Harpal Singh Bedi
In a major upset, 14 year old Shivika Rohilla stunned Grandmaster RR Laxman in the first round of the 19th Delhi International Open Chess tournament that got under way here.
Delhi girl Shivika matched the Grandmaster move for move for a long time. Laxman enjoyed the advantage throughout the game with his white pieces but Shivika was quick to pounce on an opportunity that netted her a fine game. The result was never in doubt thereafter.
Grandmaster Cristhian Camilo Rios of Colombia was held to a draw by FIDE Master Muhammed Shuaau of Maldives on a day when most of the top seeds sailed through in the opener over their lesser known rivals.
Rios found the going tough in the early phase itself and Shuaau was able to pull off a half point without much ado.
National Champion Arjun Erigaisi started the campaign in style beating Manigandan S S while defending champion Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta made a winning start at the expense of Women International Master Angela Franco Valencia of Colombia .
Second seed Pavel Ponkratov (Russia) started on winning note against Bala Kannamma.
Other important Result Round – (Indians otherwise stated); GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez of Paraguay (1) beat Soham Datar (0); FM Joydeep Dutta (0) lost to GM Sethuraman S P (1); GM Gukesh D (1) beat Sudarshan Bhat (0);
CM Dhruv Khosla (0) lost to GM Lalith Babu M R (1); GM Visakh N R (1) beat CM Akila Kavinda of Sri Lanka (0); Santu Mondal (0) lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (1); GM Iniyan P (1) beat Indrajeet Mahindrakar (0);
Sri Sai Baswanth P (0) lost to GM Masoud Modadeghpour of Iran (1); GM Mitrabha Guha (1) beat FM Purushothaman T (0); Hemanth Raam (0) lost to GM Arjun Kalyan (1); GM Harsha Bharathakoti (1) beat Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma (0);
FM Sidhant Gaikwad (0) lost to GM Adham Fawzy of Egypt; GM Karthik Venkatraman (1) beat Vedant Nagarkatte (1); IM Romesh Weerawardane of Sri Lanka (0) lost to IM Raahul VS (1); GM Azer Mirzoev of Azerbaijan (1) beat Soham Bhattacharya (0); Joel Paul Ganta (0) lost to IM Arash Tahbaz of Iran (1).
Earlier in the day the event was formally inaugurated by the, President All India Chess Federation Sanjay Kapoor and Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan
Kapoor also e announced that the next event will be held for 1.25 Crores as prize money.