The AICF-AAI Cup is taking place in New Delhi from December 21st (first round) to 30th, 2012. The games start at 02:00 p.m. local time = 03:30 a.m. (on the previous day) in New York, 08:30 a.m. London, 09:30 a.m. European time, 11:30 a.m. Moscow and 16:30 p.m. Beijing. You can find the starting time at your location here. The tournament site is providing a live broadcast of the games and live video feed. Naturally the games are also being broadcast on Playchess.com.

The venue: AAI (Airport Authority of India) Officers Institute in New Delhi

Street poster promoting the event in the Indian capital

The participants in this double round robin category 18 event – average rating 2684 – are:

Press Release Round one AICF-AAI Chess Cup 2012

Negi holds Wojtaszek

Grandmaster and Asian champion Parimarjan Negi got off to a good start in the AICF-AAI Chess Cup, holding top seed Radoslav Wojtaszek of Poland to a draw. The first round provided exciting games in the highest category tournament of the country with Abhijeet Gupta holding out Krishnan Sasikiran to a draw while Ukrainian Anton Korobov also signed peace with Evgeny Alekseev of Russia.

V.P. Agrawal, Chairman of the Airport Authority of India, makes the ceremonial first
move in the game Radoslav Wojtaszek vs Parimarjan Negi

Round one under way in the AICF-AAI Cup in New Delhi

It was a tense affair for Negi after he made a slight error in the endgame arising out of a Grunfeld Defense. Playing black the Indian said he was quite satisfied with his preparation. “I played a home-cooked idea which worked quite well for me in the middle game as I equalized quite easily. It should have been an easy draw but I made this slight error that gave Radek [Wojtaszek] some chances."

Indian GM Parimarjan Negi drew his round one game against...

... Radoslav Wojtaszek of Poland, the second of World Champion Vishy Anand

As it happened in the endgame, the Polish GM tried hard but could not really make an impact after running short of time. The game was agreed drawn after 50 moves when it was no longer possible to penetrate through the fortress.

Abhijeet Gupta (above left) played the most exciting game of the day but the Indian conceded that it was just a blunder that led to complexities. Playing the white side of a Chabanenko Slav, Abhijeet got a symbolic advantage out of the opening which grew after Sasikiran parted with his light coloured bishop for a knight. “I was thinking that perhaps I was slightly worse, but his plan allowed me to get a level position just when I was a little worried”, said Sasikiran after the game. Abhijeet could have gone for the draw, which would have been a just result in a lifeless position, but looking for more the Delhi-based GM lost the thread and found himself staring at defeat after he blundered a rook for minor piece. “I just did not notice I was losing the rook, and by now we were also both running short of time. I thought it was over, but just hung on, and then Sasi did not play precisely”, Gupta noted matter-of-factly. Gupta came back into the game with some tricky play and Sasikiran the players split the point in 52 moves.

Anton Korobov (above right) thought himself to be slightly better, but in the end he was the one fighting for the half point against Evgeny Alekseev. From a Sicilian Defense Alekseev got a level position as white, and subsequent exchangges led to a balanced endgame. Alekseev won a pawn with some skilled manoeuvring, but Korobov hung in there, making some exact defensive moves. The players repeated the moves to share the point after 42 moves.

Anton Korobov and Evgeny Alekseev analysing after their game

Here are the games in our JavaScript player:

Video report by Vijay Kumar

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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