19th Delhi GM Open R8: Arjun Erigaisi, Harsha and Gukesh in a three-way race

by Shahid Ahmed - 28/03/2022

The competition is getting tough and things are heating up fast as the top six boards had only decisive results in the eighth round of 19th Delhi International GM Open 2022. Four out of top five boards ended in 30 moves or less. Arjun Erigaisi, Harsha Bharathakoti and D Gukesh are in the lead 7.0/8. They are closely followed by GM Sethuraman, FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi, IM Neelash Saha and the defending champion GM Abhijeet Gupta. The penultimate round will witness an interesting rematch from the National Senior Championships with the same colors between Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi. Round 9 starts today at 10:00 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Neelash and Aradhya stun Neuris and Adham

12-year-old Akshay Borgaonkar (1985) registered his fourth consecutive victory of the event against none other than IM Ratnkaran K (2316).

GM Harsha Bharathakoti played excellent chess to beat GM Pavel Ponkratov | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun Erigaisi - Lalit: 1-0

GM Arjun Erigaisi (2660) implemented the trendy 8.h4 instead of the usual main line 8.c4 against GM Lalit Rohit (2558) in the Scotch Game. After 11.h5 Black should have played 11...h6 because having both Ba6 and Nb6 is not recommended in this line which was mentioned by Arjun in the post-match interview.

Position after 19...f6

19...f6 completely turned things in White's favor. Not only Black's b7-bishop and the knight are out of play but also White's bishops are absolutely deadly on the long diagonals. 20.Nd4 Qxe5 21.Qd1 Qe7 22.h6 g6 23.Bxc6 and it's over for Black. White won the game in another five moves.

GM Arjun Erigaisi outprepared GM Lalit Rohit | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun Erigaisi moves to 2674.4 Elo | beats Lalith Babu and is now leading 19th Delhi GM 2022 | Video: ChessBase India

Harsha - Ponkratov: 1-0

If you are familiar with GM Harsha Bharathakoti's (2499) playing style, you would know that he loves to attack. That is exactly what he did against GM Pavel Ponkratov (2641).

Position after 26.Rd8

What a beautiful move 26.Rd8 is. The original plan behind 25.Rfd1 was to play this only. 25...Rf8 was not able to prevent it. 26...Rxh5 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8 28.Rd8+ now Black could have passively defended 28...Be8 which would have been actually better than what was played 28...Qxd8 29.Qxg7+ Ke8 30.Nc7+. White got a queen for rook, bishop and knight. Generally it would be considered as worse for the side with the queen. However, here the rook being awkwardly placed allows White to convert his advantage into a win.

Final moments: Harsha Bharathakoti vs Pavel Ponkratov | Video: ChessBase India

"I took rest, played football and cricket!" Harsha Bharathakoti on his preparation against Ponkratov | Video: ChessBase India

GM Harsha Bharathakoti scored a fantastic victory against GM Pavel Ponkratov | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Karthik - Gukesh: 0-1

GM D Gukesh (2614) is playing at a whole different level after suffering a loss in the second round. He completed his double hat-trick of wins with a dominant victory over GM Karthik Venkataraman (2485).

Position after 22.f3

22.f3 turns the tide in Black's favor. Try to think like Gukesh and find out the best continuation for Black.

GM D Gukesh scored a double hat-trick in a fascinating way | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Sethuraman S P made a short work of IM Ortik Nigmatov in just 25 moves | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Abhijeet Gupta scored a clinical victory against IM C R G Krishna | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Neelash - Neuris: 1-0

Paraguay no.1 GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (2622) offered one pawn too many against IM Neelash Saha (2445).

Position after 18...Qc7

Black had already sacrificed the g7-pawn on the tenth move. Now h5-pawn is up for grabs. Since White has already castled on the kingside and Black's obvious intention is to castle on the other side, it can create a lot of dilemmas whether to take or not. White decided to take it 19.Bxh5. The game continued 19...0-0-0 20.Na4 f5 21.Qc3 Ng6 22.b4 Nf4 23.g3 Bd6 24.Bf3 and the decision turned out to be correct.

National Junior Champion Neelash Saha wins against the first 2600+ rated player in his career | Video: ChessBase India

IM Neelash Saha scored a big win over GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Brother vs Brother: IM Vignesh N R and GM Visakh N R decided to live to fight another day | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

This Iranian FM is here to steal some Indian Elo points! - FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi | Video: ChessBase India

IM Himal Gusain - GM Iniyan P: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Arjun Kalyan - Bharat Kumar Reddy Potluri: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Adham - Aradhya: 0-1

IM-elect FM Aradhya Garg (2236) defeated GM Adham Fawzy (EGY, 2490) showing a great understanding in the endgame.

Position after 23.g4

23.g4 is a mistake. Try to find out why. Aradhya figured it out correctly and won the game in another 12 moves.

When your GM opponent blunders on move 10 | Video: ChessBase India

FM Aradhya Garg is undefeated in the tournament so far | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

WGM Divya Deshmukh - IM P Shyam Nikhil: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

WGM Srija Seshadro - IM Shahil Dey: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Akshay Borgaonkar - IM Ratnakaran K: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Soham Bhattacharyya - IM Sidhant Mohapatra: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Soham Datar - IM Padmini Rout: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Adireddy Arjun - WIM Priyanka K: 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

WGM Varshini V - Shaik Sumer Arsh: 0-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Yashita Rout - WIM Sakshi Chitlange: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more Round 8 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 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	7
2	14	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	2
3	16	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Gukesh D	2614	6
4	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	5½	1 - 0	6	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2445	24
5	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	20
6	23	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	4
7	25	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Visakh N R	2522	8
8	9	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	5½	0 - 1	5½	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	60
9	31	IM	Gusain Himal	2408	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Iniyan P	2516	10
10	27	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2435	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	18
11	12	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2397	36
12	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	5	½ - ½	5		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2263	54
13	15	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	5	0 - 1	5	FM	Aradhya Garg	2236	58
14	19	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	5	1 - 0	5		Manigandan S S	2127	75
15	47	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2442	26
16	51	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	5	½ - ½	5		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2420	30
17	55	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Saptarshi Roy	2402	32
18	63	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Shahil Dey	2400	34
19	37	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2397	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Gaikwad Siddhant	2016	89
20	88		Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U	2022	5	½ - ½	5		Utsab Chatterjee	2324	42

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	6	GM	Gukesh D	2614	7		7	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	1
2	23	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	6½		7	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	14
3	60	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	6½		6½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	3
4	2	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	6		6½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	5
5	7	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	6		6	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2435	27
6	8	GM	Visakh N R	2522	6		6	IM	Gusain Himal	2408	31
7	10	GM	Iniyan P	2516	6		6	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2397	37
8	32	GM	Saptarshi Roy	2402	6		6	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	16
9	18	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	6		6	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	47
10	36	GM	Karthikeyan P.	2397	6		6	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	19
11	24	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2445	6		6		Borgaonkar Akshay	1985	95
12	46	FM	Rohith Krishna S	2304	6		6	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	25
13	58	FM	Aradhya Garg	2236	6		5½	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	9
14	4	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	5½		5½	FM	Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan	2340	41
15	42		Utsab Chatterjee	2324	5½		5½	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2511	11
16	51	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	5½		5½	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	12
17	49	IM	Sangma Rahul	2286	5½		5½	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	13
18	20	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	5½		5½	FM	Phadke Sohan	2233	59
19	54		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2263	5½		5½	IM	Das Sayantan	2459	21
20	22	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2449	5½		5½	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	63

Details

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