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18th Delhi GM Open 2020: G B Joshi stuns Harsha Bharathakoti

by Shahid Ahmed - 10/01/2020

The biggest open tournament in the country started its 18th edition on 9th January at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi. The tournament was inaugurated by Managing Worker and Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, Subrata Roy. In the opening round, Harsha suffered the same fate as last year, as he again started with a loss, this time against Delhi's seasoned veteran G B Joshi. Harsha made an inaccurate sacrifice which his opponent had no trouble punishing. Dhananjay held Bhopal GM Open 2019 winner Nodirbek Yakubboev and Aashna Makhija held Chilean GM Rodrigo Schroeder to a draw respectively. The tournament boasts a total prize fund of ₹11100000. It was announced that next year it will be increased to ₹12500000. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Joshi, Dhananjay and Aashna score upsets

Delhi's season player G B Joshi stunned GM Harsha Bharathakoti in the opening round of 18th Delhi GM Open 2020. Playing with the black pieces, Joshi got a bad position out of the Symmetrical English opening.

GM Harsha Bharathakoti did not have the perfect start | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Harsha made an inaccurate sacrifice after failing to capitalize on the early advantage.

Harsha - Joshi

Harsha sacrificed here with 30.Nxf6. Can you find a better continuation for white?

Harsha's inaccurate sacrifice with 30.Nxf6 landed him in trouble immediately as he did not have any compensation for the knight.

What is the best continuation for black here after 31.Re5

White had to continue with his bluff as there is not much to do here. So white continued with 31.Re5 with no real threat except the obvious attack on g5. Black panicked and played 31...Rf5 here. Instead taking the rook with 31...Rxe5 gives no chances to white and all roads lead to victory for black only.

31...Rf5 gives an opportunity for white to bounce back? Find out how

It is not that Harsha's knight sacrifice went in vain. Due to his opponent's inaccuracy, he had a momentary chance to equalize, which he missed. Find out what did he miss.

Bhopal GM Open 2019 winner GM Nodirbek Yakubboev was held to a draw by Dhananjay S | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Yakubboev got an early opportunity to gain a pawn and huge advantage which he missed.

Dhananjay - Yakubboev

Find out why 16.Ne3 is a mistake

Dhananjay completely missed and played 16.Ne3, leaving c3-pawn unguarded. Yakubboev also missed the fact that he could grab the c3-pawn with 16...bxc3 and he continued with 16...e6 instead.

The final position was also favorable for Dhananjay

In the above diagram, Dhananjay repeated the moves with 45.Ne8 Ra7 46.Nf6 Rc7 and made a threefold repetition for a draw. However he could have taken his chances with 45.Ra1 with the idea of 46.Ne8 and trapping the rook and eventually win the game with precision.

In a game full of inaccuracies, Aashna managed to somehow salvage a draw against Rodrigo | Photo: Niklesh Jain

In a game arising from French Defence Classical variation, Chilean GM Rodrigo was the first one to make an unforced error with 18.Ng5 which surprisingly her opponent completely missed.

Rodrigo - Aashna

Find out why 18.Ng5 is a mistake

Aashna completely missed the tactics on c-file and played 18...Bxg5 instead.

There is an obvious idea for white here. What is it?

It is a surprise that Rodrigo missed such a simple idea. Jet lag could probably be the reason. White continued with 20.Ra2 instead of the obvious way of attack.

There could not be a more obvious move for white after 21...a6

White missed the absolutely obvious 22.Rxh7 for mysterious reasons which would have led to nothing but a win for white.

Photo Gallery

Managing Worker and Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, Subrata Roy lights up the lamp during the Inauguration Ceremony | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Mr. Commonwealth Abhijeet Gupta with Subrata Roy | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Subrata Roy makes an inaugural move against a young kid | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Anish Gandhi went down against top seed Farrukh Amonatov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Second seeded Russian GM Pavel Ponkratov made a short work of Manish Kumar in just 24 moves | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Vinayak Kulkarni lost to highest rated Indian of the event Karthikeyan Murali in just 29 moves | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Total 340 players in the A category, over 750 players in the B category and over 1000 players are taking part in the C category. The event was formally inaugurated by Mr. Subrata Roy, Managing Worker and Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar. In his speech Mr. Roy confirmed that Sahara Group will look into how Chess can be supported by the conglomerate. Meanwhile Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhab, Honorary Secretary of AICF announced that the next event will be held with ₹1.25 Crores as prize fund.

