IM Soham Kamotra caused a stir at the Global Chess Festival by putting a stop to Iniyan Pa’s winning streak in the sixth round of the Master’s section at the World Trade Centre. Despite Iniyan’s strong performance in the first five games, he had to settle for a draw against Kamotra, who is the sole International Master (IM) from Jammu and Kashmir.
Iniyan maintains a slight lead with 5.5 points, closely followed by Aakashchandra Dalvi in second place. Kamotra, Ayush Sharma, and Harsh Suresh are trailing with 4.5 points each. In other matches, GM Abhijit Gupta ended WIM Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya’s winning streak, while Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy lost to Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi despite having a winning position.
IM Akshay Borgaonkar held GM Alexander Aleksej to a draw, and IM Mohan Kushagra was defeated by FM Adak Bivor. Viresh Sharnarthi and Madhvendra Pratap Sharma lead the Challenger and Junior Categories with six consecutive victories each. Nithin Babu, Arul Anand, and Swain Aashirwad are close behind Sharnarthi, while Madhvendra has a one-point lead over Ankit Das, Vinayak Kolluru, A Amanlal, Nijesh R, and Amber Gangwal.
Kamotra surprised Iniyan with an English Opening game, where both players struggled to make accurate moves. Despite a tough defense from Kamotra, the game ended in a draw. Abhijit Gupta’s Sicilian defense against Oshina led to a victory, while Nagarkatte Vedant lost to Viresh Sharnarthi due to a wrong move. Madhvendra defeated Heet Baldawa in a one-sided game.
