Sandipan Chanda defeated K Visweswaran

Calcutta: There were upsets galore on the opening day of The International Open, Calcutta, at the Alekhine Chess Club, Gorky Sadan here on Monday.

Five of the 15 Grandmasters suffered reverses as they were held by their less illustrious opponents.

Top seed Alekxej Alexandrov?s efforts to force a win in a rook pawn ending against GM norm-aspirant IM D.V. Prasad came to nought as he had to settle for a draw after 71 moves. Prasad already has two GM norms to his credit and is looking for his third and final one here.

Second seed Ni Hua of China was held by IM Rahul Shetty, despite having a better position for most part of the game. Rahul drew by perpetual check.

City-based GM Dibyendu Barua was also held to a draw by lowly-ranked Abhishek Das of Jharkhand. Barua obtained a space advantage in the Pelican variation of the Sicilian defence but failed to convert it into a win and had to settle for a draw after 47 moves. The lone WGM in the fray, Nisha Mohota of Calcutta, forced a draw despite being a queen down for two bishops in the ending against Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh.

Asia?s youngest GM Timur Gareev too was surprisingly held by Devraz Chatterjee of Bangladesh. They drew after 48 moves in an Old Indian defence.

National Champion Surya Sekhar Ganguly converted his minuscule advantage in the rook and pawn ending in copy-book fashion against Somak Palit of GNCA, while Sandipan Chanda scored a comfortable victory with the black pieces against K. Visweswaran in a Sicilian Defence as he trapped his opponent?s queen.

Goodricke National Chess Academy students excelled as Rahul Sangma outwitted IM Abdulla Al Rakib of Bangladesh, while 12 year old Sandipan Chatterjee drew against IM R.R. Lazman with black.

Another GNCA player, Satyajit Kundu, who turned 11 today, held IM Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh in 51 moves.

Bengal player Soumya Thakurta drew with IM Reefat Bin Sattar of Bangladesh to a creditable draw in 35 moves in a French Defence.

The meet was inaugurated by Calcutta mayor Subrata Mukherjee. A total of 48 players including 15 GMs and one WGM are participating in event which will continue till November17.

RESULTS

Round I: Aleksandrov Aleksej (0.5) drew Devaki Prasad (0.5); Rahul Shetty (0.5) drew Ni Hua (0.5); Thien Hai Dao (1) bt Neeraj K Mishra (0); R. Balasubramaniun (0) lost to Anh Dung Nguyen (1); S. S. Ganguly (1) bt Somak Palit (0); Arindam Mukherjee (0) lost to Abhijit Kunte (1); Oleg M. Romanishin (1) bt Sakil Abu Sufian (0); K. Visweswaran (0) lost to Sandipan Chanda (1); Ziaur Rahman drew (0.5) Nisha Mohota (0.5); K. Ramu (0) lost to Alexander Fominyh (1); Dibyendu Barua drew (0) Abhishek Das (0); Devraz Chatterjee ( 0.5 ) drew Timur Gareev (0.5); Tejas Bakre (1) bt Vinoth Kumar (0); Rahul Sangma (1) bt Al-Rakib Abdulla (0); Niaz Murshed (1) bt Saheli Nath (0); Soumya Thakurta (0.5) drew Bin-Sattar Reefat (0.5); Neelotpal Das (1) bt Souvik Chakraborty (0); Bitan Banerjee (0) lost to Saptarshi Roy (1); R. R. Laxman (0) lost to Sandipan Chatterjee (1); Satyajit Kundu (0.5) drew Enamul Hossain (0.5); Dinesh K. Sharma (1) bt Abhratanu Dutta (0).