International Master P Shyam Nikhil defeated GM Sandipan Chanda to join GM Diptayan Ghosh on the top of the leader board underlining the strong performance by Indian players at the end of the 6th round of Mumbai Mayor’s International Open Chess Tournament 2016, presented by partner Zee Learn Ltd and co-sponsored by LIC and Ankit Gems, at Mount Litera School International, Bandra in BKC, Mumbai. Both are sharing the lead with 5.5 points followed by 8 others with 5 points in 2nd place. 15 from the top 20 slots are currently occupied by Indian players.
IM Shyamnikhil
IM P Shyam Nikhil while playing with black pieces against GM Sandipan Chanda, opted for the not so popular Benko Gambit. With regular exchange of the pieces, Sandipan who had an advantage of 2 bishops, was forced to exchange the bishop for the Knight by Shyam. Although Sandipan managed to get a passed pawn, Shyam exchanged his pieces to play an end game with 3 pawn vs pawn and bishop. Shyam won this ending comfortably in 59 moves.
The game between GM Swapnil Dhopade and Shailesh Dravid ended in a draw in 35 moves, where both the players avoided taking risks and shared points.
The game on the 3rd board which was played between IM Visakh N R and Himal Gusain lasted for 74 moves with a draw as the end product.
Top 10 Results Round 6:
GM Ghosh Diptayan 2562 bt GM Amonatov Farrukh (TJK) 2614; GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2504 drew with Shailesh Dravid 2171; IM Visakh N R 2400 drew with Gusain Himal 2440; IM Shyam Nikhil P 2415 bt GM Sandipan Chanda 2585; GM Grachev Boris (RUS) 2639 bt Erigaisi Arjun 2351; GM Rahman Ziaur (BAN) 2521 drew with FM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari 2295; GM Gagare Shardul 2509 drew with Kulkarni Vikramaditya 2278; Aradhya Garg 2274 drew with GM Gleizerov Evgeny (RUS) 2506; IM Krishna C R G 2411 drew with Akash Pc Iyer 2257; IM Abhishek Kelkar 2394 bt Hemant Sharma 2257