In an anti-climactic final last year’s runner-up GM Amonatov Farrukh (2605, TJK) drew with GM Pruijssers Roeland (2514, NED) to garner 8 points and emerge as the clear winner of the Rs 35 lakh prize money 11th Mumbai Mayor’s International Chess Tournament 2018, Sponsored by LIC and hosted by Mount Litera International School, Bandra Kurla Complex on Sunday.
From Left to Right GM Amonatov Farrukh , A Category Winner along with office bearers of Chess federations Vithhal Madhav, Ravindra Dongre, Bharatsingh Chauhan, V Anantharaman and Nagesh G (in white), at the Prize distribution ceremony of the 11th Mumbai Mayor’s International Chess Tournament 2018.
Amonatov went home with a handsome cash prize of Rs 3.3 Lakhs while the Grandmaster from the Netherlands was offered Rs 2.3 Lakhs for his efforts. India’s IM Karthik Venkatraman (6th), GM Ghosh Diptayan (8th) and GM Deepan Chakravarthy J (10th) all finished with 7.5 points each to make it to the top 10. They were awarded cash prizes of Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively.
The game between Farrukh and Roeland started with the traditional Scotch opening. With both players exchanging pieces at regular intervals the game was equally poised. After a continuous exchange of pieces both the players were left with rook and bishop at either side. With no scope of a clear victory both the players agreed for a draw after 25 moves with Farrukh emerging as the winner on the virtue of a better tie-break score.
Semi-Finals
The semi-final game between IM Visakh (ELO 2467) and GM Manik Mikulas (ELO 2399) started with Tromposky opening. Both the games were equally poised with each of them playing safe. With both the players exhausting all their moves they decided to draw the match after 57 moves.
In another Match, Top seed GM Kravtsiv Martyn (ELO 2662) and GM Pruijssers Roeland (ELO 2514) started with French defence which converted into an irregular opening. In the middle game, Roeland sacrificed his queen for 2 rooks and gained a pawn along with that. He then attacked the king and got back his queen in exchange for his Rook and Bishop. In the endgame with an extra pawn and the knight on the other side, Martyn could not defend his position and accepted his defeat in 84 moves.
Top 10 results after Round 10:
GM Pruijssers Roeland (2514, NED) drew with GM Amonatov Farrukh (2605, TJK) 8 – 8; GM Manik Mikulas (2399, SVK) drew with GM Ghosh Diptayan (2536, IND) 7 ½ – 7 ½ ; GM Neverov Valeriy (2492, UKR) drew with GM Tran Tuan Minh (2514, VIE) 7 ½ – 7 ½ ;GM Tukhaev Adam (2557, UKR) bt IM Visakh N R (2467, IND) 7 ½ – 7; Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (2445, TJK) lost to GM Kravtsiv Martyn (2662, UKR) 6 ½ – 7 ½ ; GM Rozum Ivan (2581, RUS) lost to GM Nguyen Van Hyu (2451, VIE) 6 ½- 7 ½ ; Aaryan Varshney ( 2209, IND) drew with GM Mozharov Mikhail (2558, RUS) 6 ½- 7; Gm Deepan Chakkravarthy J ( 2531, IND) bt WGM Kiran Mohanty ( 2043, IND) ) 7 ½- 6 ½; Samant Aditya S (2121, IND) lost to IM Karthik Venkatraman (2475, IND) 6 ½- 7 ½; GM Sandipan Chanda (2571, IND) bt IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni ( 2323, IND) 7 ½ – 6 ½ .
Round 9:
GM Kravtsiv Martyn (2662, UKR) bt GM Pruijssers Roeland (2514, TJK) 6 ½- 6 1/2 ; IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2323, IND) lost to GM Amonatov Farrukh (2605, TJK) 6 ½- 6 ½; IM Visakh N R (2467, IND) drew with GM Manik Mikulas (2399, SVK) 6 ½- 6 ½; GM Mozharov Mikhail (2558, RUS) drew with IM Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (2445, TJK) 6-6; GM Tran Tuan Minh (2514, VIE) bt FM Rathnavel V S (2301, IND) 6-6; GM Ghosh Diptayan (2536, IND) bt FM Raja Rithvik R ( 2296, IND) 6-6; IM Rathnakaran K (2385, IND) lost to GM Neverov Valeriy (2492, UKR) 6-6; IM Karthik Venkatraman (2475, IND) bt IM Harsha Bharathkoti (2471, IND) 5 ½- 5 ½; Sankalp Gupta (2365, IND) lost to GM Rozum Ivan (2581, RUS) 5 ½- 5 ½; FM Mitrabha Guha (2330, IND) lost to GM Tukhaev Adam (2557, UKR) 5 ½- 5 ½