
Chess News
If the Delhi International 2018 was a 10-kilometre run, then Arkadij Naiditsch zoomed past everyone is the first 8 kilometres and then walked his way to the finish line in the last two. He seemed simply in control of everything during the tournament and scored a clinical 8½ / 10 (with draws against Ratnakaran, Akash PC Iyer and Alberto David).
The final round clash between Naiditsch and Alberto David ended in a quick draw. Naiditsch was happy with a draw, because even if Ziaur Rahman won, Naiditsch knew he would win the event due to direct encounter being the first tiebreak, and Arkadij had beaten Rahman in round seven.
Ziaur Rahman was one of the stars of the tournament, hugely out performing his initial seeding as number 23, and turning in a 2701 performance rating. The Bangladeshi number one revealed that he "was very scared" playing against Naiditsch, but he immediately bounced back with wins over GMs Ivan Rozum and Sergei Tiviakov.
GM Ziaur Rahman on how he beat two strong 2580+ GMs | ChessBase India on YouTube
Arkadij Naiditsch vs. Alberto David | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Naiditsch turned in five straight wins before coasting to the finish with two draws:
Rd. | Bo. | SNo | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts. | Res. | |
1 | 1 | 133 | WFM | Varshini V | 2062 | IND | 6,0 | s 1 |
2 | 1 | 68 | IM | Kandil Adham | 2294 | EGY | 6,0 | w 1 |
3 | 1 | 45 | IM | Rathnakaran K. | 2372 | IND | 6,5 | s ½ |
4 | 6 | 49 | Sammed Jaykumar Shete | 2337 | IND | 6,5 | w 1 | |
5 | 2 | 22 | GM | Deepan Chakkravarthy J. | 2475 | IND | 7,5 | s 1 |
6 | 2 | 16 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2542 | IND | 7,5 | w 1 |
7 | 1 | 23 | GM | Rahman Ziaur | 2472 | BAN | 8,0 | s 1 |
8 | 1 | 8 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2580 | IND | 7,5 | w 1 |
9 | 1 | 35 | Akash Pc Iyer | 2415 | IND | 7,0 | s ½ | |
10 | 1 | 12 | GM | David Alberto | 2553 | ITA | 7,5 | w ½ |
In this interview with Niklesh Jain, Naiditsch talks about his tournament, how strong Indians are at chess and how to beat Magnus Carlsen:
Naiditsch: "It's easier to beat Magnus Carlsen than Karjakin or Giri" | ChessBase India on YouTube
Karthikeyan Murali and Ziaur Rahman fought very hard, but the game ended in a draw:
The find of the tournament was Nubairshah Shaikh who scored 8.0/10, earned his maiden GM norm and also finished third. Nubair's tournament was already very successful after he had achieved his GM norm in nine rounds. Hence, he offered his opponent Vignesh a draw after just three moves. But Vignesh was in a fighting mood and went for a full-blooded fight. Nubair played a model game in the Caro-Kann and won in style.
Nubair Shah Shaikh shows his win against Vignesh along side IM Sagar Shah | ChessBase India on YouTube
IM Tania Sachdev was a special guest at the event. ChessBase India caught up with Tania to speak about the Delhi International 2018, her role at the Gibraltar Chess Festival and how chess can make it to the Olympics.
Tania Sachdev, in Hindi and English | ChessBase India on YouTube
Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
1 |
|
GM | Naiditsch Arkadij | 2701 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
2 |
|
GM | Rahman Ziaur | 2472 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
3 |
|
IM | Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh | 2380 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
4 |
|
GM | Horvath Adam | 2484 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
5 |
|
GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2580 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
6 |
|
GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2542 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
7 |
|
GM | Tiviakov Sergei | 2584 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
8 |
|
GM | David Alberto | 2553 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
9 |
|
GM | Deepan Chakkravarthy J. | 2475 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
10 |
|
GM | Tukhaev Adam | 2570 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
11 |
|
GM | Deviatkin Andrei | 2471 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
12 |
|
IM | Khusenkhojaev Muhammad | 2462 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
13 |
|
IM | Harsha Bharathakoti | 2451 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
14 |
|
GM | Czebe Attila | 2458 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
15 |
|
GM | Amonatov Farrukh | 2636 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
16 |
|
Akash Pc Iyer | 2415 | 7,0 | 0,0 | |
17 |
|
GM | Pruijssers Roeland | 2536 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
18 |
|
GM | Rozum Ivan | 2595 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
19 |
|
GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2610 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
20 |
|
IM | Vignesh N R | 2470 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
21 |
|
FM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2386 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
22 |
|
Sankalp Gupta | 2303 | 7,0 | 0,0 | |
23 |
|
IM | Sardana Rishi | 2402 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
24 |
|
IM | Shyaamnikhil P | 2397 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
25 |
|
GM | Nguyen Duc Hoa | 2490 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
26 |
|
Sammed Jaykumar Shete | 2337 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
...262 players in the A-Open