Replay all games

Round 1 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
190
Gandhi Anish216800 - 10GMAmonatov Farrukh2631
1
22
GMPonkratov Pavel262201 - 00Manish Kumar (2006)2168
91
392
Kulkarni Vinayak216700 - 10GMKarthikeyan Murali2606
3
44
GMMartinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo260601 - 00FMHarshal Shahi2166
93
594
Thrish Karthik216500 - 10GMGupta Abhijeet2603
5
66
GMPantsulaia Levan259801 - 00Soham Datar2145
95
796
Dhananjay S21440½ - ½0GMYakubboev Nodirbek2597
7
88
GMAleksandrov Aleksej25920+ - -0Utsab Chatterjee2142
97
998
WGMKiran Manisha Mohanty213300 - 10GMGoganov Aleksey2583
9
1010
GMMchedlishvili Mikheil257801 - 00CMLiyanage Ranindu Dilshan2124
99
11100
WIMFranco Valencia Angela212300 - 10GMRozum Ivan2573
11
1212
GMBogdanovich Stanislav256201 - 00Deepak Katiyar2123
101
13102
Dhar Rajib212100 - 10GMDavid Alberto2562
13
1414
GMFedorov Alexei256201 - 00Kumar Gaurav2120
103
15104
Bakshi Rutuja211800 - 10GMLalith Babu M R2558
15
1616
GMGhosh Diptayan255001 - 00WFMBommini Mounika Akshaya2113
105
17106
CMBhavesh Mahajan210100 - 10GMTukhaev Adam2548
17
1818
IMGholami Aryan254101 - 00Tiwari Arjun2101
107
19108
Barath Kalyan M209100 - 10GMDebashis Das2523
19
2020
GMGrover Sahaj252101 - 00Sarbojit Paul2084
109
21110
Santu Mondal208300 - 10GMVisakh N R2518
21
2222
GMYudin Sergei250801 - 00Anadkat Kartavya2082
111
23112
Balkishan A.207900 - 10GMStupak Kirill2506
23
2424
GMHarsha Bharathakoti250200 - 10Joshi Govind Ballabh2075
113
25114
Singh Soram Rahul20710- - +0GMRios Cristhian Camilo2498
25
2626
GMVasquez Schroeder Rodrigo24870½ - ½0WFMMakhija Aashna2068
115
27116
Tejes Suresh Kumar206700 - 10IMKaczur Florian2485
27
2828
GMKarthik Venkataraman247901 - 00Bhattacharyya Soham2066
117
29118
Jay Kundaliya206600 - 10GMVishnu Prasanna. V2474
29
3030
IMVignesh N R247201 - 00Mahindrakar Indrajeet2066
119

Complete results

Round 2 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
11
GMAmonatov Farrukh263111IMAbdisalimov Abdimalik2381
48
247
GMCzebe Attila239211GMPonkratov Pavel2622
2
33
GMKarthikeyan Murali260611IMEraschenkov Denis2370
50
449
GMManik Mikulas237811GMMartinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo2606
4
55
GMGupta Abhijeet260311IMNeelash Saha2356
54
651
IMMuthaiah Al236711GMPantsulaia Levan2598
6
753
FMAudi Ameya235911GMAleksandrov Aleksej2592
8
89
GMGoganov Aleksey258311Sahoo Utkal Ranjan2348
56
955
Kaustuv Kundu234911GMMchedlishvili Mikheil2578
10
1011
GMRozum Ivan257311Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri2306
60
1157
IMRathnakaran K.232911GMBogdanovich Stanislav2562
12
1213
GMDavid Alberto256211IMMohammad Fahad Rahman2300
62
1358
IMLammers Markus232511GMFedorov Alexei2562
14
1415
GMLalith Babu M R255811IMSangma Rahul2291
64
1559
FMPranesh M231711GMGhosh Diptayan2550
16
1617
GMTukhaev Adam254811FMAaryan Varshney2287
66
1761
FMSrihari L R230211IMGholami Aryan2541
18
1819
GMDebashis Das252311FMManish Anto Cristiano F2280
68
1967
Mohite Ranveer228111GMGrover Sahaj2521
20
2021
GMVisakh N R251811Pranav V2265
70
2171
Lokesh N.226411GMYudin Sergei2508
22
2223
GMStupak Kirill250611WIMLuong Phuong Hanh2256
72
2325
GMRios Cristhian Camilo249811Raahul V S2233
76
2427
IMKaczur Florian248511FMWagh Suyog2219
80
2573
Varun V225611GMKarthik Venkataraman2479
28
2629
GMVishnu Prasanna. V247411Sapaev Maksad2207
82
2775
FMNavalgund Niranjan224611IMVignesh N R2472
30
2831
IMNigmatov Ortik246711Aradhya Garg2197
84
2933
IMTaher Yoseph Theolifus246211FMBognar Csaba Dr.2192
86
3083
GMZiatdinov Raset220311GMNeverov Valeriy2460
34

Complete pairings



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