Abhijeet Gupta entered the twenty first Delhi Worldwide Open as a three-time winner of India’s largest chess occasion, one with a ton of expertise and pedigree. On Friday, he bolstered his credentials, beating Belarus’s Mihail Nikitenko in an all-important top-of-the-standing conflict within the penultimate spherical at Tivoli Gardens in Chattarpur.
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Coming into the ninth spherical as joint leaders with seven factors every, Gupta reclaimed the outright lead by overcoming the Belarusian Grandmaster with white items. The victory offers the Indian veteran a half-point benefit heading into the ultimate spherical.
Gupta performed the queen’s pawn opening (d4), transitioning right into a central pawn push (e4) after Nikitenko’s g6. The sport developed alongside the Normal Line of Trendy Protection sport, with Gupta gaining a beneficial place by the twelfth transfer. His benefit grew considerably when Nikitenko opted for kingside castling.
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Nikitenko’s positional inaccuracies mixed with Gupta’s exact play proved decisive. Gupta registered six ‘Good’ strikes in keeping with Stockfish — an unusually excessive quantity that finally separated the gamers. Nikitenko, even after his second loss, finds himself tied for third place and has essentially the most wins (7) alongside Gupta.
The win not solely propelled the five-time Commonwealth Chess Champion to eight factors but in addition saved him forward of second-placed IM Aronyak Ghosh and GM Aditya Sachin Samant (each at 7.5/9).
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Ghosh has been spectacular all through the event as he chases his elusive third GM norm. The Kolkata IM defeated Maharashtra’s Viresh Sharnarthi — the highest-placed untitled participant — in 40 strikes with white items. He now faces event chief Abhijeet Gupta within the remaining spherical with black items, hoping to lastly safe his long-awaited third GM norm.
Spherical 9 proved something however clean for Samant. The Pune grandmaster confronted great strain with black items towards Aleksej Aleksandrov, with engine analysis firmly favouring the Belarusian. The Indian seemed to be in bother after misplacing his queen throughout an tried double assault on the white’s knight and rook.
Nonetheless, fortunes reversed rapidly when Aleksandrov dedicated the same queen misplacement — one which proved extra expensive. Samant capitalised effectively to say his sixth victory of the event.
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The win retains Samant within the hunt for a high place as he units up an important final-round conflict with high seed SL Narayanan. The Indian star finds himself in a 14-way tie for third place (7 factors) after being held to his fourth consecutive draw, this time by Armenia’s Mamikon Gharibyan with white items.
Grandmasters Diptayan Ghosh and Karthik Venkataraman, together with Sriram Adarsh Uppala, IM S Nitin and IM Neelash Saha, are among the many Indian gamers in rivalry for the win, tied for third place with seven factors every.
In Class C, a good battle has emerged with two rounds remaining. Tamil Nadu’s Sibi M, Uttar Pradesh’s Ansh Kabra and Rajasthan’s Yajat Vyas are locked in a three-way tie for the lead, every having gathered 7.5 factors from eight rounds.
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The final spherical will begin at 10:00 IST on Saturday for Class A. The Class C, the penultimate spherical begins at 9:00 and the final spherical begins at 13:00 hrs.
Standings after Spherical 9 – Class A
1. GM Abhijeet Gupta (India) – 8.0 pts
2. IM Aronyak Ghosh (India) – 7.5 pts
3. GM Aditya S Samant (India) – 7.5 pts
4. GM Mihail Nikitenko (Belarus) – 7.0 pts
5. GM Mamikon Gharibyan (Armenia) – 7.0 pts
6. GM SL Narayanan (India) – 7.0 pts
7. GM Diptayan Ghosh (India) – 7.0 pts
8. GM Vitaly Sivuk (Ukraine) – 7.0 pts
9. GM Luka Paichadze (Georgia) – 7.0 pts
10. GM Manuel Petrosyan (Armenia) – 7.0 pts
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