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Mr.Commonwealth Abhijeet Gupta wins 18th Delhi GM Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/01/2020

Reigning and five-time Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta beat Aleksej Aleksandrov in the final round to clinch the championship in 18th Delhi International GM Open 2020. He finished at 8.5/10, a half point ahead of the field, won a huge trophy and ₹650000 cash prize. Aleksej Aleksandrov secured the runner-up position with a score of 8.0/10 according to the tie-break score, he received a huge trophy and ₹550000 cash prize. Pavel Ponkratov also finished with 8.0/10, he was placed third and won ₹450000 cash prize. The Category 'C' event was won by Bishwajit Singh Khagokpam of Manipur, he scored an unbeaten 9.5/10, followed by Shaurya Kumaria and Chiranjit Manna who finished second and third respectively. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Abhijeet Gupta wins the biggest prize money in India

Aleksej Aleksandrov enjoyed the sole lead from round 7 to 10, Abhijeet Gupta stayed in the title hunt during the entire chase. Sometimes chasing the championship is a bigger motivation to hunt the leader eventually when the time is right. That is exactly what happened with the five-time Commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta who stayed in the hunt and beat Aleksandrov when it mattered the most.

Podium finishers (L to R) - Second Runner-up Pavel Ponkratov, Champion Abhijeet Gupta and Runner-up Aleksej Aleksandrov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Champion Abhijeet Gupta received the signature huge trophy and ₹650000 cash prize | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Abhijeet Gupta talks about final round game, winning the tournament and much more (Hindi audio) | Video: Niklesh Jain

Abhijeet - Aleksandrov

Playing a dubious sideline like 6...Nh5 in a crucial game is definitely not a good idea

Well sidelines may work against weaker players and in a less important game, however playing it against five-time Commonwealth champion and someone who is bent on going for a win in the final round is certainly not the ideal start for someone who was leading the tournament for the past few rounds.

Black's queen is menacing at e3 preventing the castle

Now on a regular day, Abhijeet might have considered playing 14.Qd2 or Qd3 instead of the 14.Qc2 but of course it was not just any other match.

Position after 17.Rae1

White is getting ready to launch an attack and now the queen at e3 is proving to be a liability for black and he hasn't devloped all his pieces properly.

Position after 21.Rh5

White has made his intent absolutely clear that he is going for a king side attack while black is yet to figure out what to do.

Position after 23.Ng4

Now the knight has also joined the party to attack and black should have used his knight to provide some kind of futile resistance with 23...Nf5 but he played the inexplicable 23...Qe8 instead.

Position after 26...h5

Black's positioned is doomed as white got his way with pieces and all the time to plan the assault on black's king side. Now it is just matter of time for white to convert it into a full point.

Aleksandrov needed a draw in the final round to clinch the championship, however a loss meant that he is guaranteed to secure the second position as his tie-break was much better than the rest at 8.0/10.

Runner-up Aleksej Aleksandrov scored 8.0/10, received a huge trophy and ₹550000 cash prize | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM P Shyamnikhil had a fantastic unbeaten run in the tournament till the final round. Even in the final round, he had a huge advantage against GM Pavel Ponkratov.

Shyamnikhil - Ponkratov

Ponkratov's bluff 19...e4

Ponkratov bluffed with 19...e4 where actually nothing was happening. Shyam called his bluff and took the pawn with 20.Bxe4 f5 21.Bd5+ Be6 22.Ncxd4 and he got a huge advantage.

Position after 18.f3

It is quite evident that things are in White's favor and Shyam is playing absolutely perfect and white is in no trouble at all.

Position after 40...Qe8

Almost anything seems to be winning for white. White continued here with 41.Rc1 but white should have simple taken the pawn with 41.axb6, that would have made white four pawns ahead.

Position after 42...Qf8

White continued with 43.Rh6+ instead white missed an easier win. Can you find it?

Ponkratov explains his lucky win against Shyamnikhil | Video: Niklesh Jain

Second runner-up GM Pavel Ponkratov scored 8.0/10, won a trophy and ₹450000 cash prize | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Delhi Open defending champion Levan Pantsulaia scored a comfortable win against Stupak Kirill in the final round.

