A smooth start for the top seeds
Apart from Nigel Short, tenth seeded GM Iniyan P was also held to a draw by FM Frank Emanuel (AUT).
Short - Ojas: 0.5-0.5
English legend Nigel Short opted for English opening against Ojas Kulkarni. The Indian made sure that he did not make a major error throughout the game.
Black is forced to give up the bishop because this is the final chance to stop the pawn. 48...Bxh5 49. Nxh5 Ke5 50.Nf6 Ke6 and White cannot win the game, despite having the knight as the white king is slightly misplaced to grab the full point.
Nigel Short tweeted on his first round game
twitter.com/i/status/1477721795826528257
For more photos, click here.
The tournament is taking place at Hotel Kursaal, Cattolica in Italy from 2nd to 9th January 2021. Time control is 90 mins + 30 seconds increment and 15 minutes each will be added after 40th move in Group A which is for above 1800 FIDE rating.
Replay Round 1 games
Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2699 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | Huber Benedikt | 2254 | 63 | |||
| 2 | 64 | FM | Pulkkinen Kari | 2251 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Niemann Hans Moke | 2645 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | 2643 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Sreyas Payyappat | 2250 | 65 | ||
| 4 | 66 | Kugler Florian | 2222 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Kozul Zdenko | 2639 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Short Nigel D | 2633 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | Ojas Kulkarni | 2219 | 67 | |||
| 6 | 68 | FM | Ciolek Andreas | 2217 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | 2632 | 6 | ||
| 7 | 7 | GM | Thybo Jesper Sondergaard | 2592 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Krasteva Beloslava | 2206 | 69 | ||
| 8 | 70 | Aarav Dengla | 2196 | 0 | 0 - 1 | 0 | GM | Bernadskiy Vitaliy | 2589 | 8 | |||
| 9 | 9 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2548 | 0 | 1 - 0 | 0 | FM | Paakkonen Timo | 2193 | 71 | ||
| 10 | 72 | FM | Frank Emanuel | 2180 | 0 | ½ - ½ | 0 | GM | Iniyan P | 2540 | 10 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 31 | FM | Martinovici Ilia | 2398 | 1 | 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2699 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 2 | GM | Niemann Hans Moke | 2645 | 1 | 1 | FM | Formento Paolo | 2382 | 33 | |||
| 3 | 32 | IM | Barp Alberto | 2388 | 1 | 1 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | 2643 | 3 | |||
| 4 | 4 | GM | Kozul Zdenko | 2639 | 1 | 1 | FM | Ghazarian Kirk | 2379 | 35 | |||
| 5 | 6 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | 2632 | 1 | 1 | IM | Moksh Amit Doshi | 2368 | 37 | |||
| 6 | 34 | IM | Sorensen Hampus | 2379 | 1 | 1 | GM | Thybo Jesper Sondergaard | 2592 | 7 | |||
| 7 | 8 | GM | Bernadskiy Vitaliy | 2589 | 1 | 1 | FM | Klabis Rokas | 2356 | 41 | |||
| 8 | 43 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | 2354 | 1 | 1 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2548 | 9 | |||
| 9 | 11 | GM | Arjun Kalyan | 2532 | 1 | 1 | FM | Siddharth Jagadeesh | 2344 | 47 | |||
| 10 | 44 | IM | Salimova Nurgyul | 2353 | 1 | 1 | GM | Zelcic Robert | 2531 | 12 |
Prizes
Total Prize fund - €10000.
