Indefatigable Arjun Erigaisi scores a hat-trick by winning 19th Delhi GM Open 2022

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/03/2022

GM Arjun Erigaisi clinched his third individual and fourth overall tournament of the year 2022. He started the year by winning Tata Steel Challengers, then he conquered MPL 58th National Senior Open. He was instrumental in Bangladesh Police's hat-trick triumph at Bangladesh Premier League. Nine days later, Arjun clinched the 19th Delhi International GM Open 2022. GM D Gukesh and GM Harsha Bharathakoti also scored the same 8.5/10. They were placed second and third according to the tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹25,00,000. Top three earned ₹400,000, ₹350,000 and ₹300,000 each respectively along with a trophy each. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh and Harsha score 8.5/10

IM Neelash Saha is the only Indian IM to finish in top 10 at ninth position. Mahdi Gholami Orimi (IRI) is the only untitled player to finish in top 25. He secured tenth position. FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi (IRI) scored the only IM-norm of the event. Reigning National Women's champion WGM Divya Deshmukh is the highest finisher among women participants.

Top 3 (L to R) - 2nd GM D Gukesh, 1st GM Arjun Erigaisi and 3rd GM Harsha Bharathakoti | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Champion - GM Arjun Erigaisi 8.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Rating points more important than the Delhi GM 2022 tournament victory for Arjun Erigaisi | Video: ChessBase India

Runner-up - GM D Gukesh 8.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Gukesh gains 25 Elo points in a month and is now 2640 | 2nd at Delhi GM 2022 | Video: ChessBase India

Second Runner-up - GM Harsha Bharathakoti 8.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Abhijeet - Gukesh: 0-1

GM D Gukesh (2614) despite having the black pieces in the final pieces, he was playing from the win from the get go. It was evident in his play.

Position after 42.Kf3

42.Kf3 turned things in Black's favor due to 42...Ne5+ 43.Ke4 and now Kc4. White is unable to play Rc6+ and the king is also out of place.

Position after 50.Kf5

50...Rxf4+ was the final nail in the coffin, as Black's connected passed pawns on the queenside are much faster.

Gukesh's wonderful gesture in time pressure | Abhijeet Gupta vs Gukesh | Video: ChessBase India

Gukesh beat the defending champion Abhijeet Gupta in the final round | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sethuraman - Harsha: 0-1

GM Sethuraman S P (2619) misplayed a relatively equal knight endgame against GM Harsha Bharathakoti (2499).

Position after 48.Ng3

48.g5 would have kept White in the game. 48.Ng3 allows Black to go for 48...f5 break. The rest is just a matter of technique which Harsha converted without any difficulty.

Harsha got the better of Sethuraman in the endgame | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun Erigaisi - Karthik: 1-0

GM Karthik Venkataraman (2485) put up a very good fight, until he caved in the endgame against GM Arjun Erigaisi (2660).

Position after 37...h4

37...h4 turned the tide completely into White's favor. 38.Rf4 Qg3 39.Qd4 Nh5 40.Ne4 Qe1 41.Ng5+ Kg8 42.Rxh4 and Black loses material.

The final moments of Arjun Erigaisi winning the 19th Delhi GM International Open 2022 | Video: ChessBase India

Arjun's win against Karthik earned him his third individual and fourth overall championship of the year 2022 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Himal Gusain - GM Lalit Rohit: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Iniyan P - IM Neelash Saha: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Arjun Kalyan - IM Srihari L R: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Harsharvardhan G B - GM Azer Mirzoev: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Vignesh N R - Bharat Kumar Reddy Potluri: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Nitin S - FM Rohith Krishna S: 0-1 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Photo Gallery

FM Seyed Kian Poormosavi (IRI) scored an IM-norm | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Best Woman - WGM Divya Deshmukh 6.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Best Under-15 - IM Shahil Dey 6.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

The highest finisher among rated under 2000 and Best Below 2099 prize winner - Samriddhaa Ghosh 6.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Best Delhi - FM Aaryan Varshney 6.5/10 is now at his career high rating 2346.2 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Best Delhi - IM-elect FM Aradhya Garg 6.5/10 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

For more Round 10 and Prize Distribution Ceremony photos, please click at the respective links.

A total of 298 players including 21 GMs, 26 IMs, 3 WGMs and 6 WIMs took part from 13 federations across the world including India. The tournament was organized by Delhi Chess Association from 22nd to 29th March 2022 at Tivoli Grand Resort Hotel, New Delhi. The ten-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1. Accelerated pairings were used in the first three rounds.