Fourth - Levan Pantsulaia scored 8.0/10 and got ₹350000 cash prize | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Pranesh M played the tournament of his life and finished it on a high note by defeating GM Visakh N R with a fine game.

Fifth - Pranesh received his maiden GM-norm, second IM-norm and also ₹250000 cash prize | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Pranesh performed at 2645, scored his second IM-norm and first GM-norm and increased his Elo rating by 88 points

FM Ameya Audi receives his final IM-norm, thus becoming the latest IM of the country | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Ameya Audi drew with GM Sahaj Grover in the final round. Ameya became the latest IM of the country.

Ameya Audi explains his win over GM Stanislav Bogdanovich in round 8 | Video: Niklesh Jain

Bishwajit Singh Khagokpam wins Category 'C'

Podium finishers (L to R) - 2nd Shaurya Kumaria 9.0/10, 3rd Chiranjit Manna 9.0/10 and Champion Bishwajit Singh Khagokpam | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Bishwajit Singh Khagokpam scored an unbeaten 9.5/10, increased his Elo rating by 90 points to win 18th Delhi International Open 2020 Category 'C'. He received a huge trophy and ₹300000 cash prize for his efforts. Runner-up Shaurya Kumaria of Chandigarh scored 9.0/10 and he had the best tie-break among the three players who finished with the same score. He won a huge trophy and ₹250000 cash prize. Chiranjit Manna of West Bengal also scored 9.0/10, he secured second runner-up position according to his tie-break score. He bagged home ₹200000 cash prize and a trophy.

 

The Category 'C' witnessed a total participation of 1260 players from six different countries which makes the total participation in the tournament 2347 in this year's edition.

Final Standings in Category 'C'

Rk.SNoNameTypsexFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
147Khagokpam Bishwajit SinghIND1532NEMan9,50,064,569,5
2358Shaurya KumariaIND1359Cha9,00,064,068,5
371Manna ChiranjitIND1512Wes9,00,061,066,0
4517Sushant TiwariIND1278Del9,00,057,060,5
51Adalja Vanssh AU15IND1599Guj8,50,069,075,0
61162Rahul N KamathIND0Mah8,50,065,070,5
7145Srihari K RU15IND1464TN8,50,062,567,5
8100Vishnu Ram MIND1492TN8,50,062,066,5
933Ritabrata ChakrabortyU15IND1543Wes8,50,060,565,5
10118Shahab UddinIND1479MP8,50,060,064,5
11308Vinoth Kumar MIND1383TN8,50,060,062,0
1222Gopinath PIND1567TN8,50,058,563,5
133Avhad PrajwalIND1599Mah8,50,054,559,5
1410Karthik EIND1582TN8,00,064,569,5
1568Narvekar PruthvirajIND1513Mah8,00,064,569,0
16246Ghouse Kamardeen DIND1415TN8,00,063,568,5
1717Gabriel B MIND1572Ker8,00,062,066,0
18190Mohammad MudassirIND1442Tel8,00,061,065,5
1918Piyush KumarIND1572Bih8,00,059,064,0
2054Hriday PanchalU15IND1527Del8,00,058,562,5
2158Sahil BheronIND1525Har8,00,057,560,0
22127Sparsh YadavIND1474UP8,00,057,560,0
23134Harsh Pareshbhai RuparelIND1470Guj8,00,057,062,0
24173PriyankU12IND1450Del8,00,057,060,5
25272Vasudevan K EIND1402Ker8,00,056,561,0
26206Sarvaliya NirajIND1436Guj8,00,056,060,0
27258Vineesh P SIND1409Ker8,00,055,059,5
28455Dhiraj PatilIND1310Mah8,00,055,057,0
29208Aragonda MohanIND1435Tel8,00,054,558,5
30254Rajendra Singh RanaIND1411Utt8,00,053,557,5

