Airport Authority of India leads both open and women section at the conclusion of day 2 of 40th National Team Open and 18th National Team Women. The biggest shock of the day came in round 3 of open section when GM Adhiban Baskaran of PSPB had to forfeit the match for possessing an analog watch after 16 moves against IM C R G Krishna of RSPB-B. GM Karthikeyan Murali scored a marathon victory against GM Thejkumar to make sure his team beat RSPB-B. In the women's section, all top seeds scored a victory. Only AAI did a whitewash again, resulting in them jumping into the lead ahead of all other teams. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Adhiban loses due to rules technicality in Round 3

After playing a fantastic game yesterday, Adhiban took a rest in round 2. In round 3, team PSPB (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board) faced RSPB-B (Railway Sports Promotion Board). Adhiban was paired against IM C R G Krishna. However after 9 moves were made, Adhiban was found to be wearing a wrist watch which according to the tournament rules and regulations meant a loss. In the past there have been several cases in India of players losing a game because of a watch, however, this was the first instance when a grandmaster was affected by it.

C R G Krishna - Adhiban's opponent | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

The first GM casualty in India of the analog watch rule - GM B. Adhiban | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

This is the watch that Adhiban was wearing | Photo: B. Adhiban

Speaking to ChessBase India after the incident, Adhiban said, "I just came back from Gibraltar. At the Gibraltar masters there was no such rule about wearing of a watch and all kinds of watches were allowed. I was completely jetlagged and forgot about the watch rule. My opponent claimed the win and there was nothing I could do about it." Unlike a walkover, a loss due to the watch rule affects your rating and Adhiban lost 7.7 Elo points. At a rating of 2654, that's quite a bit. However, as always Adhiban was positive and said, "I am happy that my team won the match in spite of my loss. I am playing good chess and that is more important to me than rating points."

The main clause in FIDE's Arbiter's manual is 11.3.2.1 under Anti-Cheating Guidelines

It is clear that from the FIDE laws electronic devices are not allowed. How was Adhiban given a loss when he was wearing an analog watch? A few years ago, when the rule 11.3.2.1 was implemented the arbiters all across the country were faced with several instances where they had to decipher an analog watch from an electronic one. Logically if a watch had batteries in it, it would become an electronic one. But it was not always easy to segregate the two. In order to make things less complex and avoid unnecessary appeals, AICF in its Central Council meeting came up with the clause that no watches are allowed. Although this rule was not specifically mentioned in the regulations of the National Team Championships 2020, it was discussed in the player's meeting before the start of the event.

Famous trainer, mentor and chess consultant IM Vishal Sareen tweeted about Adhiban's loss

Here are the 9 moves that were played in the game.

IM Sayantan Das held GM Abhijeet Gupta to a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Karthikeyan Murali got material advantage after the 36th move of the game against Thejkumar M S as he had a Rook for a Bishop and Pawn. However the game went on for another 73 moves before the former secured a much needed victory for himself as well as the team.

Karthikeyan gave his all to score a very important victory | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

IM Arghyadip Das (2458) had a good position until he blundered against GM Lalith Babu (2550).

Lalith - Arghyadip, Round 3

Find out the best continuation for black after 30.Rd8

Arghyadip blundered here with 30...Ne7 and lost the game in another four moves.

Lalith scored two important victories for his team today | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

GM Srinath Narayanan (2535) of Air India scored a decisive victory over IM Vignesh N R (2436) of RSPB-A as all other three games of his team ended up in draws which resulted in Air India winning against RSPB-A by narrow margin 2.5-1.5

Srinath scored the decisive victory for his team | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Reigning National Junior champion Aradhya Garg (2169) of Delhi B played solid and held GM Visakh N R (2518) of AAI to a draw. Rest of the team members of Delhi B lost against AAI, thus the final score 0.5-3.5 went into AAI's favor and shot them into the sole lead.

