Indian players make a smooth start
FM Alexis Tahay (FRA) held GM Alexander Donchenko and FM Sedrani Ammar (UAE) held GM Viktor Erdos (HUN) to a draw each respectively. Simon Schweizer (JPN) defeated GM Gergely Kantor (HUN). These were the big upsets among top 25 boards in Round 1.
Jeevitesh - Sethuraman: 0-1
IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh had a good opportunity to squeeze a draw in the rook and many pawns endgame against GM Sethuraman.
There were two ways for White to go for a draw here. 48.e4 was an interesting choice. The other one was 48.gxf4. The text 48.Kd3 created a window of opportunity for Black to push for a win.
This is slightly a tougher defense for White, but it can still be saved. Find out how.
Loeffler - Ganguly: 0-1
GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly scored a fine victory over IM Markus Löffler (GER).
White could have played 28.Qxe5 and provided a strong defense but in a practical game, it is not an easy decision to allow 28...Nh4+ 29.Rxh4 Qxf2+ 30.Kh1 Rxg3 and expect that this will work out for White. The game continued 28.dxe5 Qe7 29.Rah1 Nxg3 soon things fell apart for White.
Jovana - Karthikeyan: 0-1
GM Karthikeyan Murali made his intentions very clear, early in the game against WGM Jovana Eric (SRB).
When your opponent plays 7...g5, you can be rest assured that he wants to attack on your kingside and test your defensive skills which is exactly what Karthikeyan did and walked away with a victory.
Replay Round 1 games
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Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 1 | GM | Saleh Salem A.R. | 2682 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | IM | Omar Noaman | 2367 | 37 |
| 2 | 38 | FM | Papadiamandis Elliot | 2363 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2671 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2652 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | FM | Tahay Alexis | 2349 | 39 |
| 4 | 40 | IM | J Sai Agni Jeevitesh | 2322 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 4 |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Chithambaram Aravindh | 2641 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WGM | Dordzhieva Dinara | 2311 | 41 |
| 6 | 42 | FM | Fecker Noah | 2309 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Banusz Tamas | 2631 | 6 |
| 7 | 7 | GM | Chigaev Maksim | 2630 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Stelmaszyk Nico | 2296 | 43 |
| 8 | 44 | IM | Löffler Markus | 2295 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2625 | 8 |
| 9 | 9 | GM | Narayanan S.L. | 2624 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Kamber Bruno | 2275 | 45 |
| 10 | 46 | FM | Ammar Sedrani | 2274 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | GM | Erdos Viktor | 2614 | 10 |
| 11 | 11 | GM | R Praggnanandhaa | 2608 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Wacker Peter | 2263 | 47 |
| 12 | 48 | WGM | Eric Jovana | 2250 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Murali Karthikeyan | 2606 | 12 |
| 13 | 13 | GM | Fedorchuk Sergey | 2598 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | WIM | Blagojevic Tijana | 2222 | 49 |
| 14 | 50 | Pahud Cédric | 2200 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2589 | 14 | |
| 15 | 15 | GM | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2578 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | IM | Al Hosani Omran | 2197 | 51 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 19 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2567 | 1 | 1 | GM | Saleh Salem A.R. | 2682 | 1 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2671 | 1 | 1 | GM | Korpa Bence | 2536 | 21 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 1 | 1 | GM | Valsecchi Alessio | 2527 | 23 | |
| 4 | 20 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2555 | 1 | 1 | GM | Chithambaram Aravindh | 2641 | 5 | |
| 5 | 6 | GM | Banusz Tamas | 2631 | 1 | 1 | GM | NR Visakh | 2516 | 25 | |
| 6 | 24 | GM | Tang Andrew | 2525 | 1 | 1 | GM | Chigaev Maksim | 2630 | 7 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2625 | 1 | 1 | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2509 | 27 | |
| 8 | 26 | GM | Shchekachev Andrei | 2515 | 1 | 1 | GM | Narayanan S.L. | 2624 | 9 | |
| 9 | 28 | IM | Kalyan Arjun | 2503 | 1 | 1 | GM | R Praggnanandhaa | 2608 | 11 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | Murali Karthikeyan | 2606 | 1 | 1 | IM | Raja Harshit | 2484 | 29 | |
| 11 | 30 | IM | NR Vignesh | 2428 | 1 | 1 | GM | Fedorchuk Sergey | 2598 | 13 | |
| 12 | 14 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2589 | 1 | 1 | IM | Gschnitzer Adrian | 2420 | 31 | |
| 13 | 33 | WGM | Vaishali R | 2393 | 1 | 1 | GM | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2578 | 15 | |
| 14 | 16 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2578 | 1 | 1 | IM | Haimovich Tal | 2388 | 35 | |
| 15 | 58 | Schweizer Simon | 2142 | 1 | 1 | GM | Wagner Dennis | 2572 | 17 |
