18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Muthaiah Al shines on day 2

Muthaiah Al scores two big upsets

Al Muthaiah had an absolutely phenomenal day at 18th Delhi International GM Open 2020. He defeated Delhi Open defending champion Georgian GM Levan Pantsulaia (2598) in round 2 and then India's 59th GM Visakh N R (2518) in the third round.

IM Al Muthaiah is one of the leaders at the conclusion of round 3 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Al Muthaiah played a nearly perfect game to beat Georgian GM Levan Pantsulaia in round 2.

Muthaiah - Pantsulaia, Round 2

White has a thematic continuation here. Find out what it is.

Muthaiah got a pleasant position out of the Symmetrical English, Pantsulaia's inaccuracies only helped him.

Find out the best continuation for white here

White already has a huge advantage in this position, but the critical question is how should white continue after 25...Bd8 ?

Perhaps white's only mistake in the game with 28.Qd2 allowed black to bounce back

The reason Muthaiah's game was near perfect instead of a perfect one is, he slipped slightly with 28.Qd2 which allowed Black momentarily to get back in the game. This was the only proper chance Black had to salvage his difficult position. He continued with 28...Nxd5 and could not get back into the game afterwards.

Top seed Amonatov was held to a draw by IM Abdisalimov Abdimalik | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Karthikeyan Murali was held to a long grueling draw by IM Denis Eraschenkov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Utkal Ranjan Sahoo held GM Aleksey Goganov to a draw with some solid play | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Pranesh M held GM Diptayan Ghosh to a draw in just 24 moves | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Aaryan Varshney held Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaev to a hard fought draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Sahaj Grover made a lucky escape | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Mohite - Grover, Round 2

Can you find what white missed here?

Ranveer Mohite will definitely regret missing a simple win against GM Sahaj Grover when he repeated moves with 33.Qa7 Qb6 34.Qf7 and then Sahaj realized how barely he managed to escape and played 34...Qb8 to save his game. Eventually the game ended up in a draw.

FM Suyog Wagh held IM Florian Kaczur to a draw | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Suyog had a couple of half chances he could have taken and even the final was worth continuing but he was content with a draw only.

Kaczur - Wagh, Round 2

Suyog continued here with 34...Bf6. What was the better alternative?

The game was drawn here but how black could have continued after 42.Rcf2 ?

Niranjan Navalgund defeated IM Vignesh N R in round 2 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Niranjan Navalgund won the equal Bishop ending against IM Vignesh N R after the latter blundered a crucial pawn which decided the fate of the game.

Round 3

GM Karthik Venkataraman beat reigning Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta | Photo: Niklesh Jain

In Sicilian Richter-Rauzer, Karthik got a pleasant position out of the opening and he kept dominating throughout the game.

Karthik - Abhijeet, Round 3

How can white exploit black king's position?

White has a huge pawn mass on queenside. How to maximize it?

Bangladesh's GM Ziaur Rahman defeated Ukrainian GM Stanislav Bogdanovich in just 30 moves | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Stanislav - Ziaur, Round 3

Bogdanovich made a mistake with 10.d4. Find out why it is a mistake

GM Stanislav Bogdanovich made a mistake early in the opening with 10.d4. He missed an intermediate move.

Now is the time to prove that 10.d4 was a mistake

IM C R G Krishna beat GM Alberto David in a clinical fashion | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Despite being minus for the majority of the game IM Sayantan Das held GM Alexei Fedorov to a draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Egyptian GM Hesham Abdelrahman defeated GM Lalith Babu in just 31 moves | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Himal Gusain defeated IM Aryan Gholami using sharp tactics | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Fresh after winning 4th Dalmia Cements All India Open 2019, Himal Gusain is in terrific form and defeated Aryan using sharp tactics.

IM Al Muthaiah beat his second GM of the day Visakh N R | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Muthaiah - Visakh, Round 3

Visakh made an incorrect pawn sacrifice with 27...b4

FM Niranjan Navalgund scored a fine win over GM Sergei Yudin | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Niranjan Navalgund showed his brilliant attacking skill against Sergei Yudin in Giuco Piano with the black pieces.

Replay all games

Round 2 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2631	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2381	48
2	47	GM	Czebe Attila	2392	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2622	2
3	3	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Eraschenkov Denis	2370	50
4	49	GM	Manik Mikulas	2378	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo	2606	4
5	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2603	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Neelash Saha	2356	54
6	51	IM	Muthaiah Al	2367	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2598	6
7	53	FM	Audi Ameya	2359	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2592	8
8	9	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2583	1	½ - ½	1		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2348	56
9	55		Kaustuv Kundu	2349	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2578	10
10	11	GM	Rozum Ivan	2573	1	1 - 0	1		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2306	60
11	57	IM	Rathnakaran K.	2329	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav	2562	12
12	13	GM	David Alberto	2562	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Mohammad Fahad Rahman	2300	62
13	58	IM	Lammers Markus	2325	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2562	14
14	15	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Sangma Rahul	2291	64
15	59	FM	Pranesh M	2317	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Ghosh Diptayan	2550	16
16	17	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2548	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2287	66
17	61	FM	Srihari L R	2302	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Gholami Aryan	2541	18
18	19	GM	Debashis Das	2523	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2280	68
19	67		Mohite Ranveer	2281	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Grover Sahaj	2521	20
20	21	GM	Visakh N R	2518	1	1 - 0	1		Pranav V	2265	70
21	71		Lokesh N.	2264	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Yudin Sergei	2508	22
22	23	GM	Stupak Kirill	2506	1	1 - 0	1	WIM	Luong Phuong Hanh	2256	72
23	25	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2498	1	1 - 0	1		Raahul V S	2233	76
24	27	IM	Kaczur Florian	2485	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Wagh Suyog	2219	80
25	73		Varun V	2256	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2479	28