Aradhya Garg receiving his National under-19 open championship trophy last November | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

GM Arjun Erigaisi's (2563) woes continued as he was held to a draw by IM Sidhant Mohapatra (2367). In the final moments of the game, Sidhant had some chances which he did not take and allowed Arjun to force a perpetual after initially not going through with the draw. Despite Sidhant's valiant efforts, Telangana defeated his team Odisha A 3-1.

Arjun - Sidhant, Round 3

Find out why 33.Rg2 is a mistake

Kshatriya and Vedant - The Vekhande brothers scored impressive draws each against higher rated players | Photo: Chess Guru

10-year old Kshatriya Nitin Vekhande kept his impressive run as he held reigning National Amateur champion Kartavya Anadkat to a draw.

Rupesh Ranjan shocks Arjun Erigaisi in Round 2

Round 2 also witnessed the top seeds scoring a victory for their team. However only Air India and RSPB-B managed to score 4-0 against Bihar A and Madhya Pradesh respectively. The biggest upset of the round was caused by Rupesh Ranjan (1889) of Bihar B defeating GM Arjun Erigaisi (2563) of Telangana.

Rupesh Ranjan beat Arjun Erigaisi in a topsy-turvy game | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Erigaisi had a complete decisive advantage for quite sometime until he blundered which Rupesh capitalized upon.

Rupesh - Erigaisi, Round 2

Find out the best continuation after 26.Qxh4

Black continued with 26...Qb5, white went ahead 27.f5 Bxf5 which was a blunder.

Find out why 27...Bxf5 is a blunder

Rupesh's teammates Himanshu Ranjan and Kumar Gaurav lost to GM Harsha Bharathakoti and IM Rahul Srivatshav P respectively. Sudhanshu Ranjan (1978) held IM PDS Girinath (2353) to a draw.

Team LIC's spearheads Sriram Jha and D K Sharma scored a draw each | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Although the top seed PSPB defeated LIC 3-1, GM Sriram Jha (2383) did not make things easy for GM Karthikeyan Murali (2602).

Sriram - Karthikeyan, Round 2

What should white do after 22...Bd4 ?

White managed to gain another pawn with 23.Nxc5 but that was not enough as the game reached into a double rook and opposite color bishop endgame, where practically it was not possible for white to convert two extra pawns advantage into a full point.

Former National Blitz champion IM D K Sharma (2293) gave it all against GM Deep Sengupta (2534) but Deep's gritty defence did not allow Sharma to gain more than a half point.

GM Abhijeet Gupta and GM Lalith Babu of PSPB scored wins with ease against Brajesh Agarwal and Gajendra Singh of Team LIC respectively.

Sriram Jha and D K Sharma - the dominant duo of team LIC | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Senthil Kumaran R P (1957) of Tamil Nadu A held GM Swapnil Dhopade of RSPB-A to a draw. Despite being passive for the majority of the middlegame, Senthil managed to not make any huge mistake and salvage a draw. Senthil was the only person to score for his team as they went down by 0.5-3.5 against the strong RSPB-A.

The young team AAI defeated Gujarat D by 3.5-0.5, however Jay Kundaliya (2071) held former World Junior Silver medalist GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2597) to a comfortable draw.

Team AAI is full of youth and fresh talent | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Jay Kundaliya was the only one of his team to score a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

RSPB-A defeated Gujarat B by 4-0 comfortably | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Hemal Thanki (2154) of Gujarat D missed a golden opportunity against Harshavardhan G B (2377).

Harshavardhan - Hemal, Round 2

Find out the winning continuation after 22.Ng3

Black continued with 22...e3 and lost the game in the next ten moves. It is safe to assume that time trouble could be a primary reason behind black missing out the quicker and simpler win with 22...Bd4. This win wouldn't have changed the overall team score, but a win is a win.

Team Air India whitewashed Bihar A 4-0 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Team RSPB-B scored another whitewash 4-0 this time over Madhya Pradesh | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Sarayu Velpula beats WIM Rakshitta Ravi in Round 2

Reigning National under-13 girls and National School under-14 girls champion Sarayu Velpula (1867) defeated WIM Rakshitta Ravi (2214). Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout and Nisha Mohota all scored a victory each, making sure PSPB scored a 3-1 victory over Telangana.

