KIIT Chess Festival: Grachev on song

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 27/05/2016

The All Odisha Chess Association is organising the annual KIIT International Festival that began on 23 May 2016 at the KIIT University in Bhubaneswar, Orissa.GM Boris Grachev is having a good tournament and is currently on 6.5/7, sole lead. GM Boris Grachev, the second seed, is having a good tournament and is currently on 6.5/7, sole lead. But the real star is ten-year-old Praggnanandhaa R. who is on course to set a record. A briefly illustrated report.

KIIT Chess Festival: Grachev on song

The All Odisha Chess Association is organising the annual KIIT International Festival that began on 23 May 2016 at the KIIT University in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. The time control is the usual Indian fare of 90 mins with 30 sec increment from move one.

The tournament consists of thirteen Grandmasters and fifteen International masters among the two hundred odd players competing. The top seeds GM Ivan Popov and GM Boris Grachev are no first timers in India, with both of them having high finishes at the Delhi and Chennai tournaments at the beginning of the year.

GM Boris Grachev is having a good tournament and is currently on 6.5/7, sole lead.

The third seed GM Karen Grigoryan (2616) lost to IM Shyaamnikhil P. (2415). Earlier he had lost to...

...the ten-year-old Praggnanandhaa R. (2368) who has been delivering a superlative 2594 performance, on the course for a GM-norm! He has held the top seed Popov, and grandmasters Chanda and Gleizerov to draws and is on 5.5/7. An IM norm, which is almost sealed, makes him probably the youngest International Master in the game's history!

GM Mikhail Mozharov (2560) not having the best of tournaments and is on 5.0/7.

WIM Anzel Laubscher (1851) of South Africa is on 2.5/7.

GM Sandipan Chanda (2585) and GM Diptayan Ghosh (2562) settled for a draw in their sixth round game and are on 6.0/7 and 5.5/7 respectively.

GM R.R. Laxman (2397)is on 5.5/7.

All the photos in this report are by Rupali Mullick, who is accompanying her son Raahil Mullick in this tournament.

Pairings for Round 08:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Grachev Boris	2639	6½		6	GM	Sandipan Chanda	2585	5
2	16	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2415	5½		5½	GM	Popov Ivan	2645	1
3	6	IM	Ghosh Diptayan	2562	5½		5½	FM	Praggnanandhaa R	2368	20
4	8	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2521	5½		5½	GM	Laxman R.R.	2397	19
5	30	CM	Rathanvel V S	2315	5½		5½	GM	Gleizerov Evgeny	2508	11
6	14		Gusain Himal	2440	5½		5½	FM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari	2280	38
7	28	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2322	5½		5	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.	2616	3
8	4	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	2614	5		5		Sai Vishwesh.C	2267	45
9	26		Iniyan P	2336	5		5	GM	Mozharov Mikhail	2560	7
10	34	GM	Ziatdinov Raset	2304	5		5	GM	Gagare Shardul	2514	10

Check the complete pairings here.

For chess fans of India and all over the world it has been extremely depressing and frustrating that the organizers have not provided any pictures, or even games in PGN for that matter, for such a prestigious tournament.