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Vergani Cup 2022 R1: Ojas Kulkarni makes a peaceful start against Nigel Short

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/01/2022

Untitled Ojas Kulkarni had a great start at Vergani Cup January 2022. He drew with the former World Championship Challenger and English legend, GM Nigel Short in the first round. He played solid throughout the game and made sure he did not commit any significant mistake. Anton Korobov, Hans Niemann, M Amin Tabatabaei and Zdenko Kozul started their tournament with a win in Round 1. Total 124 players including 22 GMs, 16 IMs, 4 WGMs and 2 WIMs are participating from 31 countries across the world. 26 Indians are taking part in this event, second-highest contingent after the host nation Italy which has 27 players. Round 2 starts tonight at 7:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

A smooth start for the top seeds

Apart from Nigel Short, tenth seeded GM Iniyan P was also held to a draw by FM Frank Emanuel (AUT).

Ojas Kulkarni played solid against Nigel Short | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Short - Ojas: 0.5-0.5

English legend Nigel Short opted for English opening against Ojas Kulkarni. The Indian made sure that he did not make a major error throughout the game.

Position after 48.gxh5

Black is forced to give up the bishop because this is the final chance to stop the pawn. 48...Bxh5 49. Nxh5 Ke5 50.Nf6 Ke6 and White cannot win the game, despite having the knight as the white king is slightly misplaced to grab the full point.

Nigel Short tweeted on his first round game

GM Anton Korobov (UKR) is the top seed of the tournament| Photo: Rupali Mullick

Second seed - GM Hans Niemann (USA) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Third seed - GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

 

The tournament is taking place at Hotel Kursaal, Cattolica in Italy from 2nd to 9th January 2021. Time control is 90 mins + 30 seconds increment and 15 minutes each will be added after 40th move in Group A which is for above 1800 FIDE rating.

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
11
GMKorobov Anton269901 - 00Huber Benedikt2254
63
264
FMPulkkinen Kari225100 - 10GMNiemann Hans Moke2645
2
33
GMTabatabaei M. Amin264301 - 00FMSreyas Payyappat2250
65
466
Kugler Florian222200 - 10GMKozul Zdenko2639
4
55
GMShort Nigel D26330½ - ½0Ojas Kulkarni2219
67
668
FMCiolek Andreas221700 - 10GMLagarde Maxime2632
6
77
GMThybo Jesper Sondergaard259201 - 00FMKrasteva Beloslava2206
69
870
Aarav Dengla219600 - 10GMBernadskiy Vitaliy2589
8
99
GMLalith Babu M R254801 - 00FMPaakkonen Timo2193
71
1072
FMFrank Emanuel21800½ - ½0GMIniyan P2540
10

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
131
FMMartinovici Ilia239811GMKorobov Anton2699
1
22
GMNiemann Hans Moke264511FMFormento Paolo2382
33
332
IMBarp Alberto238811GMTabatabaei M. Amin2643
3
44
GMKozul Zdenko263911FMGhazarian Kirk2379
35
56
GMLagarde Maxime263211IMMoksh Amit Doshi2368
37
634
IMSorensen Hampus237911GMThybo Jesper Sondergaard2592
7
78
GMBernadskiy Vitaliy258911FMKlabis Rokas2356
41
843
WGMGomes Mary Ann235411GMLalith Babu M R2548
9
911
GMArjun Kalyan253211FMSiddharth Jagadeesh2344
47
1044
IMSalimova Nurgyul235311GMZelcic Robert2531
12

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €10000.

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations