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.