PSPB Women's team beat Telangana 3-1 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Air India defeated Tamil Nadu A emphatically by 3.5-0.5, however Kannamma P Bala (2095) held IM Tania Sachdev (2397) to a draw.

Bala Kannamma held Tania Sachdev to a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Reigning National under-11 girls champion Anupam Sreekumar (1745) held WIM P Michelle Catherina (2175) to a draw. That wasn't enough for the team as Kerala went down against Tamil Nadu B 0.5-3.5

Anupam held WIM Michelle Catherina to a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

AAI thrashed the unrated Himachal Pradesh B 4-0

Team AAI scored two 4-0 whitewash | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Replay completed games



Round 2 results in Open Bo. 1 Petroleum SPB Rtg - 10 LIC Rtg 3 : 1 1.1 GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2608 - Agarwal, Brajesh 1794 1 - 0 1.2 GM Karthikeyan, Murali 2602 - GM Sriram, Jha 2383 ½ - ½ 1.3 GM Lalith, Babu M R 2550 - Gajendra, Singh 1872 1 - 0 1.4 GM Sengupta, Deep 2534 - IM Sharma, Dinesh K. 2293 ½ - ½ Bo. 11 Tamil Nadu A Rtg - 2 Railways SPB A Rtg ½ :3½ 2.1 Eshwanth Dev, Kumar J 1850 - IM Vignesh, N R 2436 0 - 1 2.2 Sibi, Visal R 2074 - IM Ravi, Teja S. 2470 0 - 1 2.3 AGM Sa, Kannan 1936 - IM Shyaamnikhil, P 2460 0 - 1 2.4 Senthil Kumaran, R.P. 1957 - GM Swapnil, S. Dhopade 2495 ½ - ½ Bo. 3 Airports Authority of India Rtg - 12 Gujarat D Rtg 3½: ½ 3.1 IM Raja, Harshit 2472 - Chauhan, Joy 1864 1 - 0 3.2 GM Puranik, Abhimanyu 2597 - Jay, Kundaliya 2071 ½ - ½ 3.3 Harshavardhan, G B 2377 - Thanki, Hemal Karsanji 2154 1 - 0 3.4 IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh, J 2310 - Chudasama, Ankit 1823 1 - 0 Bo. 13 Bihar B Rtg - 4 Telangana Rtg 1½:2½ 4.1 Rupesh, Ranjan 1889 - GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2563 1 - 0 4.2 Himanshu, Ranjan 1908 - GM Harsha, Bharathakoti 2495 0 - 1 4.3 Kumar, Gaurav 2069 - IM Rahul, Srivatshav P 2474 0 - 1 4.4 Sudhanshu, Ranjan 1978 - IM Girinath, P.D.S. 2353 ½ - ½ Bo. 5 Air India SPB Rtg - 14 Bihar A Rtg 4 : 0 5.1 GM Narayanan, Srinath 2535 - Piyush, Kumar 1567 1 - 0 5.2 IM Satyapragyan, Swayangsu 2403 - Mohit, Kumar Soni 1857 1 - 0 5.3 GM Swayams, Mishra 2485 - Rahul, Kumar 1818 1 - 0 5.4 IM Gokhale, Chandrashekhar 2158 - Harsh, Himanshu 1762 1 - 0 Bo. 15 Madhya Pradesh Rtg - 6 Railways SPB B Rtg 0 : 4 6.1 Ayush, Sharma 2052 - IM Krishna, C R G 2443 0 - 1 6.2 AFM Choubey, Saurabh 1889 - GM Thejkumar, M. S. 2438 0 - 1 6.3 Mraduhas, Tripathi 1709 - GM Laxman, R.R. 2432 0 - 1 6.4 AIM Abhay, Bandewar 1684 - IM Das, Arghyadip 2458 0 - 1

