19th Delhi GM Open R1: Shivika Rohilla stuns GM Laxman

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/03/2022

14-year-old Shivika Rohilla scored the biggest upset in the first round of 19th Delhi International GM Open 2022. The 1898-rated teenager from Delhi beat the Blitz king of India, GM Laxman R R who became unbeaten champion in 2nd SkillCraft - Omvati Memorial Rapid and Blitz Open, two days before the start of this event. The 19th edition of the biggest International GM Open tournament of the country is back after a two year hiatus due to Covid-19 pandemic. Bharat Singh Chauhan, Hony. Secretary of AICF and President of Delhi Chess Association announced that next edition will be held with a prize fund of ₹1.25 crore. Round 2 starts today at 9:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Smooth sail for the top seeds

Ritvik Krishnan, Swayham P Das and WFM Chaitanya V beat IM Rahul Sangma, WIM Parnali S Dharia and WGM Varshini V each respectively. Shaik Sumer Arsh, Arjun Ghimire (NEP) and Hriday Panchal drew with IM Srihari L R, IM Viani Antonio D'cunha and IM Manish Anto Cristiano F.

Shivika Rohilla made a great start | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

When a 1898 rated player fools a grandmaster | GM Laxman vs Shivika Rohila | Video: ChessBase India

Gukesh - Sudarshan: 1-0

GM D Gukesh (2614) scored a very nice victory by launching an attack on his opponent Sudarshan Bhat's (2100) kingside.

Position after 16.Qh5

White did not need to be bothered about losing the d4-pawn. He knew that the attack on the kingside via 16.Qh5 will be decisive. 16...g6 17.Qh3 Nb3 18.Ne4 f5 19.exf6 Nxa1 20.Ng5 h5 21.f7+ and it's all over for Black.

Gukesh almost played like Paul Morphy | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Santu - Deepan: 0-1

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2520) was completely winning against Santu Mondal (2063). However, in the final moments, the GM almost allowed his opponent to turn the tables.

Position after 40...Rb2

40...h3+ 41.Kf1 Rc4 was completely winning for Black. Yet 40...Rb2 created an opportunity for White to get back in the game. What was it?

Santu could have caused another upset of the first round | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

National Junior Champion IM Neelash Saha shows the power of bishop pair | Video: ChessBase India

A straightforward bishop ending showing the power of outside passer | Video: ChessBase India

Inaugural moves are made by Dr. Sanjay Kapoor, AICF President and Bharat Singh Chauhan, AICF Hony. Secretary | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Lighting of the lamp at the inauguration ceremony | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun Erigaisi (2660) headlines India's biggest open event in 2022 | Video: ChessBase India

For more Round 1 photos, please click here.

A total of 298 players including 21 GMs, 26 IMs, 3 WGMs and 6 WIMs are taking part from 13 federations across the world including India. The tournament is organized by Delhi Chess Association from 22nd to 29th March 2022 at Tivoli Grand Resort Hote, New Delhi. The ten-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1. Accelerated pairings are used in the first three rounds.

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	75		Manigandan S S	2127	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	1
2	2	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	0	1 - 0	0		Bala Kannamma P	2120	76
3	77	WIM	Franco Valencia Angela	2116	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	3
4	4	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	0	1 - 0	0		Soham Datar	2115	78
5	79	FM	Dutta Joydeep	2101	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	5
6	6	GM	Gukesh D	2614	0	1 - 0	0		Sudarshan Bhat	2100	80
7	81	CM	Dhruv Khosla	2072	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	7
8	8	GM	Visakh N R	2522	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Kavinda Akila	2068	82
9	83		Santu Mondal	2063	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	9
10	10	GM	Iniyan P	2516	0	1 - 0	0		Mahindrakar Indrajeet	2059	84
11	85		Sri Sai Baswanth P	2057	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2511	11
12	12	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Purushothaman Thirumalai	2055	86
13	87		Hemanth Raam	2026	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	13
14	14	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	0	1 - 0	0		Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U	2022	88
15	89	FM	Gaikwad Siddhant	2016	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	15
16	16	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	0	1 - 0	0	AIM	Nagarkatte Vedant	2013	90
17	91	IM	Weerawardane Romesh	2005	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Raahul V S	2478	17
18	18	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	0	1 - 0	0		Bhattacharyya Soham	2004	92
19	93		Joel Paul Ganta	2004	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	19
20	20	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	0	1 - 0	0		Ilamparthi A R	1993	94

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	1		1	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2397	36
2	38	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2359	1		1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	2
3	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	1		1	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	40
4	39	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2350	1		1	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	4
5	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	1		1		Utsab Chatterjee	2324	42
6	41	FM	Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan	2340	1		1	GM	Gukesh D	2614	6
7	7	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	1		1	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J	2316	44
8	43	IM	Ratnakaran K.	2316	1		1	GM	Visakh N R	2522	8
9	9	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	1		1	FM	Rohith Krishna S	2304	46
10	45		Dhananjay S	2310	1		1	GM	Iniyan P	2516	10
11	11	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2511	1		1	IM	Palit Somak	2300	48
12	47	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	1		1	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	12
13	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	1		1	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2283	50
14	51	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	1		1	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	14
15	15	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	1		1		Rohit S	2276	52
16	54		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2263	1		1	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	16
17	17	IM	Raahul V S	2478	1		1	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	60
18	55	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	1		1	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	18
19	19	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	1		1	FM	De Silva L M S T	2220	62
20	63	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	1		1	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	20

Details

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