Commonwealth Chess Championship | Swapnil Dhopade fights back to register win in fifth round
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Swapnil Dhopade fought back to register a facile win over Indian Fide Master (FM) Niranjan Navalgund in 46 moves at the Commonwealth Chess Championship in New Delhi. Meanwhile, U-14 female master Divya Deshmukh went down fighting against Kerala's GM and second seed Narayanan SL on the third table.
Vidarbha's sole Grandmaster (GM) Swapnil Dhopade had to come from behind as he registered a deserving victory in the fifth round of the Commonwealth Chess Championship at New Delhi on Wednesday. In the open category, the young GM utilized his opening advantage with the white pieces to outclass Indian Fide Master (FM) Niranjan Navalgund in 46 moves. Dhopade went with the Reti Opening, Dhopade exposed his opponentās minor mistake as he racked up two extra pawns for a fluent victory.
āAfter a Reti Opening, the game got converted into a Benko type position which gave me some advantage. After his initial mistake, he had to too many weakness on the board. I put pressure and won a pawn in the double rook end game. After putting more pressure, I won another pawn which left him with no option but to resign,ā Dhopade told TOI on his third victory.
With the comprehensive win, the Amravati based Railway employee jumped to the joint second position. However, it was a difficult day at the office for Women International Master (WIM) - Divya Deshmukh.
While 14-year-old Divya went down fighting against second seed Indian GM Narayanan SL on the third table. However, she jumped to the top spot in the U-14 category as she defeated Jyoti Bir on the top board of the U-14 girls' group. Defending with the black pieces, Divya pocketed full point and the top seed has now taken sole lead at the end of three rounds.
