New Delhi: The 10th edition of prestigious Parsvnath International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament got off to a rousing start at the Ludlow Castle Sports Complex, Civil Lines on Sunday.
As expected almost all the top seeded players of the tournament, which include 19 Grandmasters, posted easy victories to advance to the second round with full points in their kitty. Top seed Indian Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda defeat Rajesh Kumar Nath while second seed Aleksandrov Aleksej of Belaurs had an easy outing against local lad Pavit Singh and third seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Kravtsiv Martyn made short work of Shyam Shetye. Among the Indian players, former national champions Grandmasters Abhijit Kunte and Praveen Thipsay started their tournament campaign on winning note as they defeated R Salini and Ravindra Dange respectively in the first round.
The surprises of the round came in the form of draws as International Masters Swapnil Dhopade and P Karthikeyan were denied victories by their lower rated opponents SBV Nair and local youngster Sarthak Mahajan respectively in the opening round.
The second round of this tournament, in which 302 players of 14 different countries are participating, was still in progress at the time of latest report.
Earlier in a colourful opening ceremony, Smt. Rashmi Singh, Director Government of Delhi inaugurated the event by making the customary first move in presence of Shri. Bharat Singh Chauhan, Secretary All India Chess Federation.
Important Results : Round- 1 (Indians otherwise stated) :- Rajesh Kumar Nath (0) lost to GM Sandipan Chanda (1); GM Aleksandrov Aleksej of Belarus (1) beat Pavit Singh (0); Shetye Shyam (0) lost to GM Kravtsiv Martyn of Ukraine (1); GM Mikhail Ulibin of Russia (1) beat Rajkumar S Singha (0); Kuldeep Kashyap (0) lost to GM Andrei Deviatkin of Russia (1); GM Barbosa Oliver of Philippines (1) beat Rajarishi Karthi (0); Anil Verma (0) lost to GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia (1); GM Mikhailo Olekseienko of Ukraine (1) beat Pallavi Dutta (0); Salini R (0) lost to GM Abhijit Kunte (1); GM Henrik Danielsen of Iceland (1) beat D K Chopra (0); Manan Rai (0) lost to GM Mark Paraguaof Philippines (1); GM Richard Bitoon of Philippines (1) beat Aradhya Garg (0); Hussain S R (0) lost to IM Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (1); GM Gomez John Paul of Philippines (1) beat Kumar Gaurav (0); Amrendra Kumar (0) lost to IM Kirill Kuderinov of Kazakhstan (1); GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (1) beat Mukesh Chandra Joshi (0); Saksham Dewan (0) lost to IM Lalith Babu M R (1); IM Shyam Nikil P (1) beat Dinesh Kumar Gupta (0); Rakesh Gurung (0) lost to GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan (1); Ma Qun of China (1) beat Saurabh Anand (0).
