Lalit Rohit victorious at Vergani Cup January 2022
GM Lalit Rohit started the year 2022 in the exact same way as he ended 2021, by winning Vergani Cup January 2022. He played solid throughout the event, only in the last round, he underestimated IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) who had a phenomenal event. Somehow he made a lucky escape and won the tournament on tie-breaks as GM Hans Niemann (USA), GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) and Nurgyul, all four finished with the same score 7.0/9. Lalit won €2500 (approx. ₹2.10 lacs) cash as his first prize, Hans and Bernadskiy got €1500 and €1200 each respectively. Nurgyul and Bharath scored GM-norms, Bharath Subramaniyam H became India's latest Grandmaster. Photo: Rupali Mullick
Bharath Subramaniyam H becomes India's 73rd Grandmaster
IM Bharath Subramaniyam H beat compatriot GM Iniyan P in the final round to become India's latest Grandmaster.
Nurgyul - Lalit: 0.5-0.5
Lalit Rohit mentioned in the post-match interview that he wanted to surprise his opponent, IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) but it was him who got surprised instead.
Lalit felt White was completely winning after 14.Qf4 followed by Bb5, where some players would even resign.
Black also felt that the final position was better for Black, but she could not find the best way to continue, and repeated moves to draw the game.
Bernadskiy - Short: 1-0
Nigel Short (ENG) was completely winning for the better part of the game against Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) in the last round.
Black has a huge advantage, despite being a rook and a knight behind. The sacrifices almost paid off for Black as 32...Qa2 would have kept White in turmoil as the b3-pawn would have been on a highway to b1. Unfortunately after 32...Qc5 33.Qe2 Black ran out of time and lost a completely winning game.
For more photos, click here.
The tournament took 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 9 games
Round 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 44 | IM | Salimova Nurgyul | 2353 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2548 | 9 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2699 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | 2632 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 2 | GM | Niemann Hans Moke | 2645 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Thybo Jesper Sondergaard | 2592 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 8 | GM | Bernadskiy Vitaliy | 2589 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Short Nigel D | 2633 | 5 | ||
| 5 | 3 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | 2643 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Dvirnyy Danyyil | 2492 | 17 | ||
| 6 | 10 | GM | Iniyan P | 2540 | 5½ | 0 - 1 | 5½ | IM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | 2476 | 21 | ||
| 7 | 22 | IM | Ioannidis Evgenios | 2466 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Arjun Kalyan | 2532 | 11 | ||
| 8 | 50 | IM | Rakesh Kumar Jena | 2329 | 5½ | 0 - 1 | 5½ | GM | Lodici Lorenzo | 2524 | 13 | ||
| 9 | 16 | GM | Brunello Sabino | 2503 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | IM | Gilevych Artem | 2407 | 29 | ||
| 10 | 41 | FM | Klabis Rokas | 2356 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Enchev Ivajlo | 2477 | 19 | ||
| 11 | 45 | IM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2351 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | IM | Pantzar Milton | 2434 | 24 | ||
| 12 | 25 | CM | Prraneeth Vuppala | 2417 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Solomon Kenny | 2355 | 42 | ||
| 13 | 33 | FM | Formento Paolo | 2382 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | FM | Pasztor Balazs | 2335 | 49 | ||
| 14 | 37 | IM | Moksh Amit Doshi | 2368 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | Gallana Marco | 2274 | 59 | |||
| 15 | 81 | CM | Mrithyunjay Mahadevan | 2124 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | FM | Cumming Rhys | 2358 | 40 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 9 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | IND | 2548 | 7,0 | 52,0 | 2430 | 39,25 | ||
| 2 | 2 | GM | Niemann Hans Moke | USA | 2645 | 7,0 | 51,5 | 2413 | 39,00 | ||
| 3 | 8 | GM | Bernadskiy Vitaliy | UKR | 2589 | 7,0 | 50,5 | 2463 | 38,25 | ||
| 4 | 44 | IM | Salimova Nurgyul | w | BUL | 2353 | 7,0 | 48,0 | 2416 | 33,75 | |
| 5 | 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2699 | 6,5 | 53,5 | 2496 | 37,25 | ||
| 6 | 13 | GM | Lodici Lorenzo | ITA | 2524 | 6,5 | 52,0 | 2456 | 35,25 | ||
| 7 | 21 | IM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | IND | 2476 | 6,5 | 50,5 | 2443 | 31,00 | ||
| 8 | 22 | IM | Ioannidis Evgenios | GRE | 2466 | 6,5 | 50,0 | 2434 | 32,75 | ||
| 9 | 6 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | FRA | 2632 | 6,5 | 48,5 | 2448 | 33,25 | ||
| 10 | 3 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | IRI | 2643 | 6,0 | 53,5 | 2483 | 33,50 | ||
| 11 | 7 | GM | Thybo Jesper Sondergaard | DEN | 2592 | 6,0 | 53,0 | 2470 | 33,00 | ||
| 12 | 24 | IM | Pantzar Milton | SWE | 2434 | 6,0 | 51,5 | 2423 | 32,50 | ||
| 13 | 29 | IM | Gilevych Artem | ITA | 2407 | 6,0 | 49,5 | 2388 | 30,50 | ||
| 14 | 17 | GM | Dvirnyy Danyyil | ITA | 2492 | 6,0 | 48,0 | 2360 | 31,75 | ||
| 15 | 16 | GM | Brunello Sabino | ITA | 2503 | 6,0 | 45,5 | 2318 | 29,25 |
Prizes
Total Prize fund - €10000.
