Abhijeet Gupta Leads Czech Open

By Arvind aaron

Second seed Abhijeet Gupta is in sole lead in the Czech Open with five full points after five rounds. The Czech Open is organised from July 21-29, 2016 by AVE-Kontakt s.r.o. Pardubice in Czech Republic.

There are 40 Indians spread across the four sections (Group A, B, C, D) of this famous event that has given our players norms, titles and ratings in the past. It is a sought after event for our players in the present time too.

In the fifth round, former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta of Delhi beat top seed Viktor Laznicka (Cz) with the black pieces to maintain sole lead. In the earlier rounds, Gupta beat Marek Karas (Svk), Konguvel (Ind), Drnovsek (Slo) and Kozak (Hun).

Abhijeet Gupta comes fresh from a hat-trick in the Commonwealth Championship that he won at his new home town in Delhi. He came from Rajasthan to settle in Delhi some years back.

This has set up three Indians in the top three boards. Europe’s prime Open event will see the Indian tri-colour in the first three boards. Gupta (5/5) plays board one, fifth seed GM G.N. Gopal is tied for the second place with 4.5 points and plays board two. Seed 19 GM M.R. Lalith Babu is on four points and plays on board three.

India has a bunch of players seeking various norms. The GM norm seekers are IM Abhimanyu Puranik (2479, 4/5), Nihal Sarin (2471, 3.5/5), Prasanna Rao (2466, 3.5/5), Sayantan Das (2399, 4/5).