Unseeded Parthasarathy upsets GM Diptayan Ghosh

Unseeded Parthasarathy R snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat by beating GM Diptayan Ghosh in a third round match of the Rs 35 lakh prize money 11th Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess Tournament 2018. It was sponsored by LIC of India and played at the Mount Litera School International, Bandra on Tuesday.

The game started with Modern Defence and both players were going head to head until GM Diptayan (ELO 2536) brought his experience to the table to gain a slight advantage. A round move of the queen swung the fortune back in favour of Parthasarathy (ELO 1916) but Diptayan was quick to make a comeback and regain the advantage on the 33rd move. With two Rooks v/s a Bishop and a Rook, Diptayan was poised to win the game, but a folk by Bishop made the position worse for Diptayan which gave Parthasarathy just the opportunity he was looking for.  Diptayan lost the game in 65 moves.

The top-ranked Indian Sandipan did not waver, unlike his counterpart. The Indian opted for Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen Variation against Meena Gupta and gained an edge after 17 moves. With a regular exchange of pieces, Sandipan won the exchange and later, the game in 42 moves.                

Top seed GM Kravtsiv ( ELO 2662, UKR) made short work of Pranesh M (ELO 1983) and scored his third successive win over an Indian to join Sandipan in the lead along with 12 other players by round three.  Playing with white, he opted for an English opening. Pranesh found it difficult to handle the strong attack in the middle game and accepted the defeat in 19 moves.

GM Amanatov Farrukh (ELO 2606, TJK) playing with Maharashtra’s upcoming player Mridul Dehankar (ELO 1971) faced Caro Cann defence, which he converted to advance variation.  The game was equally poised till 27th move but Farrukh regained  control and won in 49 moves.