Senior Chess Nationals: Gukesh beats Abhijeet Gupta to join Arjun Erigaisi at the top; Divya Deshmukh triumphs

Grandmaster D Gukesh beat Abjijeet Gupta to share the lead in the 58th edition of the Senior National Chess Championship, sponsored by MPL Sports Foundation, at the Ganges Club in Kanpur on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu’s Gukesh prevailed over former national champion Abhijeet Gupta of the PSPB in the penultimate round to catch up with overnight leader and second seed Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana. Gukesh and Gupta now share the lead with eight points each, paving the way for a photo finish on Thursday.

In top board battles in the tenth round, Arjun Erigaisi agreed to split points with Grandmaster P Iniyan of Tamil Nadu after 41 moves. Elsewhere, defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram and Delhi Grandmaster Aryan Chopra shook hands after 63 moves.

Bhanu Bhaskar IPS, ADG Kanpur Zone, receiving memento from AICF president Dr Sanjay Kapoor. (Picture: AICF)

Gukesh displays excellent endgame skills to surprise Gupta

Playing with dark pieces in the Nimzo-Indian Samisch variation, Gukesh showed immense discipline and endgame skill to beat Gupta in 64 moves. An excellent victory by Gukesh helped him reach the top of the points table in this Rs 30 lakh prize money event, where Rs 6 lakh is reserved for the winner.

With eight points in his kitty, Gukesh and Erigaisi now enjoy a slender half-point lead over their nearest competitors - Aravindh Chithambaram, former champion Sethuraman SP, Aryan Chopra, Mitrabha Guha, Iniyan P, Visakh N R and Pranav V - with one round to go.

Meanwhile, Utsab Chatterjee, Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal and Sambit Panda of Odisha completed their requirements to achieve nine-game International Master Norms during the event. Many players are eyeing the completion of their international title norms in the final round.

Earlier, the penultimate round was inaugurated by Bhanu Bhaskar IPS and ADG Kanpur Zone in the presence of Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President of the All India Chess Federation.

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Nagpur teenager Divya Deshmukh becomes the youngest national chess champion in women’s category

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Divya Deshmukh from Nagpur became the national champion of India in the women’s category. The Maharashtra girl scored eight points out of nine to win the title by a full point, beating strong players like Vaishali, Bhakti Kulkarni and others.

Deshmukh gained 25 Elo points and took home a mammoth prize of Rs 5.50 lakh (US$ 7250). After winning the title, she tweeted just one emoji - ‘☺’.

Since March 2020, she has played only three over-the-board events. Everyone was very curious why she wasn’t playing more. Maybe it was her academics or preparation. Nevertheless, whatever it was, she made a powerful comeback.

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Key Results

Round 10

GM Erigaisi Arjun of Telangana (8) drew with GM Iniyan P of Tamil Nadu (7.5).

GM Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu (7.5) drew with GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (7.5).

GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (6.5) lost to GM Gukesh D (8).

GM Swapnil S Dhopade of Railways (6.5) lost to GM Sethuraman SP of PSPB (7.5).

GM Lalith Babu MR of PSPB (6.5) lost to IM Pranav V of Tamil Nadu (7.5).

GM Visakh NR of Railways (7.5) beat IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (6.5).

GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (7.5) beat Sambit Panda of Odisha (6.5).

GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (7) beat IM Ratnakaran K of Railways (6.5).

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra (6.5) drew with GM Adhiban B of PSPB (6.5).

GM Deep Sengupta of PSPB (7) beat Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (6).

GM Deepan Chakravarthy of Railways (6) lost to IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh of Maharashtra (7).

GM Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana (7) beat IM Harshvardhan GB of Tamil Nadu (6).

IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (7) beat FM Aaryan Varshney of Delhi (6).

IM Shyaamnikhil P of Railways (6.5) drew with IM Ravi Teja S of Railways (6.5).

IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (7) beat IM Srihari LR of Tamil Nadu (6).

Illamparthi AR of Tamil Nadu (6.5) drew with IM Pranesh M of Tamil Nadu (6.5).

IM Krishna CRG of Railways (6.5) beat Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri of Telangana (6).

IM Sayantan Das of Railways (6.5) beat FM Ayush Sharma of Madhya Pradesh (5.5),

IM Rahul Sangma of Railways (6) drew with IM Vignesh NR of Railways (6),

GM Laxman RR of Railways (6) drew with IM Dinesh Sharma of LIC (6).