GM Diptyan Ghosh outwits compatriot Rautela Saksham

Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh put to good advantage his vast experience to score a win over Indian compatriot Rautela Saksham in a third round match of the 10th Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess Tournament here today.
Ghosh (ELO 2569), ranked second and playing with the black pieces, started with Spanish opening against his rival (ELO 1969) who played a past pawn on 22nd move which the second seed used to take the upper hand by winning a pawn on the 23rd move.
Ghosh continued to hold sway and won another pawn on the 47th move before going for the kill as he clinched the win after 50 moves.

Women's Candidate Master Mrudul Dehankar, from Maharashtra, put up a strong challenge against GM Abdullah Al Rakib of Bangladesh and forced him to play out a draw on the second board.
Al Rakib (2484) started with the white and opted for London system against Mrudul (1942). He played very passively and failed to capitalise on some clear chances to gain the advantage.
Mrudul took full advantage of those lapses by the Bangladeshi and, after continuous exchange of pieces, both shook hands after the 40th move.

Meanwhile, in one of the most interesting matches, India's young Sai Krishna (1946) rose to the challenge against 11th ranked GM Levon Babujian (2438) of Armenia and went on to take a point off his senior opponent on the third board.

Babujian opted for Gruenfeld defence on the 24th move but he made a bad move of rook and lost a knight and from there on Sai Krishna dominated the game and was in a better position until the 59th move.
But the experienced Babujian brought his king to an excellent position and an error of judgment on Krishna's part saw him playing the rook move. On the last move Babujian sacrificed his rook and the match resulted in a stalemate on the 65th move.
Results (Round 3): Saksham Rautela (ELO 1969, IND) 2 lost to GM Diptayan Ghosh (2569, IND) 2; GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib (2484, BAN) 2 drew with WCM Mrudul Dehankar (1942, IND) 2; GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. (2480, IND) 2 beat WFM Jishitha D (1933, IND) 2; Sai Krishna S. (1946, IND) 2 drew with GM Levon Babujian (2438, ARM) 2; GM Neelotpal Das (2438, IND) 2 beat Neha Singh (1922, IND) 2; IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev (2424, TJK) 2 beat Aryan Polakhare (1881, IND) 2; Vijay Anand M. (1943, IND) 2 lost to GM Murshed Niaz (2423, BAN) 2; Tarun Kanyamarala (1895) 2 lost to IM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari (2410, IND) 2; Adarsh Tripathi (1866, IND) 2 lost to IM Sayantan Das (2401, IND) 2; IM Iniyan P (2392, IND) 2 beat Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi (1855, IND) 2.