Mumbai: Upsets dominated the opening round of the Rs 35 lakh prize money 360 One Masters Chess tournament, organised by Indian Chess School at the World Trade Centre, with several fancied players suffering unexpected setbacks in the Swiss League event.
Major surprises in early rounds
The biggest surprise came when Sri Lankan International Master (IM) L M S T De Silva stunned second seed Grandmaster (GM) Sankalp Gupta in a swift 26-move encounter. In another major upset, 17-year-old IM Akshay Borgaonkar of Pune defeated third seed GM Abhijeet Gupta, a former World Junior champion. IM Kaustuv Kundu also registered an impressive victory over Belarus' Andrey Gorovets.
Higher-rated players held to draws
Several higher-rated overseas grandmasters were held to draws. Fifth seed GM Luka Paichadze of Georgia shared the point with FIDE Master (FM) Adak Bivor, while ninth seed GM Boris Savchenko was held by Daeevik Wadhawan. FM Vivaan Shah earned a valuable draw against GM Aleksej Aleksandrov, while FM Kush Bhagat secured a creditable half-point against eighth seed IM Nitin Belurkar.
Top seed shows resilience
Amid the spate of upsets, top seed GM Iniyan Pa, the reigning National champion, displayed remarkable resilience to defeat L Srihari from a seemingly drawn position. Their Queen's Gambit Declined gradually simplified into a rook-and-pawn ending with identical pawn structures, a position generally regarded as a theoretical draw. However, Iniyan continued to apply pressure, patiently probing Srihari's defence. His persistence paid off when Srihari erred with a king move on the 64th turn. Iniyan capitalised on the mistake and sealed victory on the 74th turn by creating an unstoppable passed pawn.
Details of key matches
Sankalp Gupta found himself under pressure from the opening stages of a French Advance Defence against De Silva. The Lankan launched a powerful attack, with queen, rook and knights combining effectively.
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