Gurgaon International Chess Begins: Fourth Seed GM Merab Gagunashvili upset by Indian Youngster N Lokesh

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Time for some Indian chess news: The second edition of the prestigious Gurgaon International Grandmasters Chess Tournament has begun. It is to be followed immediately by India's biggest prize-money chess tournament - the Delhi Chess Open. 

A total number of 252 players from 10 countries, including 13 Grandmasters, 11 International Masters and 205 International rated chess players, are participating in this 10 rounds Swiss System tournament. Grandmaster Kravstiv Martyn of Ukraine is the top seed. 

Gurgaon Chess Tournament inauguration.

The second round witnessed interesting upsets including youngster N Lokesh beating fourth seed Georgian Grandmaster Merab Gagunashvili and IM Vishal Sareen losing to teenager A Abhishek. Top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Kravstiv Martyan, second seed Oliver Barbosa of Philippines, Indian Grandmasters Arun Prasad and Sahaj Grover moved to third round with perfect scores after beating Md Shariff Hossain of Bangladesh, FM Prasanna Kurukulasuriya and Sa Kannan. 

The other surprises were Rajesh Upadhayay of Indian Air Force drawing with Grandmaster Sundararajan Kidambi and youngster Cholleti Sahajasri drawing with International Master Naryanan Srinath. (Find more details and results at Indian Chess News).

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Two International Chess Open Tournaments in New Delhi area in January 2014

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013  

Hi everyone, 

Would you like to spend an entire January in India in 2014? Two special chess tournaments are being organised back-to-back in India in January, 2014. The 2nd Gurgaon Open and the 12th Delhi Open will be held between 1st and 16th January in the Indian capital and nearby Gurgaon (20km distance).

The 2nd Gurgaon International Open Chess Tournament will take place on from 1-8th January, 2014, at the Suncity School, Suncity Township, Sector 54, in Gurgaon. The tournament is organized by the Haryana Chess Association and Gurgaon Chess Association under the aegis of All India Chess Federation. The tournament will be conducted as per FIDE Laws of Chess and FIDE Swiss System. 10 rounds will be played. 

Download full regulations (.doc)

The 12th Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament will take place on 9-16th January, 2014, at the Ludlow Castle Sports Complex Civil Lines in New Delhi.

There will be three playing groups: Category A (for players rated 2000 and above), Category B (U1999) and Category C (U1599). The tournament will be conducted as per FIDE Laws of Chess and FIDE Swiss System with 10 rounds. 

Download full regulations (PDF)

The organizers are giving combined conditions to Grandmasters for both events. Contacts with phone numbers and email addresses are provided in attached files. 

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Indian Chess News: GH Raisoni Open - Five share lead after Round 5

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

 

Some chess news for Indian readers of Chess Blog: This report comes to you from Nagpur - an Indian city which has a great chess tradition. Five top rated players share the lead with full five points at the half way stage of the GH Raisoni Maharashtra State Open FIDE Rating Chess tournament currently in progress at the multipurpose hall of Saraswati Vidyalaya here on Sunday.
Top seed Mumbai-based IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni representing Railways, along with second seed Anup Deshmukh, seed No 3 Satchidanand Soman, No 5 ranked Akash Thakur and sixth seed Dilip Pagay registered victories in contrasting fashion to share the top slot with five points at the end of Round 5.

On the top board, Kulkarni playing with the black pieces outclassed Pankaj Pendalwar in 26 moves while Orange city's first IM Anup Deshmukh registered a hard fought 44-move win over Shubham Lakudkar on the second board.

Third seed Fide Master Satchidanand Soman defeated the Kings Pawn opening of Shweta Gole while the Sicilian defence of IM-elect Akash Thakur was enough for the experienced master to get the better of city youngster Prasad Aurangabadkar. On the fifth board, secretary of Maharashtra Chess Association, Dilip Pagay playing with the white pieces made good use of his opening advantage to prevail over Chinmay Pathak and collect full points.

A day after being held by a lower ranked opponent, fourth seed Sauravh Khherdekar bounced back to get the better of Kawaljeet Singh Maras and share the second spot with 4.5 points along side Shailesh Dravid. (Amit Shah/TNN)

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www.chessqueen.com
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