The prestigious 360 One Masters Chess tournament kicked off with stunning upsets, as several top-seeded Grandmasters, including Indian chess stalwarts, faced unexpected defeats and draws against lower-rated opponents and emerging talents.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Pixabay
Key Points
- Second seed GM Sankalp Gupta and third seed GM Abhijeet Gupta suffered shock defeats in the opening round of the 360 One Masters Chess tournament.
- 17-year-old IM Akshay Borgaonkar of Pune notably defeated former world junior champion GM Abhijeet Gupta.
- Several overseas Grandmasters, including GM Luka Paichadze and GM Boris Savchenko, were held to draws by lower-rated players.
- Top seed and reigning national champion GM Iniyan Pa demonstrated resilience, securing a win from a seemingly drawn position.
- Young talents like 13-year-old Madhavendra Pratap Sharma performed strongly in the junior and Challenger categories.
Upsets dominated the opening round of the Rs 35 lakh prize money 360 One Masters Chess tournament, with several higher-rated players struggling to make an impact in the Swiss League event. Second seed Grandmaster Sankalp Gupta suffered a shock defeat against Sri Lankan International Master L M S T De Silva, while third seed and former world junior champion GM Abhijeet Gupta went down to 17-year-old IM Akshay Borgaonkar of Pune. IM Kaustuv Kundu also produced a notable result by defeating Belarusian Grandmaster Andrey Gorovetz.
Top Seeds Face Unexpected Challenges
The overseas Grandmasters too found the going tough, with fifth seed GM Luka Paichadze of Georgia being held to a draw by FM Adak Bivor, while ninth seed GM Boris Savchenko drew against Daeevik Wadhawan. FM Vivaan Shah also secured a creditable draw against GM Aleksandrov Aleksej, while FM Kush Bhagat held eighth seed IM Nitin Belurkar.
Top seed and reigning national champion GM Iniyan Pa, however, showed tremendous resilience to win from a seemingly drawn position against L Srihari. The Queen’s Gambit Declined game soon simplified into a rook and identical pawn ending, but Iniyan kept applying pressure and was rewarded when Srihari erred with a king move on the 64th turn. Iniyan converted the advantage on the 74th move by pushing towards promotion.
Rising Stars Shine in Opening Games
De Silva dictated terms against Sankalp from the early stages of a French Advance Defence. His attacking play, involving two knights, a rook and queen, broke through Sankalp’s defences after his pawns advanced deep into enemy territory. The game ended in 26 moves.
Borgaonkar, playing a Reti opening, kept Gupta under pressure right from the start. The former Commonwealth champion struggled to find his rhythm as his pieces were forced backwards while Black’s pawns advanced aggressively. Borgaonkar gained two extra pawns by the 18th move and maintained complete control before Gupta resigned on the 54th move facing an unavoidable checkmate.
In the junior and Challenger categories, 13-year-old Madhavendra Pratap Sharma enjoyed double success, winning both his games after being seeded first in both sections. The higher seeds largely had a smooth outing in these categories, though a few games ended in draws.
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