Diptayan, Abhijeet and Pranesh in the title fray of 18th Delhi GM Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/01/2020

Aleksej Aleksandrov maintained his sole lead with a score of 7.0/8, by making a short draw with compatriot Alexei Fedorov. Abhijeet Gupta defeated Himal Gusain after the latter made an incorrect bishop exchange. Diptayan converted his decent advantage in the middle game against Lokesh N. 14-year old Pranesh M continued his fantastic run as he defeated Adam Tukhaev by double piece sacrifice and scored his second IM-norm. He is on the verge of scoring his maiden GM-norm. All players and officials maintained a two-minute silence to mourn the loss of former AICF Secretary General P T Ummer Koya | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Three Indians stay in the hunt

The All-Belarusian game between GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (2592) and GM Alexei Fedorov (2592) was a quick draw in just 13 moves.

IM Himal Gusain (2401) had a decent advantage against GM Abhijeet Gupta (2603) in the middlegame, but he made an incorrect bishop exchange at the wrong time and all advantage faded.

Mr.Commonwealth Abhijeet Gupta is back at the top | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Abhijeet - Himal

Himal made the mistake of exchanging bishops with 38...Ba4

After the exchange of bishops, things turned very quickly into Abhijeet's favor.

Position after 42.Qe6

Black could have still maintained some sort of equality with correct play here, however Himal made the mistake of playing 42...Kf8 which gave white the opportunity to gain further advantage.

GM Vishnu Prasanna (2474) grabbed one pawn too many and that cost him the game against GM Jose Eduardo Martinez (2606).

It was not Vishnu's day | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Vishnu - Martinez

Why 28.Qxa7 is a mistake?

GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2597) scored a fine victory over IM Florian Kaczur (2485) after the latter sacrificed three pawns without any compensation.

Yakubboev is slowly getting back at the top| Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Neelash Saha (2356) held GM Ivan Rozum (2573) to a draw comfortably.

Neelash became an IM at Delhi Open last year, this year also he is having a good run | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Diptayan Ghosh (2550) got a decent advantage in the middle game and he had no trouble converting it into a win.

Diptayan after moving to Delhi for his higher studies is doing fantastic | Photo: Niklesh Jain

14-year old Pranesh M (2317) continues his impressive run and scores another fantastic victory over GM Adam Tukhaev (2548). Pranesh also scored his second IM-norm and he is on the verge of scoring his maiden GM-norm.

Watch out for the profusely talented Pranesh who is on the verge of becoming an IM | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Tukhaev - Pranesh

Position after 15.f4

How do you think Black should react here?

Position after 16.fxe5

Black has already given up a knight, how should Black continue after 16.fxe5 ?

Position after 22.Nd2

White's final mistake in the game was 22.Nd2. Find out why

GM Stupak Kirill (2506) punished GM Karthik Venkataraman's (2479) extreme passive play.

GM Stanislav Bogdanovich's (2562) poor form continued as FM Ameya Audi (2359) defeated him with sharp play. Bogdanovich gave away his Queen for a Rook which Ameya later returned to be ahead in material. Later on Ameya made a checkmate threat which was too strong for the Ukrainian to defend.

Ameya played brilliantly to defeat Bogdanovich | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Ameya - Bogdanovich

How should white continue after 22.Nf5

It is not easy for white to bring his queen in the action, so what should white do?

The Indian Tal IM Rathnakaran K (2329) defeated Iranian GM Aryan Gholami (2541).

15-year old Srihari L R (2302) got a decent advantage early in the middle game against GM Sergei Yudin (2508) which he had no trouble converting into a full point.

Saurabh Anand (2269) defeated Chilean GM Rodrigo Schroeder (2487) with a sharp play.

FM Manish Anto Cristiano F (2280) held Bangladesh's GM Ziaur Rahman (2434) to a draw.

All players and officials maintained a two-minutes silence for the passing of former AICF Secretary General P T Ummer Koya | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Replay all games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2592	6½	½ - ½	6	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2562	14
2	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2603	5½	1 - 0	6	IM	Gusain Himal	2401	45
3	29	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2474	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo	2606	4
4	7	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2597	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Kaczur Florian	2485	27
5	11	GM	Rozum Ivan	2573	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Neelash Saha	2356	54
6	71		Lokesh N.	2264	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Ghosh Diptayan	2550	16
7	17	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2548	5½	0 - 1	5½	FM	Pranesh M	2317	59
8	23	GM	Stupak Kirill	2506	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2479	28
9	37	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim	2453	5½	0 - 1	5	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2622	2
10	1	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2631	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman	2429	40
11	3	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Dzhumaev Marat	2422	42
12	43	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2420	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2598	6
13	44	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2416	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2578	10
14	53	FM	Audi Ameya	2359	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav	2562	12
15	13	GM	David Alberto	2562	5	1 - 0	5		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2398	46
16	57	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2329	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Gholami Aryan	2541	18
17	19	GM	Debashis Das	2523	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Muthaiah Al	2367	51
18	21	GM	Visakh N R	2518	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2381	48
19	61	FM	Srihari L R	2302	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Yudin Sergei	2508	22
20	65	FM	Rohith Krishna S	2289	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2502	24
21	69		Saurabh Anand	2269	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2487	26
22	31	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2467	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Sangma Rahul	2291	64
23	33	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	2462	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2287	66
24	123		Mota Pankit	2060	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2458	36
25	39	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2434	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2280	68

Complete results

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo	2606	6½		7	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2592	8
2	16	GM	Ghosh Diptayan	2550	6½		6½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2603	5
3	59	FM	Pranesh M	2317	6½		6½	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2597	7
4	14	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2562	6½		6½	GM	Stupak Kirill	2506	23
5	2	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2622	6		6	FM	Audi Ameya	2359	53
6	24	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2502	6		6	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	3
7	6	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2598	6		6	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2467	31
8	10	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2578	6		6	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2329	57
9	36	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2458	6		6	GM	Rozum Ivan	2573	11
10	45	IM	Gusain Himal	2401	6		6	GM	David Alberto	2562	13
11	54	IM	Neelash Saha	2356	6		6	GM	Debashis Das	2523	19
12	61	FM	Srihari L R	2302	6		6	GM	Visakh N R	2518	21
13	27	IM	Kaczur Florian	2485	5½		6		Saurabh Anand	2269	69
14	41	IM	Das Sayantan	2424	5½		5½	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2631	1
15	50	IM	Eraschenkov Denis	2370	5½		5½	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	15
16	68	FM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2280	5½		5½	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2548	17
17	66	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2287	5½		5½	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2498	25
18	28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2479	5½		5½	GM	Manik Mikulas	2378	49
19	76		Raahul V S	2233	5½		5½	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2474	29
20	32	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	2463	5½		5½		Lokesh N.	2264	71
21	70		Pranav V	2265	5½		5½	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	2462	33
22	111		Anadkat Kartavya	2082	5½		5½	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim	2453	37
23	38	IM	Krishna C R G	2436	5½		5½		Varun V	2256	73
24	158		Jain Kashish Manoj	1962	5½		5½	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2434	39
25	40	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman	2429	5½		5½		Vaibhav Jayant Raut	1969	154

Complete pairings

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