Fluent start for Shardul Gagare-IILF Wealth 1st Mumbai International Open Chess

Fluent start for Shardul Gagare @ IILF Wealth 1st Mumbai International Open Chess
By R.R.Vasudevan

Top seed & triple GM Norm holder Shardul Gagare of Maharashtra took off to a smooth start along with other seeds in the first round of the IILF Wealth 1st Mumbai International Open Chess Tournament 2016 held at Mount Litera School International, Bandra (East), Mumbai here today.

Playing in the top board, Shardul replied with French opening for the king pawn opening from Om Kharola. The middle game saw Shardul gain black’s queen for a rook and knight. The ensuing position saw Shardul come up with a series of checks, snaring white rook on 40th turn, forcing Om Kharola to resign.

Other top seeds who had comfortable wins include GM Elect Swapnil S Dhopade, International Masters Anup Deshmukh, Stany GA, Nitin S, Himanshu Sharma, Ravi Teja S, Akshat Khamparia and Dinesh Sharma among others. In the upset of the day, International Master Sharad Tilak was held to a draw by Aan Sikka.

112 players including 14 International Masters and 23 FIDE titled players are vying for the top prizes. This nine round Swiss event offers a prize money of Rs. 7.5 lakhs, with the Champion being awarded Rs 1.5 lakhs for the title.

Results (Round 1) Om Kharola lost to Gagare Shardul, Swapnil S Dhopade bt Selvabarathy T, Aravind Babu L lost to Stany G A, Nitin S bt Ajinkya Pingale, Dushyant Sharma lost to Himanshu Sharma, Ravi Teja S bt Bhogal Rupesh, Dev Shah lost to Akshat Khamparia, Sharma Dinesh K bt Saumil Nair, Joglekar Abhijit lost to Gusain Himal, Khandelwal Khushi lost to Kulkarni Vikramaditya, Sharad Tilak drew with Aan Sikka.