Mumbai: Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Kriti Patel (2 points) of Mumbai played a good tactical game to record her second win, defeating citymate Devansh Nisar (1 point) in a second-round match of the 1st All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament 2024, hosted by South Mumbai Chess School, here on Saturday.
Playing with white pieces, the 18-year-old Kiriti, a student of SIES College in Navi Mumbai, started with the Albin Counter Gambit opening and won an early pawn. She maintained the advantage and exploited the situation and even though Devansh defended well she was in control. She finally went for the kill and checkmated Devansh on the 54th move to seal the win.
International Master (IM) Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2 points) of Kolhapur, playing with white pieces, scored another impressive win, beating Kirti Suryarao (1 point) of Thane in another second-round match on the top board. He is leading the standings along with several players including Kriti Patel, Arnav Kherdekar, Sanjeev Mishra, Samarth Patodekar and AIM Saikat Nath.
Saikat Nath (2 points) also tasted victory by defeating Pragnay Singh (1 point) on the eighth board with black pieces.
Earlier in the first round, WCM Kriti Patel, starting with black pieces, tasted success by defeating Aria Reshamwala to collect a full point.
In another first-round encounter, IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni launched his campaign on a positive note, winning as he easily defeated Mumbai’s Akhil Shah on the opening day of the event. Playing with the black pieces, Kulkarni started with the Sicilian defence, and after being challenged by white pieces, converted into the centre game. He then dominated the proceedings, and with little resistance from Shah, went on to win the match in 31 moves.
Results (top 10):
Second round: IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2) beat Kirti Suryarao (1) 1-0; Karan Dassani (1) lost to Atharv Soni (2) 0-1; Yash Watarkar (2) beat Medhansh Poojary (1) 1-0; Naval Vora (1) lost to Sanjeev Mishra (2) 0-1; Arnav Kherdekar (2) beat Vihan Pandey (1) 1-0; AIM Samarth Patodekar (2) beat Saurabh Kulkarni (1) 1-0; WCM Kriti Patel (2) beat Devansh Nisar (1) 1-0; Pragnay Singh (1) lost to AIM Saikat Nath (2) 1-0; Yash Kapadi (2) beat Mukul Rane (1) 1-0; Neev Bafna (1) lost to Om Gada (2) 0-1.
–IANS