Top seed of the tournament GM Nodirbek Yakubboev leads the Bhopal International GM Open 2019 with a score of 7.0/8 at the conclusion of round 8. The capital of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal witnesses 250 players participation from 15 countries across the world in Central India's biggest tournament.

It was a peaceful day for top three boards in round 8 as all three of them ended up in draws. IM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam held the top seed GM Nodirbek Yakubboev to a draw after the game reached to a grid lock in 38 moves arising out of Bogo Indian Defence.

After recovering from yesterday's loss, GM Stanislav Bogdanovich of Ukraine, gave it all to score a full point, but unfortunately for him it was not him. His opponent IM Ortik Nigmatov of Uzbekistan managed to hold correctly in a Rook and minor piece endgame, the eventually liquidated into a drawn endgame where draw was made with a stalemate after 66 moves. 

On board no.3, IM Taher Yoseph Theolifus of Indonesia held Colombian GM Cristhian Rios to a draw. Rios pushed for advantage in Nimzo-Indian Defence but Taher kept exchanging pieces at regular intervals. A draw was agreed after 31 moves in a double rook and knight endgame.

Untitled Utkal Ranjan Sahoo held experienced Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaeve to a draw. Playing with white pieces, Utkal opted for the Rubinstein variation in the Nimzo-Indian Defence. In a relatively balanced game, the Indian gave no chance to Tukhaev and eventuallyboth players agreed to a draw after 30 moves. 

The first win to register among the top boards was by the highest rated Indian of the tournament, GM Venkatesh M R. He defeated compatriot Rachit Lund with the black pieces in the Classical variation of Sicilian Defence and scored a relatively easy victory. With this win, Venkatesh got back into the championship hunt. 

Russian GM Maxim Lugovskoy defeated V Varun of India | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Slovak GM Manik Mikulas defated Indrajeet Mahindrakar | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Raset Ziatdinov of USA lost to GM Attila Czebe of Hungary | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Bharat Kumar Reddy Potluri lost to reigning National Amateur champion Kartavya Anadkat | Photo: Niklesh Jain

P Srikrishnan of India lost to GM Azer Mirzoev of Azerbaijan | Photo: Niklesh Jain

After an impressive start, Shivansh Tiwari lost his third consecutive game, this time against compatriot R Rathneesh | Photo: Niklesh Jain

At the conclusion of round 8, top seed GM Nodirbek Yakubboev has taken sole lead with 7.0/8. Ten players are at shared second position and just a half point behind the leader and they are Venkatesh M R, Taher Yoseph Theolifus, Cristhian Camilo Rios, Stanislav Bogdanovich, Maxim Lugovskoy, Manik Mikulas, Ortik Nigmatov, Attila Czebe, Nguyen Van Huy and Kartavya Anadkat.

Standings after Round 8

Rk.SNo NameTypsexGrFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 
11GMYakubboev NodirbekUZB2592Uzbekistan7,00,040,044,538,756
25GMVenkatesh M.R.IND2491Tamil Nadu - India6,50,040,044,034,256
37IMTaher Yoseph TheolifusINA2469Indonesia6,50,040,043,033,256
44GMRios Cristhian CamiloCOL2505Colombia6,50,039,544,035,005
52GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR2562Ukraine6,50,039,542,532,256
68GMLugovskoy MaximRUS2466Russia6,50,038,542,534,506
714GMManik MikulasSVK2379Slovakia6,50,038,542,034,005
86IMNigmatov OrtikUZB2474Uzbekistan6,50,037,541,533,256
915GMCzebe AttilaHUN2374Hungary6,50,037,041,032,506
1010IMNguyen Van HuyVIE2457Vietnam6,50,037,040,530,506
1131Anadkat KartavyaU15IND2023Gujarat - India6,50,036,040,031,256
123GMTukhaev AdamUKR2552Ukraine6,00,039,043,032,004
139GMMirzoev AzerAZE2457Azerbaijan6,00,037,541,529,755
1432AGMRathneesh RU15IND2006Tamil Nadu - India6,00,037,041,028,006
1518Pranav VU13IND2264Tamil Nadu - India6,00,036,540,029,006
1617Sahoo Utkal RanjanIND2329Odisha - India6,00,036,540,027,255
1719Raahul V SIND2252Tamil Nadu - India6,00,034,538,528,255
1823IMDeshmukh AnupIND2168Maharashtra - India6,00,034,538,026,755
1943Sharan RaoIND1912Karnataka - India6,00,033,537,527,006
2028Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma UIND2072Andhra Pradesh - India6,00,033,036,527,005
2113IMEraschenkov DenisRUS2386Russia6,00,032,536,026,755
2254Shaik Sumer ArshU11IND1826Telangana - India6,00,032,535,524,506
2316Bharat Kumar Reddy PoluriIND2337Andhra Pradesh - India5,50,038,542,525,505
2421Varun VIND2250Andhra Pradesh - India5,50,038,041,525,255
2529Mahindrakar IndrajeetIND2042Maharashtra - India5,50,037,541,025,505
2622GMZiatdinov RasetS60USA2204United States of America5,50,037,541,025,005
2711IMKhusenkhojaev MuhammadTJK2427Tajikistan5,50,037,041,026,005
28127Aditya RawatU13IND1600Delhi - India5,50,036,039,525,254
2934Trivedi Karan RIND1949Gujarat - India5,50,036,039,524,255
30118Lund RachitU15IND1625Maharashtra - India5,50,035,538,022,255

 

Complete standings

 

GM Stanislav Bogdanovich won the Bhopal GM Open Blitz 2019 held on 25th December 2019 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

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