19th Delhi GM Open R7: Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh ascend to the top

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/03/2022

Top seed GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Pavel Ponkratov, GM D Gukesh, GM Harsha Bharathakoti and IM Ortik Nigmatov (UZB) scored a victory each to join the seven-way lead at 19th Delhi International GM Open 2022. The remaining two are previous round leaders GM Lalit Rohit and GM Karthik Venkataraman who drew their game against each other. Gukesh arguably played the most exciting game of the round. 14 players are in the chase at 5.5/7. Current National Women champion WGM Divya Deshmukh defeated National Under-13 Girls 2019 champion, Sarayu Velpula. Round 8 starts today at 10:00 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Seven in the lead

10-year-old Kian Dishank Shah (1339) defeated IM Praveen Kumar C (2158).

Gukesh played an excellent game to get back in the lead | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Lalith - Karthik: 0.5-0.5

GM Lalit Rohit (2558) got his opponent GM Karthik Venkataraman (2485) on the ropes.

Position after 25...Nf8

26.Ne5 Rf6 27.Nf3 ensures White maintains the upper hand. The game continued 26.Rc7 Rg7 27.Ne5 Rd8 28.Rdc1 Nd7 29.Nf3 Nc5 30.Ng5+ White found the correct knight maneuvering, although it was not as effective as it could have been due to the displacement of the rooks. Black equalized and the game ended in a draw.

Previous round leaders Lalit and Karthik had an interesting draw | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM elect Shyam Nikhil vs GM Arjun Erigaisi | Incorrect piece sacrifice? | Video: ChessBase India

IM P Shyam Nikhil's ambitious double knight sacrifice did not work out against GM Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Gukesh - Tahbaz: 1-0

GM D Gukesh (2614) defeated IM Tahbaz Arash (IRI, 2469) in a very exciting game.

Position after 17.f3

Gukesh had made his intentions very clear early in the game 11.g4 which his opponent took in the next move 12...fxg4. Black's position seemed worse in a hurry and once again White announced that he is playing for only one result 17.f3. Of course taking on f4 with either piece results in an immediate loss after 18.Rxh7+ followed by Qh2+, Qh6# or Qxg6 depending on the variation. Black was forced to play 17...h5 18.gxh6+ Kh7 19.Rg1 Qf6 20.Bxd7 exf4 21.Bxc8 Rxc8 22.e4 dxe4 23.fxe4 f3 24.0-0-0 Qf4+

Position after 24...Qf4+

The position is absolutely complex due to the imbalance. 25.Rd2 g5 26.e5+ Rf5 computer would say Black would have had decisive advantage after 26...Kh8 which is not easy to find for humans and especially when you are playing against someone like Gukesh, one is bound to get rattled.

Position after 34...Kg6

Once again Black should have retreated his king back 34...Kh8 was safer. Find out the winning continuation for White after 34...Kg6

This youngster never shies away from complications | Gukesh vs Tahbaz | Video: ChessBase India

GM D Gukesh won arguably the most exciting game of the round | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Iniyan P - IM Vignesh N R: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Mahdi - Abhijeet: 0-1

GM Abhijeet Gupta (2628) scored a nice combination against Mahdi Gholami Orimi (IRI, 2420).

Position after 43.Qf3

Find out the winning continuation for Black after 43.Qf3.

GM Mitrabha Guha - IM Viani Antonio D'cunha: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sarayu Velpula - WGM Divya Deshmukh: 0-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10-year-old Kian Dishank Shah (1339) defeated IM Praveen Kumar C (2158) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more Round 7 photos, please click here.

Final moments between GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and IM Srihari L R | Video: ChessBase India

IM Ortik Nigmatov is finding his groove in India - beats GM Arjun Kalyan | Video: ChessBase India

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 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	7	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	16
2	26	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2442	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	1
3	2	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	15
4	4	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	18
5	60	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	5
6	6	GM	Gukesh D	2614	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	19
7	10	GM	Iniyan P	2516	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	25
8	24	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2445	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	13
9	14	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	5	1 - 0	5	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	63
10	30		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2420	5	0 - 1	4½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	3
11	8	GM	Visakh N R	2522	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2402	33
12	35	IM	Srihari L R	2400	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	9
13	36	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2397	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2511	11
14	12	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2397	37
15	20	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Sangma Rahul	2286	49
16	40	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	23
17	53		Saurabh Anand	2276	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2435	27
18	66	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2205	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Gusain Himal	2408	31
19	28	GM	Laxman R.R.	2429	4	½ - ½	4½	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	51
20	75		Manigandan S S	2127	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Raahul V S	2478	17

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	6		6	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	7
2	14	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	6		6	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	2
3	16	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	6		6	GM	Gukesh D	2614	6
4	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	5½		6	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2445	24
5	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	5½		5½	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	20
6	23	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	5½		5½	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	4
7	25	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	5½		5½	GM	Visakh N R	2522	8
8	9	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	5½		5½	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	60
9	31	IM	Gusain Himal	2408	5½		5½	GM	Iniyan P	2516	10
10	27	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2435	5½		5½	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	18
11	12	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	5		5½	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2397	36
12	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	5		5		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2263	54
13	15	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	5		5	FM	Aradhya Garg	2236	58
14	19	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	5		5		Manigandan S S	2127	75
15	47	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	5		5	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2442	26
16	51	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	5		5		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2420	30
17	55	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	5		5	GM	Saptarshi Roy	2402	32
18	63	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	5		5	IM	Shahil Dey	2400	34
19	37	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2397	5		5	FM	Gaikwad Siddhant	2016	89
20	88		Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U	2022	5		5		Utsab Chatterjee	2324	42

Details

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