Vergani Cup 2022 R1: Ojas Kulkarni makes a peaceful start against Nigel Short

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/01/2022

Untitled Ojas Kulkarni had a great start at Vergani Cup January 2022. He drew with the former World Championship Challenger and English legend, GM Nigel Short in the first round. He played solid throughout the game and made sure he did not commit any significant mistake. Anton Korobov, Hans Niemann, M Amin Tabatabaei and Zdenko Kozul started their tournament with a win in Round 1. Total 124 players including 22 GMs, 16 IMs, 4 WGMs and 2 WIMs are participating from 31 countries across the world. 26 Indians are taking part in this event, second-highest contingent after the host nation Italy which has 27 players. Round 2 starts tonight at 7:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

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).

Ojas Kulkarni played solid against Nigel Short | Photo: Rupali Mullick

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.

Position after 48.gxh5

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

GM Anton Korobov (UKR) is the top seed of the tournament| Photo: Rupali Mullick

Second seed - GM Hans Niemann (USA) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Third seed - GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

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

Details

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

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €10000.

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

Related news:

	Lalit Rohit victorious at Vergani Cup January 2022 @ 10/01/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	भारत के ललित बाबू बने वेरगानी कप के विजेता @ 09/01/2022 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Lalit Rohit moves closer to win the Vergani Cup 2022 @ 09/01/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	वेरगानी कप - जीत के साथ ललित बाबू फिर सयुंक्त बढ़त पर @ 08/01/2022 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	वेरगानी कप - शानदार जीत से तबातबाई नें बनाई बढ़त @ 07/01/2022 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Vergani Cup 2022 R5: Prraneeth Vuppala beats Hans Niemann @ 06/01/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	वेरगानी कप : भारत के ललित बाबू सयुंक्त बढ़त पर @ 05/01/2022 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Vergani Cup 2022 R3: Lalit Rohit in an eight-way lead @ 05/01/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vergani Cup 2022 R2: Short saves a point as his opponent's phone goes off @ 04/01/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)