Replay Round 10 games

Round 10 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2628	7½	0 - 1	7½	GM	Gukesh D	2614	6
2	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2619	7½	0 - 1	7½	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2499	14
3	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2660	7½	1 - 0	7	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2485	16
4	31	IM	Gusain Himal	2408	7	½ - ½	7	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	7
5	19	IM	Tahbaz Arash	2469	7	0 - 1	7	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2445	24
6	10	GM	Iniyan P	2516	6½	½ - ½	7	IM	Neelash Saha	2445	23
7	34	IM	Shahil Dey	2400	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris	2622	4
8	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2506	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Srihari L R	2400	35
9	33	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2402	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Mirzoev Azer	2476	18
10	37	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2397	6½	½ - ½	6½	IM	Krishna C R G	2466	20
11	42		Utsab Chatterjee	2324	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2449	22
12	25	IM	Vignesh N R	2444	6½	½ - ½	6½		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri	2263	54
13	47	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Laxman R.R.	2429	28
14	29	IM	Nitin S.	2427	6½	0 - 1	6½	FM	Rohith Krishna S	2304	46
15	58	FM	Aradhya Garg	2236	6½	0 - 1	6½		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2420	30
16	8	GM	Visakh N R	2522	6	1 - 0	6½	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2229	60
17	53		Saurabh Anand	2276	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Ponkratov Pavel	2641	2
18	9	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	2520	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2283	50
19	73	CM	Singh Ojasva	2141	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Mitrabha Guha	2510	12
20	15	GM	Fawzy Adham	2490	6	½ - ½	6	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2277	51

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun			IND	2660	India	8,5	66,0	71,0	59,00
2	6	GM	Gukesh D			IND	2614	India	8,5	61,0	66,0	55,25
3	14	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti			IND	2499	India	8,5	61,0	65,5	54,25
4	24	IM	Nigmatov Ortik			UZB	2445	Uzbekistan	8,0	59,5	64,0	48,00
5	5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.			IND	2619	India	7,5	63,5	68,5	49,50
6	4	GM	Delgado Ramirez Neuris			PAR	2622	Paraguay	7,5	60,5	65,0	47,25
7	7	GM	Lalith Babu M R			IND	2558	India	7,5	60,5	65,0	46,00
8	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2628	India	7,5	59,5	62,0	42,75
9	23	IM	Neelash Saha			IND	2445	India	7,5	59,0	64,0	46,75
10	30		Gholami Orimi Mahdi			IRI	2420	Iran	7,5	58,0	62,0	44,50
11	46	FM	Rohith Krishna S			IND	2304	India	7,5	57,0	61,5	44,75
12	31	IM	Gusain Himal			IND	2408	India	7,5	55,5	60,0	43,25
13	28	GM	Laxman R.R.			IND	2429	India	7,5	54,0	58,5	43,75
14	10	GM	Iniyan P			IND	2516	India	7,0	63,5	68,0	45,75
15	16	GM	Karthik Venkataraman			IND	2485	India	7,0	62,0	67,0	43,00
16	13	GM	Arjun Kalyan			IND	2506	India	7,0	61,5	67,0	45,25
17	18	GM	Mirzoev Azer			AZE	2476	Azerbaijan	7,0	61,0	66,5	45,50
18	8	GM	Visakh N R			IND	2522	India	7,0	61,0	66,5	45,00
19	19	IM	Tahbaz Arash			IRI	2469	Iran	7,0	59,5	64,0	40,50
20	20	IM	Krishna C R G			IND	2466	India	7,0	58,5	63,5	43,00
21	9	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.			IND	2520	India	7,0	58,5	63,0	43,00
22	26	IM	Shyaamnikhil P			IND	2442	India	7,0	58,5	62,5	40,50
23	12	GM	Mitrabha Guha			IND	2510	India	7,0	58,0	62,5	43,50
24	25	IM	Vignesh N R			IND	2444	India	7,0	58,0	61,5	41,50
25	27	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik			UZB	2435	Uzbekistan	7,0	56,5	61,5	40,50
26	35	IM	Srihari L R			IND	2400	India	7,0	55,5	60,5	40,25
27	42		Utsab Chatterjee			IND	2324	India	7,0	55,5	60,0	40,00
28	54		Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri			IND	2263	India	7,0	55,5	60,0	39,50
29	33	IM	Harshavardhan G B			IND	2402	India	7,0	55,0	59,5	38,75
30	37	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha			IND	2397	India	7,0	55,0	59,0	41,00
31	22	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo			COL	2449	Colombia	7,0	50,0	54,5	37,75
32	2	GM	Ponkratov Pavel			RUS	2641	CFR	6,5	62,0	67,0	41,25
33	51	FM	Aaryan Varshney			IND	2277	Del	6,5	60,0	65,0	40,00
34	60	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian			IRI	2229	Iran	6,5	60,0	64,0	38,75
35	34	IM	Shahil Dey	U15		IND	2400	India	6,5	59,5	63,5	37,00

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