Delhi GM Open Rd. 09: Akash Iyer and Nubairshah Shaikh complete GM Norms

Category C Participants eager to see their pairing. [Photo: David Llada]

GM Naiditsch is a draw away from the title

IGI Stadium, Delhi (15-Jan.-2018): Top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch drew in the ninth round with untitled Indian Akash Pc Iyer, rated 2415, to take a step closer to the title. Elsewhere, IM Md. Nubairshah Shaikh rated 2380 managed to beat IM P. Karthikeyan rated 2497 to complete his GM norm as well.

Naiditsch offered a draw after 13 moves with the black pieces in a Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation. This ensured a GM norm for the young Tamil Nadu boy who has already completed the IM norm requirements.

Naiditsch thus took a step towards sealing the Delhi GM Open 2018 title. With 8.0/9, the Azeri grandmaster just needs a draw in the tenth and final round against Italian GM David Alberto to seal the win.

IM Md. Nubairshah Shaikh was white against IM Karthikeyan and the game was a Nimzo Indian Defence. On the nineteenth move, Nubair sacrificed an exchange for great control over the center and good pressure on black’s pieces overall. Black lost his concentration, blundering on the 26th move, allowing Nubair a deflection tactic and his first GM norm in due course.

Besides Akash and Nubair scoring their GM norms, Sammed Shete managed to complete his IM norm requirements after 9 rounds of play.

In the tenth and final round, Neelash Saha, Arjun Kalyan, and Kaustav Kundu need victories to complete their IM norm. 14-year-old Koustov Chatterjee, rated 2288, is already increasing 120 elo points. Tomorrow, playing the game will ensure an IM norm. Moreover, a draw against his opponent GM Adam Tukhaev is enough to seal his first GM norm.

Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman managed to defeat Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov rated 2583. The Dutchman attacked the Bangladeshi’s kingside with his knight, forgetting that the piece is undefended. Ziaur’s calm 43.Qb7+ picked a free piece and the game.

Rahman is the only player in the second place with 7.5/9. Eight players follow, tied on the third spot with 7.0/9.

In some other some upsets, Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad managed to defeat the current Indian champion, GM Lalith Babu, M.R., while Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta rated 2610 went down in flames against IM Vignesh NR, rated 2470 after Gupta blundered in an advantageous position.

Pairings/Results

Round 10 on 2018/01/16 at 10:00 hrs

Bo.	No.			Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg		No.
1	1		GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2701	8		7	GM	David Alberto	2553		12
2	8		GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2580	7		7½	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2472		23
3	21		GM	Horvath Adam	2484	7		7		Akash Pc Iyer	2415		35
4	28		IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	2462	7		7	GM	Deviatkin Andrei	2471		24
5	26		IM	Vignesh N R	2470	7		7	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2380		42
6	29		GM	Czebe Attila	2458	6½		6½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2586		6
7	7		GM	Tiviakov Sergei	2584	6½		6½	GM	Dzhumaev Marat	2434		32
8	71			Koustav Chatterjee	2288	6½		6½	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2570		10
9	13		GM	Sivuk Vitaly	2550	6½		6½	IM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2451		30
10	16		GM	Vaibhav Suri	2542	6½		6½	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2313		60