Complete results

Round 3 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2622	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Stupak Kirill	2506	23
2	4	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo	2606	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2498	25
3	28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2479	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2603	5
4	8	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2592	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2474	29
5	10	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2578	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	2462	33
6	35	GM	Saptarshi Roy	2460	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Rozum Ivan	2573	11
7	12	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav	2562	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2434	39
8	38	IM	Krishna C R G	2436	2	1 - 0	2	GM	David Alberto	2562	13
9	14	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2562	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Das Sayantan	2424	41
10	40	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman	2429	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	15
11	18	IM	Gholami Aryan	2541	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Gusain Himal	2401	45
12	42	GM	Dzhumaev Marat	2422	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Debashis Das	2523	19
13	51	IM	Muthaiah Al	2367	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Visakh N R	2518	21
14	22	GM	Yudin Sergei	2508	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Navalgund Niranjan	2246	75
15	50	IM	Eraschenkov Denis	2370	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2631	1
16	48	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2381	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	3
17	56		Sahoo Utkal Ranjan	2348	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2597	7
18	66	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2287	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2583	9
19	16	GM	Ghosh Diptayan	2550	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Rohith Krishna S	2289	65
20	78	FM	Vatsal Singhania	2230	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2548	17
21	20	GM	Grover Sahaj	2521	1½	½ - ½	1½	FM	Pranesh M	2317	59
22	26	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2487	1½	½ - ½	1½		Mohite Ranveer	2281	67
23	84		Aradhya Garg	2197	1½	0 - 1	1½	IM	Kaczur Florian	2485	27
24	132		Dahale Atul	2025	1½	0 - 1	1½	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2467	31
25	32	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	2463	1½	1 - 0	1½	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2225	79

Complete results

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	45	IM	Gusain Himal	2401	3		3	GM	Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo	2606	4
2	75	FM	Navalgund Niranjan	2246	3		3	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2592	8
3	255		Ishvi Aggarwal	1693	3		3	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2479	28
4	315		Rudrashish Chakraborty	1512	3		3	IM	Krishna C R G	2436	38
5	39	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2434	3		3	GM	Hesham Abdelrahman	2429	40
6	1	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2631	2½		3	IM	Muthaiah Al	2367	51
7	33	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	2462	2½		2½	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2622	2
8	3	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	2½		2½	GM	Saptarshi Roy	2460	35
9	7	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2597	2½		2½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2458	36
10	37	GM	Lugovskoy Maxim	2453	2½		2½	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2578	10
11	11	GM	Rozum Ivan	2573	2½		2½	GM	Dzhumaev Marat	2422	42
12	201	CM	Silva Kevin Ranidu	1854	2½		2½	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2562	14
13	41	IM	Das Sayantan	2424	2½		2½	GM	Ghosh Diptayan	2550	16
14	19	GM	Debashis Das	2523	2½		2½		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2398	46
15	23	GM	Stupak Kirill	2506	2½		2½		Choudhary Jitendra Kumar	1905	179
16	27	IM	Kaczur Florian	2485	2½		2½		Shaik Sumer Arsh	1861	198
17	31	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2467	2½		2½		Krishna Bajaj	1623	278
18	205		Sanchit Anand	1836	2½		2½	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	2463	32
19	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2603	2		2		Jay Kundaliya	2066	118
20	119		Mahindrakar Indrajeet	2066	2		2	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2598	6
21	9	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2583	2		2		Satkar Chirag	2066	120
22	123		Mota Pankit	2060	2		2	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav	2562	12
23	13	GM	David Alberto	2562	2		2		Panta Sumit	2000	142
24	15	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	2		2		Aditya Bikram Paul	1950	162
25	17	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2548	2		2		Aaditya Dhingra	1897	186

Complete pairings

18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Muthaiah Al shines on day 2

Muthaiah Al scores two big upsets

Muthaiah - Pantsulaia, Round 2

Mohite - Grover, Round 2

Kaczur - Wagh, Round 2

Round 3

Karthik - Abhijeet, Round 3

Stanislav - Ziaur, Round 3

Muthaiah - Visakh, Round 3

Replay all games

Round 2 results

Round 3 results

Round 4 pairings

Related stories

FIDE Rating list September 2026: Praggnanandhaa back in the top 10

Praggnanandhaa Creates History After Winning The Grand Chess Tour 2026

From Engineering to International Master: The Incredible Journey of Nithin Babu

Praggnanandhaa reaches Grand Chess Tour Finals, takes on Fabiano Caruana for the title

15-Year-Old Jval Saurin Patel Becomes Gujarat's Youngest International Master

18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Muthaiah Al shines on day 2

Muthaiah Al scores two big upsets

Muthaiah - Pantsulaia, Round 2

Mohite - Grover, Round 2

Kaczur - Wagh, Round 2

Round 3

Karthik - Abhijeet, Round 3

Stanislav - Ziaur, Round 3

Muthaiah - Visakh, Round 3

Replay all games

Round 2 results

Round 3 results

Round 4 pairings

Related stories

Novendra Priasmoro wins 14th Penang Heritage City Open 2022, Muthaiah third

Muthaiah Al triumphs at Tirumala Tirupati Rapid Rating Open 2022

Harikrishnan A Ra and Muthaiah Al win National Club Chess Championships 2021 in Maldives

Mr.Commonwealth Abhijeet Gupta wins 18th Delhi GM Open 2020

Can Abhijeet Gupta win 18th Delhi GM Open 2020?

Diptayan, Abhijeet and Pranesh in the title fray of 18th Delhi GM Open 2020

18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Aleksandrov maintains sole lead, Himal in the fray

Aleksandrov takes sole lead, Pranesh brilliant in 18th Delhi GM Open 2020 Day 4