Delhi 07: Popov polishes the field

by Priyadarshan - 14/01/2016

Russian GM Ivan Popov (2650) is playing with a fabianosque touch as he registered his seventh straight victory at the 14th Delhi Open 2016. Indians had a truly solid day at the office as almost all of them at the top held their higher rated opponents to draws. We bring you an illustrated report.

Delhi 07: Popov polishes the field

Russian GM Ivan Popov (2650) is playing with a fabianosque touch as he registered his seventh straight victory at the 14th Delhi Open 2016. This time, it was the turn of Ukraine's GM Vitaly Sivuk to be sent to the cleaners.

With three rounds remaining, Popov is standing virtually on the doorstep to a clean and effortless victory.

And the icing on the cake? Queen sacrifice!

[Event "14th Delhi International Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.01.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Popov, Ivan"]
[Black "Sivuk, Vitaly"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb4+ 6. c3 Be7 7. Bf4 d6 8.
Be2 Bg5 9. Bg3 Bh4 10. N1d2 Bxg3 11. hxg3 Nf6 12. f4 Qe7 13. Bf3 g5 14. Qc2 Ng4
15. Qd3 gxf4 16. gxf4 Bd7 17. Nd4 h5 18. Nxc6 bxc6 19. O-O-O Rh6 20. Qe2 Kf8
21. g3 d5 22. e5 f6 23. Bxg4 $1 Bxg4 24. Qxg4 hxg4 25. Rxh6 fxe5 26. Rh8+ Kg7
27. Rxa8 exf4 28. gxf4 g3 29. Rg1 Qe3 30. Rg2 c5 31. Rc8 Qxf4 32. Re8 1-0

Sayantan Das built a fort-like position with white...

...and Grachev was satisfied with a draw.

[Event "14th Delhi International Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.01.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Das, Sayantan"]
[Black "Grachev, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
O-O Nf6 9. Re1 Be7 10. e5 Nd7 11. Qg4 Kf8 12. b3 Bb7 13. Na4 c5 14. c4 d4 15.
Qh5 Kg8 16. Bd2 g6 17. Qh6 Bf8 18. Qh3 h5 19. f4 a5 20. Rf1 Ra6 21. Qg3 h4 22.
Qg4 h3 23. g3 Bg7 24. Qe2 Qa8 25. Rae1 Bf8 26. Nb2 Be7 27. Rf2 Kf8 28. Qg4
1/2-1/2

GM Yuri Solodovnichenko (2581) also split the point relatively quickly with...

IM Ravi Teja (2385)

Indian GM Sriram Jha (2416) won a pawn early in the game, but then just couldn't convert it and settled for a a draw.

Pradeep Kumar (2302) is having a very good tournament. This game he drew despite arriving about twenty minutes late!

GM Anton Demchenko (2596) could not make progress against IM Himanshu Sharma (2385)

The top seed among the Indians, GM Lalith Babu (2553), beat FM Praneeth Surya (2429) and is on 5.5/7.

With around 1500 players playing in the same playing venue, the top players' games had spectators in huge numbers.

Pairings for Round 08:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Grachev Boris	2652	5½		7	GM	Popov Ivan	2650	2
2	5	GM	Solodovnichenko Yuri	2581	5½		5½	IM	Vignesh N R	2448	24
3	6	GM	Sivuk Vitaly	2566	5½		5½	GM	Sriram Jha	2416	27
4	10	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2553	5½		5½	IM	Das Sayantan	2411	29
5	47		Pradeep Kumar R A	2302	5½		5½	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	2494	18
6	21	GM	Czebe Attila	2466	5½		5½	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2385	35
7	4	GM	Demchenko Anton	2596	5		5	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2457	23
8	30	IM	Akash G	2408	5		5	GM	Belous Vladimir	2557	8
9	11	GM	Vaibhav Suri	2552	5		5	IM	Himanshu Sharma	2385	34
10	32	IM	Visakh N R	2388	5		5	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2546	12

View the complete pairing list here.

Complete results of Round 07.

Download important Round 01-06 games in PGN.

Watch the games live on Playchess!

Category-C Open:

The Category-C Open for players rated below 1599 has attracted a total of 1053 players. ChessBase India will bring you detailed coverage of this section in the next report.

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