Praggnanandhaa dominates Yugam 2021 International Online Blitz Open

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/03/2021

GM Praggnanandhaa won Yugam 2021 International Online Blitz Open with a score of 8.5/9. He started with eight consecutive victories and then drew the final round game to finish a half point ahead of the competition. Both untitled Pranav V and GM Diptayan Ghosh made 8.0/9, suffering only one loss and zero draws. They were placed second and third respectively according to their tie-break scores. Total 281 players including 16 GMs, 20 IMs, 2 WGMs and 6 WIMs registered for this event from 13 different countries across the world. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Praggnanandhaa replicates his last Playchess triumph

Almost exactly eleven months later (a day short), GM Praggnanandhaa replicated his performance with eight consecutive wins and a draw in the last round to win Yugam 2021 International Online Blitz Open. He won ₹25000 cash prize for his efforts. Untitled 14-year-old Pranav V and GM Diptayan Ghosh both scored 8.0/9. They were placed second and third according to their tie-break score.

Champion Praggnanandhaa dominated the field | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Total 281 players including 16 GMs, 20 IMs, 2 WGMs and 6 WIMs registered for this event from 13 different countries across the world including Australia, Azerbaijan, England, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Peru, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, USA and Uzbekistan.

Endgame prowess

GM Praggnanandhaa's best win of the event was against IM Terry Renato in Round 8.

Praggnanandhaa - Terry, Round 8

Position after 45...Rab2

The game continued with 46.h6 which is not the best continuation. White eventually won the game after mutual errors but what was better continuation after 45...Rab2

Praggnanandhaa scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 and finished a half point ahead of the competition

Replay all games of Praggnanandhaa

Pranav's solid finish

After losing the fourth round game, untitled Pranav V made a strong comeback by winning the next five games including three wins against IMs in the final three games.

Pranav - Terry, Round 9

Position after 26...fxe6

The game went on with 27.Bh3 but there was something which was immediate and much better for white. Can you find it?

Replay all games of Pranav

Runner-up Pranav V 8.0/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Diptayan's double hat-trick

GM Diptayan Ghosh lost his third round game against former National under-17 champion Vedant Panesar. However, he made a strong comeback by winning the last six rounds of the tournament. In the penultimate round, he scored a fine victory over GM Laxman R R.

Replay all games of Diptayan

3rd GM Diptayan Ghosh 8.0/9 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

4th GM Vugar Rasulov of Azerbaijan 7.5/9 | Photo: Azeri news

5th GM Karthikeyan Murali 7.5/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

6th IM Aronyak Ghosh 7.5/9 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

7th IM Terry Renato 7.0/9

8th IM Sammed Shete 7.0/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

9th IM Aditya Mittal 7.0/9

10th IM Arghyadip Das 7.0/9 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Best Woman 1st - WFM Savitha Shri B 7.0/9

Best Woman 2nd - IM Bhakti Kulkarni 6.5/9 | Photo: Queen's Chess Academy

Best Woman 3rd - WIM Vantika Agrawal 6.5/9

Best Woman 4th WGM Nandhidhaa P V 6.0/9 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Best Woman 5th WIM Priyanka Nutakki 6.0/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Final Standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	4	GM	Praggnanandhaa R			IND	2608	Chessworld1	8,5	51,5	55,5	52,00	0,0	8
2	39		Pranav V	U15		IND	2348	Pranav_vip	8,0	47,5	51,5	45,00	0,0	8
3	7	GM	Ghosh Diptayan			IND	2541	Diptayan	8,0	46,0	49,5	43,50	0,0	8
4	16	GM	Rasulov Vugar			AZE	2478	Vuqar	7,5	51,0	55,0	44,25	0,0	7
5	5	GM	Karthikeyan Murali			IND	2606	fighter64	7,5	48,5	53,5	43,75	0,0	7
6	23	IM	Aronyak Ghosh			IND	2436	Strange	7,5	45,5	49,5	40,25	0,0	7
7	12	IM	Terry Renato			PER	2504	Terryr	7,0	53,0	57,0	40,50	0,0	7
8	31	IM	Sammed Jaykumar Shete			IND	2412	Champion111	7,0	50,0	54,0	39,50	0,0	7
9	21	IM	Aditya Mittal	U15		IND	2438	Vinniethepooh	7,0	49,0	54,0	38,50	0,0	7
10	18	IM	Das Arghyadip			IND	2453	Arghyadip	7,0	49,0	53,0	40,00	0,0	7
11	24	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh			IND	2436	Nubairshahshaikh	7,0	48,5	52,5	38,50	0,0	7
12	38	IM	Anuj Shrivatri			IND	2350	Anuj Shrivatri	7,0	48,0	52,0	37,50	0,0	7
13	22	IM	Pranesh M	U15		IND	2437	Pranimastermuni	7,0	48,0	50,5	35,50	0,0	7
14	32	GM	Laxman R.R.			IND	2411	LAXMAN	7,0	47,5	51,0	37,50	0,0	7
15	35	IM	Nitin S.			IND	2381	snitin	7,0	46,0	49,0	36,00	0,0	7
16	44	FM	Samant Aditya S	U15		IND	2297	Adityass	7,0	45,5	49,5	36,00	0,0	7
17	25	IM	Das Sayantan			IND	2431	Ambitious	7,0	45,0	49,0	37,00	0,0	7
18	17	IM	Arjun Kalyan			IND	2477	Arjunkalyan	7,0	44,5	47,5	36,00	0,0	7
19	19	IM	Mitrabha Guha			IND	2445	Babysnake	7,0	42,5	45,5	33,50	0,0	6
20	49	WFM	Savitha Shri B	U15	w	IND	2261	savithashri	7,0	40,0	43,0	30,50	0,0	7
21	20	IM	Rathanvel V S			IND	2445	vsr64	6,5	51,0	54,5	35,25	0,0	6
22	30	FM	Srihari L R			IND	2414	lsr	6,5	48,5	51,0	33,75	0,0	6
23	34	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti		w	IND	2391	Bhaktikulkarni	6,5	44,5	47,5	30,75	0,0	6
24	52	FM	Aradhya Garg			IND	2198	Aradhya	6,5	44,0	48,0	32,50	0,0	6
25	95	AIM	Ashwin Sairam	U15		IND	1670	ASHWIN23	6,5	42,5	45,0	29,75	0,0	6

