19th Delhi GM Open R5-6: Lalit Rohit and Karthik Venkataraman share the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/03/2022

GM Lalit Rohit and GM Karthik Venkataraman are the coleaders 5.5/6 at 19th Delhi International GM Open 2022. Lalit had a good opportunity to topple the top seed, Pavel Ponkratov. Unfortunately for Lalit, he could not capitalize it and the game ended in a draw. Karthik scored the sole win among the top six boards in Round 6 against GM Visakh N R to join the lead. 17 players are in pursuit at 5.0/6 each. GM Laxman R R's woes continue as he suffered his second loss of the event, it was against WGM Srija Seshadri in the sixth round. She is currently the top performing female in the field. Round 7 starts today at 10:00 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Srija wins against Laxman

11-year-old Adireddy Arjun (1796) defeated IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh (2316) in Round 6 to complete his hat-trick.

Tournament leaders - Lalit and Karthik will face each other in Round 7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Round 5: Iniyan - Arjun Erigaisi: 0.5-0.5

GM Iniyan P (2516) first sacrificed his queen for two rooks against GM Arjun Erigaisi (2660). Then he decided to sacrifice an exchange.

Position after 29.Rxd6

The reason 29.Rxd6 works is quite simple. After 29...Bxd6 30.Rxd6, White will just keep his rook in the fourth rank and prevent any f4 or h4 breakthroughs. White can also afford an exchange of his rook with his opponent's king either at f4 or h4 and the loss of g3-pawn. The resultant pawn ending would also be a draw.

A lot of eyes were on Iniyan - Arjun Erigaisi battle | Video: ChessBase India

Converting a winning position with confidence - IM Shahil Dey (2400) vs Lalith Babu (2558) | Video: ChessBase India

GM Lalit Rohit defeated IM Shahil Dey with ease to take sole lead 5.0/5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Round 6: Lalit - Ponkratov: 0.5-0.5

GM Lalit Rohit (2558) got a commanding position against GM Pavel Ponkratov (2641).

Position after 24...Rb8

25.Rxb8 Qxb8 26.g4 is the suggested continuation by the computer. The game continued 25.Qb3 Bd4 26.Ba5 Re3 27.Rxb8 Nxb8 28.Qc2. White's advantage evaporated and a draw was agreed in another five moves.

GM Lalit Rohit had a promising position against GM Pavel Ponkratov | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Karthik - Visakh: 0.5-0.5

GM Visakh N R (2522) had a couple of chances to repeat moves and take a draw but he was not interested. A mistake eventually turned things in his opponent GM Karthik Venkataraman's (2485) favor.

Position after 25.Qf1

25...Qh5 would have still allowed Black to salvage a draw. However 25...Qxf1+ loosened the grip 26.Rxf1 and White got a completely winning position as three pawns were not enough for the lost bishop for Black.

GM Karthik Venkataraman is a coleader along with GM Lalit Rohit | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Arjun Erigaisi have to wait a little longer to avenge his loss against GM Harsha Bharathakoti | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Masoud Mosadeghpour (IRI) - IM Padmini Rout: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Rahul Sangma - GM Mitrabha Guha: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Abdisalimov Abdimalik (UZB) - WIM Sakshi Chitlange: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

WGM Srija Seshadri - GM Laxman R R: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Adireddy Arjun - IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more Round 5 and Round 6 photos, please click at the respective links.

The Lunch menu at the Tivoli Hotel Resort | 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 5-6 games

Round 6 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	7	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	5	½ - ½	4½	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	2
2	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	14
3	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	4
4	16	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Visakh N R	2522	8
5	18	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Iniyan P	2516	10
6	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Saptarshi Roy	2402	32
7	34	IM	Shahil Dey	2400	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Gukesh D	2614	6
8	9	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2397	36
9	11	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2511	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	40
10	49	IM	Sangma Rahul	2286	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	12
11	15	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	4	1 - 0	4		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2263	54
12	19	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	4	1 - 0	4		Rohit S	2276	52
13	35	IM	Srihari L R	2400	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	20
14	21	IM	Das Sayantan	2459	4	0 - 1	4	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	60
15	47	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2445	24
16	25	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	4	1 - 0	4		Kulkarni Vinayak	2170	70
17	55	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2442	26
18	27	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2435	4	½ - ½	4	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2205	66
19	63	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Laxman R.R.	2429	28
20	72	IM	Praveen Kumar C	2158	4	0 - 1	4		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2420	30

Details

Round 7 pairings

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

Details

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