Complete results

Round 3 results in Open Bo. 6 Railways SPB B Rtg - 1 Petroleum SPB Rtg 1½:2½ 1.1 IM Krishna, C R G 2443 - GM Adhiban, B. 2654 1 - 0 1.2 IM Das, Sayantan 2426 - GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2608 ½ - ½ 1.3 GM Thejkumar, M. S. 2438 - GM Karthikeyan, Murali 2602 0 - 1 1.4 IM Das, Arghyadip 2458 - GM Lalith, Babu M R 2550 0 - 1 Bo. 2 Railways SPB A Rtg - 5 Air India SPB Rtg 1½:2½ 2.1 IM Vignesh, N R 2436 - GM Narayanan, Srinath 2535 0 - 1 2.2 IM Ravi, Teja S. 2470 - IM Satyapragyan, Swayangsu 2403 ½ - ½ 2.3 GM Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. 2545 - GM Swayams, Mishra 2485 ½ - ½ 2.4 GM Swapnil, S. Dhopade 2495 - GM Bakre, Tejas 2425 ½ - ½ Bo. 8 Delhi B Rtg - 3 Airports Authority of India Rtg ½ :3½ 3.1 FM Prasenjit, Dutta 2285 - IM Raja, Harshit 2472 0 - 1 3.2 Santu, Mondal 2093 - GM Puranik, Abhimanyu 2597 0 - 1 3.3 Aradhya, Garg 2169 - GM Visakh, N R 2518 ½ - ½ 3.4 Adarsh, Tripathi 2100 - Harshavardhan, G B 2377 0 - 1 Bo. 4 Telangana Rtg - 7 Odisha A Rtg 3 : 1 4.1 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2563 - IM Sidhant, Mohapatra 2367 ½ - ½ 4.2 GM Harsha, Bharathakoti 2495 - Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan 2336 1 - 0 4.3 FM Matta, Vinay Kumar 2319 - Nayak, Rajesh 2169 ½ - ½ 4.4 IM Rahul, Srivatshav P 2474 - Baivab, Mishra 2206 1 - 0

Complete results

Round 4 pairings in Open Bo. 1 Petroleum SPB Rtg - 4 Telangana Rtg 0 : 0 1.1 GM Adhiban, B. 2654 - GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2563 1.2 GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2608 - GM Harsha, Bharathakoti 2495 1.3 GM Karthikeyan, Murali 2602 - FM Matta, Vinay Kumar 2319 1.4 GM Lalith, Babu M R 2550 - IM Rahul, Srivatshav P 2474 Bo. 3 Airports Authority of India Rtg - 5 Air India SPB Rtg 0 : 0 2.1 IM Raja, Harshit 2472 - GM Narayanan, Srinath 2535 2.2 GM Puranik, Abhimanyu 2597 - IM Satyapragyan, Swayangsu 2403 2.3 GM Visakh, N R 2518 - GM Swayams, Mishra 2485 2.4 Harshavardhan, G B 2377 - GM Bakre, Tejas 2425 Bo. 2 Railways SPB A Rtg - 18 Odisha B Rtg 0 : 0 3.1 IM Vignesh, N R 2436 - Samal, Ansuman 1910 3.2 IM Ravi, Teja S. 2470 - Pattnayak, Nilsu 1950 3.3 IM Shyaamnikhil, P 2460 - Das, Susobhit 1846 3.4 GM Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. 2545 - Mohanty, Ashutosh 1357 Bo. 12 Gujarat D Rtg - 6 Railways SPB B Rtg 0 : 0 4.1 Chauhan, Joy 1864 - IM Krishna, C R G 2443 4.2 Jay, Kundaliya 2071 - IM Das, Sayantan 2426 4.3 Thanki, Hemal Karsanji 2154 - GM Thejkumar, M. S. 2438 4.4 Patel, Palak 1830 - GM Laxman, R.R. 2432

