Pune: Strategic Battles and Critical Wins: Round 8 of the 60th National Chess Championship

Pune, 23rd August 2023: Round 8 at the 60th National Chess Championship being held in Pune, was full of surprises, and resulted in lots of ups and downs in the ranking of the tournament.

GM SP Sethuraman, playing on board 1, continued to lead the tournament, with a clinical win with the black pieces against GM Visakh NR. GM Sethuraman, currently has 7.5 pts out of 8 rounds, and leads the tournament with half a point with 3 rounds to go.

The game between GM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM P Iniyan on board 2 was the most exciting game of round 8, and was full of tactics. Abhimanyu made a mistake in the tactics, and GM P Iniyan, who is in great form, played the perfect moves and won a very important game in round 8. Iniyan is joint second with 7 points out of 8 games.

On Board 3, there was again a tempting game in round 8, between GM Mitraba Guha and GM Diptayan Ghosh. The game was very equal after the opening, but GM Mitraba Guha soon got trapped in his opponent’s tactics, and GM Diptayan had a heavy advantage right in the middle game. The game soon ended with Guha resigning, giving Ghosh a well fought win. GM Diptayan Ghosh is joint second with 7 points out of 8 rounds.

IM Aronak Ghosh, playing on board 4, defeated GM Deep Sengupta in round 8. Ghosh playing with the white pieces, had a small advantage right after the opening. Ghosh played a long game, slowly trying to get more advantage with every move. Eventually, GM Deep Sengupta buckled under the pressure and resigned, handing Ghosh a much deserved win. Ghosh is joint second with 7 points out of 8 rounds.

Following are the results: 8th Round: White and Black pieces:
Visakh, N R(6pts)(RSPB) lost to Sethuraman, S.P.(7.5pts)(PSPB);
Abhimanyu Puranik(6pts)(AAI) lost to Iniyan P(7pts)(TN);
Mitrabha Guha(6pts)(WB) lost to Diptayan Ghosh(7pts)(WB);
Aronyak, Ghosh(7pts)(RSPB) bt Deep Sengupta(6pt)(PSPB);
Neelash Saha(7pts)(RSPB) bt Shyaamnikhil P(5.5pts)(RSPB);
Surya Shekhar Ganguly(6pts)(PSPB) drew with Krishna CRG(6pts)(RSPB);
Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.(5.5pts)(RSPB) lost to Akash G(6.5pts)(TN);
Rajesh Nayak(6pts)(ODI) drew with Anuj Shrivatri(6pts)(MP);
Apoorv Kamble(5.5pts)(KAR)lost to Vishnu Prasanna. V(6.5pts)(TN);
Srihari LR(6.5pts)(TN) bt Vignesh Vemula(5.5pts)(TEL);
Arghyadip Das(5pts)(RSPB) lost to Vedant Garg(6.5pts)(CHD);
Imocha Laishram(5pts)(PSPB) lost to Abhijieet Gupta(6pts)(PSPB);
Setumadhav Yellumahanthi(5pts)(AP) lost to Sayantan Das(6pts)(RSPB);
Ram Krishnan(5.5pts)(BSNL) drew with Venkatesh, M.R.(5.5pts)(PSPB);
Shankhodip De(5pts)(WB)lost to Sidhant Mohapatra(6pts)(RSPB);
Harsh Himanshu(5pts)(BIH) lost to Utkal Sahoo(6pts)(ODI);