Dreev triumphs at Parsvnath International Open

2/11/2007 – Players came in heavy woolen clothing, braving "freezing temperatures" that went down to +10° Celsius. In the end it was seasoned Russian GM Alexey Dreev who took clean first in a field that included 345 players including 13 grandmasters. We bring you results, as many games as could be scratched up, and lots of pictures in this illustrated report.

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Dreev triumphs, Rohit, Arun Prasad, Abhjeet Gupta & Adhiban make norms

Report on the Parsvnath International Open by R. R. Vasudevan

Top seed Grandmaster Alexei Dreev of Russia was stretched a little, but came up trumps in the fifth edition of Parsvnath International Open at IGI Stadium, New Delhi. His final round win over upcoming Indian teenager B Adhiban gave him the winner's purse of Rs. 200,000 (€3,500 or US $4,500). Dreev, rated 2658, defeated B. Adhiban to finish a clear winner with 8.5 out of a possible 10 points.


GM Alexey Dreev makes a ceremonial move against Parsvnath chairman Mr Pradeep Jain


Checking for electronic devices (with cap: IM D.P. Singh, who has recently come under suspicion of receiving external help during his games)


View of the tournament hall


The "Champions' Corner"


In the game Alexei Dreev vs Babu n Sudhakar


Tania Sachdev getting a cash award for winning the National Women championship from Mr. Pradeep Jain, sponsor and chairman of Parsvnath Developers ltd.


GM Abhijit Kunte (left) in heavy winter clothing

December and January are peak winter time in New Delhi. In fact a number of players, including GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, were off color in the first half of the event, as they adjusted to the "extreme cold climate": the day temperature ranged below 10° Celsius, while it dipped even further at night. Before you collapse in laughter you should remember: temperatures like these are so rare that there is no heating system installed in the playing hall.


Indian super-prodigy Prince Bajaj vs D.P. Singh


Clash of generations at the Parsvnath International Open

Half a point adrift of Dreev were seven players – Rohit, GMs Ahmed Adly of Egypt, Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, four-time national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, IMs Enamul Hossain and Abdulla Al-Rakib of Bangladesh, and Vikramaditya Kamble. All these players got a little over Rs. 50,000 for their efforts.

Ahmed Adly finished the second runner up and Rahman and Ganguly were fourth and fifth after the tiebreak was resolved under Bucholz system.

It was a rich haul for the Indian juniors, as four juniors made the grade with GM and IM Norms. Rohit continued his fine run from the National "A" onwards when he made it to the Indian team this year. Here, he completed his third and final International Norm along with his maiden Grandmaster Norm.

Even as he lost, Adhiban, held Dreev, who was playing with white, for over three hours to last 57 moves on the top board. Adhiban maintained equal positions till quite some time and then went attacking his weak queen side pawns but his inexperience showed as he delayed the exchange and had to resign despite a creditable show.

Rohit was equally superb in his final round as he drew with Adly, who played an irregular opening and exchanged queens with the Indian in the 36th move. The game developed into the queen-pawn ending and then Rohit claimed his opponent's King.


17-year-old G. Rohit

"I could have taken his pawn, in fact. I had also offered him the draw in 18th move," Rohit said after the match. In an interesting match of the day, Abhijeet Gupta, with black lost a winning game against Ziaur Rahman in 60 moves. Abhijeet unexpectedly blundered away a completely won position in the endgame, falling to a checkmate.

Ganguly, who defeated Shukhrat Safin with black pieces in 46 moves, said he was satisfied with his performance in the tournament. "I am satisfied because at the end I am winning some rating points. Also eight points is not very bad because initially I was really not doing well being indisposed," he said.


The winner, Alexey Dreev, receiving his trophy and the $4,500 first prize

The field included 345 players including 13 grandmasters. Under the able leadership of Mr Pradeep Jain of the Parsvnath Developers, this flagship annual event in India's capital city is improving by playing strength every year, as well setting high standards of organizing.

Final Standings

Rank SNo.   Name Rtg FED Pts
1 1 GM Dreev Alexey 2658 RUS 8½
2 33   Rohit G 2392 IND 8
3 8 GM Adly Ahmed 2507 EGY 8
4 4 GM Rahman Ziaur 2541 BAN 8
5 2 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2571 IND 8
6 10 IM Hossain Enamul 2506 BAN 8
7 9 IM Abdulla Al-Rakib 2506 BAN 8
8 47   Kamble Vikramaditya 2326 IND 8
9 27 IM Arun Prasad S 2399 IND 7½
10 38 IM Girinath P D S 2356 IND 7½
11 17 IM Sundararajan Kidambi 2462 IND 7½
12 64   Adhiban B 2275 IND 7½
13 62 IM Hegde Ravi Gopal 2275 IND 7½
14 5 GM Kunte Abhijit 2532 IND 7½
15 29   Saptarshi Roy 2396 IND 7½
16 13 IM Venkatesh M R 2486 IND 7½
17 23 IM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi 2425 IND 7½
18 16 IM Gupta Abhijeet 2464 IND 7
19 11 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2504 IND 7
20 18 GM Safin Shukhrat 2460 UZB 7
21 15 GM Barua Dibyendu 2467 IND 7
22 3 GM Drozdovskij Yuri 2562 UKR 7
23 14 GM Thipsay Praveen M 2485 IND 7
24 25 IM Sriram Jha 2419 IND 7
25 20 GM Murshed Niaz 2451 BAN 7
26 12 GM Neelotpal Das 2488 IND 7
27 37 IM Roktim Bandyopadhyay 2360 IND 7
28 30 IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 2395 IND 7
29 41 IM Gokhale Chandrashekhar 2343 IND 7
30 34   Das Arghyadip 2379 IND 7
31 49 IM Babu N Sudhakar 2313 IND 7
32 31   Rathnakaran K 2395 IND 7
33 108   Naveen S  Hegde 2146 IND 7
34 24   Gopal G N 2423 IND 7
35 56   Sharma R  Preetham 2286 IND 7
36 55 IM Balasubramaniun Ramnathan 2289 IND 7
37 48   Sangma Rahul 2320 IND 7
38 93 FM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2192 IND 7
39 75   Prasenjit Datta 2248 IND 7
40 54 IM Shetty Rahul 2295 IND 7
41 69   Chowdhury Sohel 2256 BAN 7
42 79   Arun Karthik R 2226 IND 7

Full results of all players are to be found here. IM D.P. Singh, who is currently rated 2523, finished on place 96. We have received a PGN file of the games, but they are in terrible condition and can only be touched by the truly dauntless chess fans.