Sethuraman sole leader at 60th NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Pune, 21st August: GM S.P. Sethuraman maintained the lead with 6 points at 60th National Chess Championships 2023 which is being organized by Maharashtra Chess Association and played at the Boxing Hall , Shree Shivchatrapati Kreeda Sankul, Mhalunge Balewadi, Pune

GM Mitraba Guha, drew with Tournament Leader Abhimanyu Puranik on board 1, ending his winning streak of 5 matches. Guha did not let Abhimanyu take any advantage, and played a solid game with the black pieces.

GM S.P. Sethuraman, playing on board 2, defeated GM Deep Sengupta with the black pieces, converting a technical endgame. Sethuraman is the sole leader of the tournament now with a perfect score of 6/6.

GM Deepan Chakravarthy played an extremely solid game in round 6, and held GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly to a draw. Ganguly, who is not in his top form, could not find the best moves in the middle game, and had to settle for a draw.

GM Diptayan Ghosh, defended well with the black pieces, and accepted a draw with GM Venkatesh MR on board 4. GM Venkatesh, was slightly better with the white pieces, but played it safe, and settled for a draw.

The biggest upset of Round 6 was made by Apoorv Kamble, playing on board 10. State blitz Champion from Karnataka, Apoorv Kamble(2082 rated) defeated GM Sayantan Das with the white pieces. Sayantan made a mistake in the endgame, and Apoorv immediately capitalized on it, and won the game.

Following are the results: 6th Round: White and Black:
Abhimanyu Puranik(5.5pts)(AAI) drew with Mitrabha Guha(5.5pts)(WB);
Deep Sengupta(5pts)(PSPB) vs Sethuraman, S.P.(5pts)(PSPB);
Surya Shekhar Ganguly(5pts)(PSPB) drew with Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.(5pts)(RSPB);
Venkatesh, M.R.(5pts)(PSPB) drew with Diptayan Ghosh(5pts)(WB);
Vishnu, Prasanna. V(4.5pts)(TN) lost to Aronyak, Ghosh(5.5pts)(RSPB);
Kolla, Bhaavan(5pts)(AP) drew with Shyaamnikhil, P(5pts)(RSPB);
Utkal Sahoo(4pts)(ODI) lost to Abhijeet Gupta(5pts)(PSPB);
Visakh NR(5pts)(RSPB) bt Dinesh Sharma(4pts)(LIC);
Praveen Kumar C(4pts)(TN)lost to Iniyan P(5pts)(TN);
Apoorv Kamble(5pts)(KAR) bt Sayantan Das(4pts)(RSPB);
Akash G(4.5pts)(TN) drew with Kaivalya Nagare(4.5pts)(MAH);
Neelash Saha(5pts)(RSPB)bt Vivaan Shah(4pts)(GUJ);
Anuj Shrivatri(5pts)(MP) bt Yash Bharadia(4pts)(RAJ);
Arghyadip Das(5pts)(RSPB) bt Aakash, G(4pts)(TN);
Srihari, L R(54pts)(TN) bt Potluri, Supreetha(4pts)(AP);
Harshit Pawar(4.5pts)(DEL) drew with Krishna, CRG(4.5pts)(RSPB);
Shrayan Majumder(4pts)(MAH) lost to Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H.(5pts)(RSPB).