7th Parsvnath International Rating Chess Tournament
The event, organised by the Capablanca Chess Club, is took place from January
11th to 19th in the Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. The event was
a ten-round Swiss, and the winner was Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who beat
Russian GM Mikhail Ulibin on tie-break points. Ganguly received Rs.200,000 (US
$4,500) Indian Rupees of the total prize fund of Rs.11,50,000.

The winner of the 7th Parsvnath Open: Surya Shekhar Ganguly
In the final round National Champion Ganugly settled for a quick draw against
P Karthikeyan, while Ulibin got better of M S Thejkumar. The two ways tie was
resolved by Bucholz points, and Ganguly edged out Ulibin with just half point.
Grandmaster Petr Kostenko drew his final game against Indian Grandmaster Neeltopal
Das and finished a creditable third with 8 points.
P Karthikeyan and S P Sethuraman achieved grandmaster norm during this tournament
and finished fourth and fifth respectively. International Master Prathamesh
Mokal also achieved Grandmaster norm while Shahikant Kutwal, Prantik Roy and
Arindam Mukherjee secured their International Master norms.
Shalmali Gagare bagged the best women prize while Altykenov Yerlan of Kazakhstan
finished first among the unrated players. Joshi G B and Arunima Kalra become
the best Delhi Player and Best Delhi Girl respectively.
In the closing ceremony, Air Marshal JN Burma AVSM VSM, Air Officer-in-Charge
Administration, Indian Air Force gave away the prizes in presence of Shri. Harish
Rawat, Member of Parliament and D V Sundar, Secretary All India Chess Federation.
Final standings after ten rounds (first 23 of 425 players)
Rnk
| Name
| Ti
| Fed
| Rtg
| Pts
| Bh. |
1 |
Ganguly Surya Shekhar |
GM |
IND |
2614 |
8½ |
69 |
2 |
Ulibin Mikhail |
GM |
RUS |
2511 |
8½ |
68½ |
3 |
Kostenko Petr |
GM |
KAZ |
2501 |
8 |
70½ |
4 |
Karthikeyan P |
IM |
IND |
2450 |
8 |
70½ |
5 |
Sethuraman S P |
IM |
IND |
2415 |
8 |
69½ |
6 |
Kuzubov Yuriy |
GM |
UKR |
2626 |
8 |
66 |
7 |
Neelotpal Das |
GM |
IND |
2490 |
8 |
64 |
8 |
Laxman R R |
IM |
IND |
2478 |
8 |
63½ |
9 |
Ismagambetov Anuar |
GM |
KAZ |
2523 |
8 |
62½ |
10 |
Kunte Abhijit |
GM |
IND |
2527 |
7½ |
67 |
11 |
Prathamesh Sunil Mokal |
IM |
IND |
2389 |
7½ |
67 |
12 |
Sriram Jha |
IM |
IND |
2442 |
7½ |
66½ |
13 |
Praveen Kumar C |
|
IND |
2360 |
7½ |
66 |
14 |
Negi Parimarjan |
GM |
IND |
2600 |
7½ |
65½ |
15 |
Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi |
IM |
IND |
2444 |
7½ |
65 |
16 |
Thejkumar M S |
|
IND |
2424 |
7½ |
63½ |
17 |
Thipsay Praveen M |
GM |
IND |
2453 |
7½ |
63 |
18 |
Gleizerov Evgeny |
GM |
RUS |
2544 |
7½ |
63 |
19 |
Solodovnichenko Yuri |
GM |
UKR |
2571 |
7½ |
62½ |
20 |
Arindam Mukherjee |
|
IND |
2259 |
7½ |
62 |
21 |
Areshchenko Alexander |
GM |
UKR |
2673 |
7½ |
59½ |
22 |
Premnath R |
|
IND |
2303 |
7½ |
59 |
23 |
Ibrayev Nurlan |
GM |
KAZ |
2407 |
7½ |
57 |

The playing venue in New Delhi, India

The playing hall

The school grounds, where the students are doing what Indians do best (apart
from chess)

Cricket! How
long do you think an international cricket game lasts?
Parimarjan Negi vs Petr Kostenko in round seven (Kostenko won in 53 moves)

One of India's great talents: GM Parimarjan Negi, 2600, who scored a below-par
7.5/10

13th: untitled Praveen Kumar, IND, rated 2360, who scored 7½/10 like Negi

27th: IM Boris N Katalymov from Kazakhstan, 2367

Fourth place for IM P. Karthikeyan of India, rated 2450

11th: IM Sunil Mokal Prathamesh, IND, 2389, 7½/10

A young Indian participant protected against the cold Delhi winter

A European participant similarly armed
Anand's visit inspired Ganguly to beat Kostenko
One of the truly honored guests at the Parsvnath Tournament was World Champion
Vishy Anand, who received a tumultuous welcome.

Anand arrives at the tournament in Delhi

Everyone wants a signature from the champ
The daily Parsvnath press release stated: "The visit of world champion
Vishy Anand to tournament hall boosted his second in the World Championship
2008, national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, to beat overnight sole leader
Kazakh grandmaster Petr Kostenko in the eighth round of 7th Parsvnath International
Open Chess Tournament here at Modern School on Saturday. Ganguly displayed sheer
class to beat Kostenko from the white side of Sicilian Defence after 70 moves.
During the course of the round World Champion Viswanathan Anand along with his
better half Aruna visited the tournament hall and it was a pleasant experience
for the players and spectators."

Was Ganguly receiving secret inspiration from Anand – in violation
of the FIDE doping rules?

Looking good: Aruna in a sari with her husband Vishy Anand
Links
- Official Delhi Chess Association
web site
- All games in zipped PGN
The games, which were published round by round by the official site, were
compiled at great risk to his health by Mark Crowther of TWIC.
Mark writes: "I would plea with the bulletin editors to put together
the material they have created in one database, look at it, and ask themselves
whether the mess they created was really intended. What they did was reasonably
well documented but the incompatibility of the live material from Monroi and
that which the bulletin editors created produces a horror show."