Gujrathi stuns Das to move to third place

When he reached Mumbai for the 47th Premier National Chess Championship last week, International Master Vidit Gujrathi of Nashik was trying to overcome the disappointment of missing out on the World U-16 title in Antalya, Turkey, following a goof-up on tiebreak system.

In sports one has to get over disappointments as early as possible because every new day is another chance to achieve something.

When he reached Mumbai for the 47th Premier National Chess Championship last week, International Master (IM) Vidit Gujrathi of Nashik was trying to overcome the disappointment of missing out on the World U-16 title in Antalya, Turkey, following a goof-up on tiebreak system.

However, going by his performance in the nationals, the 15-year-old Gujrathi has overcome the disappointment.

On Saturday, he stunned Grandmaster Neelotpal Das of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in the 11th round to move up to the third place in the standings with 7.5 points, behind B Adhiban (8.5) and Sriram Jha (8), both of whom played out short draws. The victory also kept Vidit in hunt for his first GM norm.

Das played wrong rook and move in Slav Defence, which allowed Vidit to open his defence. Trying to undo the damage, Neelotpal made another blunder and Vidit got a decisive advantage by sacrificing his bishop and exchanging his rooks for a bishop and knight.