusain of Railways (5.5) drew with GM Sethuraman SP of PSPB (5.5)

IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal (5) lost to GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways (6)

IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (6) beat IM Srihari LR of Tamil Nadu (5)

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra (5.5) drew with IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (5.5)

IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (5.5) drew with IM K Ratnakaran of Railways (5.5)

Sambit Panda of Odisha (5.5) drew with GM Laxman RR of Railways (5.5)

IM Sarvana Krishnan of Tamil Nadu (4.5) lost to GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (5.5)

GM Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana (5) drew with FM Ayush Sharma of Madhya Pradesh (5)

IM Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh (4.5) lost to IM Ravi Teja S of Railways (5.5)

Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (5) drew with IM Pranesh M of Tamil Nadu (5)

IM Neelash Saha of West Bengal lost to FM Aaryan Varshney of Delhi (5.5)

FM Sharan Rao of Karnataka (4.5) lost to IM Vignesh NR of Railways (5.5)

IM Shyaamnikhil P of Railways (5.5) beat Anilkumar OT of Kerala (4.5).