Complete standings

Replay all games

Round 10 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
15
GMGupta Abhijeet26031 - 08GMAleksandrov Aleksej2592
8
236
IMShyaamnikhil P245870 - 17GMPonkratov Pavel2622
2
323
GMStupak Kirill250670 - 17GMPantsulaia Levan2598
6
47
GMYakubboev Nodirbek25977½ - ½7GMFedorov Alexei2562
14
521
GMVisakh N R251870 - 17FMPranesh M2317
59
63
GMKarthikeyan Murali26061 - 0IMKaczur Florian2485
27
737
GMLugovskoy Maxim2453½ - ½GMMartinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo2606
4
829
GMVishnu Prasanna. V24740 - 1GMMchedlishvili Mikheil2578
10
913
GMDavid Alberto2562½ - ½GMKarthik Venkataraman2479
28
1015
GMLalith Babu M R25581 - 0IMNguyen Van Huy2463
32
1157
IMRathnakaran K.23291 - 0GMGhosh Diptayan2550
16
1217
GMTukhaev Adam25480 - 1IMKrishna C R G2436
38
1319
GMDebashis Das25231 - 0IMGusain Himal2401
45
14154
Vaibhav Jayant Raut19690 - 1GMHarsha Bharathakoti2502
24
1525
GMRios Cristhian Camilo24981 - 0Jain Kashish Manoj1962
158
161
GMAmonatov Farrukh263161 - 0IMNeelash Saha2356
54
179
GMGoganov Aleksey258361 - 06Sammed Jaykumar Shete2398
46
1811
GMRozum Ivan25736½ - ½6IMAbdisalimov Abdimalik2381
48
1912
GMBogdanovich Stanislav256260 - 16Sahoo Utkal Ranjan2348
56
2053
FMAudi Ameya23596½ - ½6GMGrover Sahaj2521
20
2164
IMSangma Rahul22916½ - ½6GMYudin Sergei2508
22
2226
GMVasquez Schroeder Rodrigo248760 - 16FMSrihari L R2302
61
2365
FMRohith Krishna S22896½ - ½6IMVignesh N R2472
30
2431
IMNigmatov Ortik246760 - 16Pranav V2265
70
2533
IMTaher Yoseph Theolifus246261 - 06FMWagh Suyog2219
80

Complete results

Final standings

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
15
GMGupta AbhijeetIND2603Del8,50,061,065,0
28
GMAleksandrov AleksejBLR2592BLR8,00,062,567,0
32
GMPonkratov PavelRUS2622RUS8,00,058,563,5
46
GMPantsulaia LevanGEO2598GEO8,00,057,062,0
559
FMPranesh MIND2317TN8,00,057,060,5
67
GMYakubboev NodirbekUZB2597UZB7,50,062,067,0
710
GMMchedlishvili MikheilGEO2578GEO7,50,059,565,5
814
GMFedorov AlexeiBLR2562BLR7,50,059,063,0
938
IMKrishna C R GIND2436AP7,50,057,561,5
1019
GMDebashis DasIND2523Ori7,50,056,562,0
113
GMKarthikeyan MuraliIND2606TN7,50,056,560,5
1257
IMRathnakaran K.IND2329S Rlys7,50,055,560,5
1325
GMRios Cristhian CamiloCOL2498COL7,50,055,560,0
1415
GMLalith Babu M RIND2558AP7,50,054,559,5
1524
GMHarsha BharathakotiIND2502Tel7,50,053,558,0
164
GMMartinez Alcantara Jose EduardoPER2606PER7,00,062,068,0
1723
GMStupak KirillBLR2506BLR7,00,061,566,0
1837
GMLugovskoy MaximRUS2453RUS7,00,061,066,5
1928
GMKarthik VenkataramanIND2479AP7,00,060,565,5
2036
IMShyaamnikhil PIND2458TN7,00,059,565,0
2121
GMVisakh N RIND2518TN7,00,059,063,0
221
GMAmonatov FarrukhTJK2631TJK7,00,058,564,0
2341
IMDas SayantanIND2424Wes7,00,058,564,0
2433
IMTaher Yoseph TheolifusINA2462INA7,00,057,562,5
2513
GMDavid AlbertoITA2562ITA7,00,057,561,5
2642
GMDzhumaev MaratUZB2422UZB7,00,057,062,0
279
GMGoganov AlekseyRUS2583RUS7,00,056,060,5
2843
IMKhusenkhojaev MuhammadTJK2420TJK7,00,054,059,0
2970
Pranav VIND2265TN7,00,054,058,0
3061
FMSrihari L RIND2302TN7,00,053,058,0

Complete pairings



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