Nihal, Adhiban, Vidit advance to the second round of Chess World Cup

Indian chess players seem to justify their favourites tag for the 2019 edition of the FIDE World Cup tournament in Khanty Mansiysk in Russia. Nihal Sarin looked as promising as ever, registering his second consecutive win in the tournament, alongside P Harikrishna. While B. Adhiban was involved in a drawn encounter, Vidit Gujrathi pulled off a clinical victory to progress into the second round of the tournament. Besides, a stout-hearted Aravindh Chithambaram scored an impressive 4.5-3.5 victory over British grandmaster Michael Adams to join the four Indians in the second round of the tournament.

Having played white in the second game of round 1, Harikrishna punished Cuba’s Yuri Gonzalez Vidal in as many as 42 moves, while a valiant Nihal filtered out the best available options as he got the better of a much higher-ranked Jorge Cori to claim victory in only 29 moves. Vidit Gujrathi and B. Adhiban are no far when it comes to making a mark in a tournament as prestigious as the FIDE World Cup. Despite struggling to change gears in the opening game against Alan Pichot of Argentina, Gujrathi gave a tough fight to his opponent after 43 moves. Adhiban, on the other side, played with white pieces to ensure a safer victory against Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli in 36 moves.

The campaign at the World Cup tournament for Indian chess players has been bounteous so far, with only one player, M.Karthikeyan, being knocked out of the tournament, out of ten participants in the Indian contingent. Bouncing back in glory from earlier defeats were the trio - Surya Shekhar Ganguly, SL Narayan, and SP Sethuraman, as they went on to clinch much-needed victories to stay put in the tournament.

Results

P Harikrishna (2746) beat Yuri Gonzalez Vidal (Cuba, 2552) 2-0

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2658) held to a draw with Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia, 2664) 1-1 (Tie Break 2-4)

M. Karthikeyan (2617) defeated by Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia, 2693) 0.5-1.5

Vidit Gujrathi (2718) pulled down Alan Pichot (Argentina, 2600) 1.5-0.5

Aravindh Chithambaram (2609) held to a draw with Michael Adams (England, 2694) 1-1 (Tie break 4.5- 3.5)

B Adhiban (2639) defeat Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (Venezuela, 2626) 1.5-0.5

S P Sethuraman (2624) held to a draw with Tamir Nabaty (Israel, 2658) 1-1 (Tie Break 1-3)

Nihal Sarin (2610) defeat Jorge Cori (Peru, 2676) 2-0

SL Narayanan (2611) held to a draw with David Anton Guijarro (Spain, 2674) 1-1 (Tie Break 1.5-2.5)

Abhijeet Gupta (2609) held to a draw with Anton Korobov (Ukraine, 2679) 1-1 (Tie Break 2-4)