Complete standings

Main Prize winners (Top 25)

Rank	Name	Points	Prize
1	GM Praggnanandhaa R	8.5	25000
2	Pranav V	8	15000
3	GM Diptayan Ghosh	8	10000
4	GM Vugar Rasulov	7.5	6000
5	GM Karthikeyan Murali	7.5	4000
6	IM Aronyak Ghosh	7.5	3000
7	IM Terry Renato	7	2000
8	IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete	7	1000
9	IM Aditya Mittal	7	1000
10	IM Arghyadip Das	7	1000
11	IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	7	600
12	IM Anuj Shrivatri	7	600
13	GM Laxman R R	7	600
14	IM Nitin S	7	600
15	FM Aditya S Samant	7	600
16	IM Sayantan Das	7	600
17	IM Arjun Kalyan	7	600
18	IM Mitrabha Guha	7	600
19	IM Rathanvel V S	6.5	600
20	FM Srihari L R	6.5	600
21	Aradhya Garg	6.5	600
22	FM C J Arvind	6.5	600
23	Rohit S	6.5	600
24	GM Harsha Bharathakoti	6	600
25	Ritviz Parab	6	600

Best Women

1	WFM Savitha Shri B	7	3000
2	IM Bhakti Kulkarni	6.5	2000
3	WIM Vantika Agrawal	6.5	1000
4	WGM Nandhidhaa P V	6	600
5	WIM Priyanka Nutakki	6	400

Rating Category: 1600-1899

1	Ashwin Sairam (1670)	6.5	1000
2	Shubh Jayesh Laddha (1849)	6	600
3	Satria Duta Cahaya (1820)	6	400

Rating Category: 1300-1599

1	Kush Pipada (1440)	5.5	1000
2	Ved Danait (1332)	5.5	600
3	Sathvik Adiga (1358)	5	400

Rating Category: 1000-1299

1	Aneesh Krishna S (1032)	6	1000
2	Paras Dilip Bhoir (1236)	5.5	600
3	Nischala Y (1226)	5.5	400

Best Unrated

1	Srivathsa Venkataramanan	5.5	1000
2	Advait Ramachandran	5	600
3	Prathamesh Shashikant Deshmukh	5	400

Under-9

1	Parambrata Sarkar	5	1000
2	Joshi Aditya Shripad	4	600
3	Samarth Mudhol	3.5	400

Under-12

1	Ilamparthi A R	6	1000
2	CM Shreyas Royal	6	600
3	Jaiveer Mahendru	5.5	400

Under-15

1	IM Pranesh M	7	1000
2	CM Shahil Dey	6	600
3	CM Dev Shah	6	400

Best Veteran

Sankaran Ponnada Krishnaswamy (1227; 74 years)

1000

Best Specially Challenged

Shabari Nath Molugu

1000

All prize winners must claim the prizes two weeks within the publication of this article. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize.

Feedback of the Participants

FM Aditya Samant

It was a great tournament. Well organised and I got to play with many strong players.

M Rakshith

Thanks a lot.

Vikas Ray

First of all, thank you for organizing this event. It was really a great experience. I would really appreciate it if you can keep bringing more online events, that would be great. Looking forward to your next event.