Complete pairings

Round 2 results in Women Bo. 6 Telangana Rtg - 1 Petroleum SPB Rtg 1 : 3 1.1 Nanditha, V 1728 - WGM Gomes, Mary Ann 2344 0 - 1 1.2 Kheerthi, Ganta 1683 - IM Padmini, Rout 2372 0 - 1 1.3 Velpula, Sarayu 1867 - WIM Rakshitta, Ravi 2214 1 - 0 1.4 Natura, Bethi 1361 - IM Mohota, Nisha 2191 0 - 1 Bo. 2 Air India SCB Rtg - 5 Tamil Nadu A Rtg 3½: ½ 2.1 IM Kulkarni, Bhakti 2404 - Divyabharathi, Masanam 1747 1 - 0 2.2 IM Tania, Sachdev 2397 - Bala, Kannamma P 2095 ½ - ½ 2.3 IM Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman 2331 - Senthamizh, Yazhini S 1615 1 - 0 2.4 WGM Ramaswamy, Aarthie 2072 - Harshini, B 1602 1 - 0 Bo. 8 Kerala Rtg - 3 Tamil Nadu B Rtg ½ :3½ 3.1 Anupam, M Sreekumar 1745 - WIM Michelle Catherina, P 2175 ½ - ½ 3.2 Anjitha, Krishnakumar 1445 - WIM Varshini, V 2242 0 - 1 3.3 Sheena, E. 1731 - WGM Vaishali, R 2383 0 - 1 3.4 Prajeesha, K 1417 - WIM Mahalakshmi, M 2255 0 - 1 Bo. 4 Airports Authority of India Rtg - 17 Himachal Pradesh B Rtg 4 : 0 4.1 WIM Priyanka, Nutakki 2212 - Aditri, Nag 0 1 - 0 4.2 WIM Aakanksha, Hagawane 2230 - Pingla, Devi 0 1 - 0 4.3 WGM Srija, Seshadri 2205 - Kiran 0 1 - 0 4.4 WIM Arpita, Mukherjee 2201 - Nutan, Devi 0 1 - 0 Bo. 9 Gujarat A Rtg - 7 LIC Rtg 2 : 2 5.1 Mudaliar, Nandini 1512 - WGM Kiran, Manisha Mohanty 2170 ½ - ½ 5.2 Shah, Kritee 1479 - WGM Swati, Ghate 2136 0 - 1 5.3 WFM Dhyana, Patel 1961 - Anagha, Yardi 1154 1 - 0 5.4 WCM Patel, Riddhi R 1585 - WFM Bindu, Saritha K. 1583 ½ - ½

Complete pairings

Round 3 pairings in Women Bo. 1 Petroleum SPB Rtg - 4 Airports Authority of India Rtg 0 : 0 1.1 WGM Gomes, Mary Ann 2344 - WIM Priyanka, Nutakki 2212 1.2 IM Padmini, Rout 2372 - WIM Aakanksha, Hagawane 2230 1.3 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan 2369 - WIM Nandhidhaa, P V 2339 1.4 WIM Rakshitta, Ravi 2214 - WGM Srija, Seshadri 2205 Bo. 3 Tamil Nadu B Rtg - 2 Air India SCB Rtg 0 : 0 2.1 WIM Michelle Catherina, P 2175 - IM Kulkarni, Bhakti 2404 2.2 WIM Varshini, V 2242 - IM Tania, Sachdev 2397 2.3 WGM Vaishali, R 2383 - IM Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman 2331 2.4 WIM Mahalakshmi, M 2255 - WGM Meenakshi, Subbaraman 2162 Bo. 7 LIC Rtg - 6 Telangana Rtg 0 : 0 3.1 WGM Kiran, Manisha Mohanty 2170 - Nanditha, V 1728 3.2 WGM Swati, Ghate 2136 - Kheerthi, Ganta 1683 3.3 WFM Bindu, Saritha K. 1583 - Velpula, Sarayu 1867 3.4 Trivedi, Manisha 1148 - Natura, Bethi 1361 Bo. 5 Tamil Nadu A Rtg - 11 Bihar A Rtg 0 : 0 4.1 Divyabharathi, Masanam 1747 - Pammi, Rani 1468 4.2 Bala, Kannamma P 2095 - Kumari, Prerna 1234 4.3 Senthamizh, Yazhini S 1615 - Garima, Gaurav 1662 4.4 Harshini, B 1602 - Marium, Fatima 1511

Complete pairings

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