21st Delhi GM Open R1: Vairaj Sogerwal stuns Karen Grigoryan

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/06/2025

10-year-old Vairaj Sogerwal scored a huge upset in Round 1 of 21st Delhi GM Open 2025. He defeated the ninth seed, GM Karen Grigoryan (ARM). It was not a smooth conversion for the boy. The series of mistakes in the endgame eventually allowed his opponent to find a way to earn full point. Meetansh Dixit had the opportunity to score the biggest upset of the round. He missed the opportunity to seize his advantage against the third seed, GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO). The strong Georgian GM managed to escape with a draw when he allowed perpetual checks to finish the game. The 21st edition boasts a total prize fund of ₹12100000, ₹5100000 in Category A. The top three prizes are ₹700000, ₹600000 and ₹500000. Round 2 starts today at 9:30 a.m. IST.

Meetansh Dixit misses against Levan Pantsulaia

Vairaj Sogerwal scored a big win over GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM)

Meetansh - Pantsulaia

Position after 15...f5?

GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO, 2551) made his king vulnerable when he played 15...f5? Meetansh Dixit (1874) was forced to play 16.exf6 gxf6 17.Nc3 Bxb3 18.cxb3 f5 now White needed to play 19.Bxf5 right away to capitalize on Black's weak king and rapidly bring his pieces into the attack. Instead, he played 19.Qg6+ allowing the king to start his escape 19...Kd8. A few moves later White played 22.Bxf5 but the effect was not the same and eventually drew the game via perpetual check.

Vairaj - Karen

Position after 43.Na8+

43...Kc8 prevents Rd8 whereas 43...Kb8?? which was played in the game by GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM, 2520), invites trouble 44.Rd8+ Ka7 45.Nb6 Rf8 46.Rd1 e4 47.Kc4 Bg7 48.Rd2 e3 49.Ra2+ Kb8 50.Nd7+ Kc7 51.Nxf8 Bxf8 52.Nxf8 Bxf8 after a bit more inaccurate play, Black got himself a few more chances to get back in the game.

Position after 61.Kc4

What is the correct way to continue for Black after 61.Kc4 ? Black played 61...Be5?? 62.b5 Kd7 63.Kb4 Bc7 Black got the idea correct now but it is too late 64.Rg7+ Kc8 now 65.b6 would have been winning for White. 65.Ka4?? cxb5+ 66.Kxb5 Kb8?? Black moved his king to the wrong side. If there were no pawns on the board that would have been a correct choice.

Inauguration ceremony | Photo: Anmol Bhargav

Players, parents and accompanying persons | Photo: Anmol Bhargav

GM S L Narayanan is the top seed of Category A | Photo: Anmol Bhargav

Top boards | Photo: Anmol Bhargav

The tournament hall at Tivoli Gardens in New Delhi | Photo: Anmol Bhargav

For more Round 1 photos, please click here.

Inauguration ceremony and Round 1 | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	223		Siddharth, Sai	1876	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Narayanan S L,	2600	1	PGN
2	2	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2573	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Sankalan Shah,	1874	224	PGN
3	225		Meetansh, Dixit	1874	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Pantsulaia Levan,	2551	3	PGN
4	4	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2550	0	1 - 0	0		Elesh, Tripathi	1872	226	PGN
5	227		Bhanushali Neemay,	1871	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	2541	5	PGN
6	6	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2538	0	1 - 0	0		Eugen, Mehul Shah	1870	228	PGN
7	229		Shravan, Sriram	1870	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2529	7	PGN
8	8	GM	Sivuk, Vitaly	2522	0	1 - 0	0	WCM	Wankhade Sanskruti,	1869	230	PGN
9	231		Vairaj, Sogerwal	1869	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Grigoryan, Karen H.	2520	9	PGN
10	10	GM	Nikitenko Mihail,	2520	0	1 - 0	0		Mann Akbari,	1868	232	PGN
11	233	AIM	Saikat, Nath	1866	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2510	11	PGN
12	12	GM	Samant Aditya S,	2498	0	1 - 0	0	WCM	Nanditha, V	1864	234	PGN
13	235		Aayush Kabra,	1864	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Gharibyan, Mamikon	2472	13	PGN
14	14		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	2460	0	1 - 0	0	WFM	Tanishka, Kotia	1862	236	PGN
15	237		Aahil, Patra	1862	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2456	15	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB2	TB3
1	53		Alok, Sinha	IND	2207	DL	1	1	1,00
2	150		Rakesh, Kumar Nayak	IND	1953	OR	1	1	1,00
3	239		Jashanpreet Singh,	IND	1861	SSCB	1	1	1,00
4	261		Shreyaskar, Tanti	IND	1835	WB	1	1	1,00
5	1	GM	Narayanan S L,	IND	2600	KL	1	0	0,00
6	5	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	ARM	2541	ARM	1	0	0,00
7	7	GM	Paichadze, Luka	GEO	2529	GEO	1	0	0,00
8	11	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2510	RSPB	1	0	0,00
9	13	GM	Gharibyan, Mamikon	ARM	2472	ARM	1	0	0,00
10	15	GM	Savchenko, Boris	RUS	2456	RUS	1	0	0,00
11	19	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	IND	2410	TN	1	0	0,00
12	21	IM	Harsh, Suresh	IND	2392	TN	1	0	0,00
13	23	IM	Agibileg, Uurtsaikh	MGL	2384	MGL	1	0	0,00
14	29	IM	Shahil Dey,	IND	2366	AS	1	0	0,00
15	31		Nithin Babu,	IND	2360	KL	1	0	0,00

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Narayanan S L,	2600	1		1		Sagnik, Halder	1975	137
2	134		Rachit H Gurnani,	1976	1		1	GM	Ghosh, Diptayan	2573	2
3	136	CM	Vyom Malhotra,	1975	1		1	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2550	4
4	5	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	2541	1		1		Nishant Abhijeet Jawalkar,	1972	139
5	138	AFM	Arhan, Jain	1973	1		1	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2538	6
6	7	GM	Paichadze, Luka	2529	1		1		Naga Sai Sarthak Karanam,	1970	141
7	140		Jagreet Misra,	1971	1		1	GM	Sivuk, Vitaly	2522	8
8	142	CM	Vedant, Rupeshbhai Varasada	1968	1		1	GM	Nikitenko Mihail,	2520	10
9	11	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2510	1		1	IM	Sobh, Amrou	1963	145
10	146	WCM	Sreekarthika Velmurugan,	1956	1		1	GM	Samant Aditya S,	2498	12
11	13	GM	Gharibyan, Mamikon	2472	1		1	CM	Vandan Alankar Sawai,	1955	147
12	148		Subhrajit Dey,	1955	1		1		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	2460	14
13	15	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2456	1		1	AGM	Prashanth, J Naik	1954	149
14	150		Rakesh, Kumar Nayak	1953	1		1	IM	Neelash, Saha	2456	16
15	151		Savanth Krishnan R,	1952	1		1	GM	Sanikidze Tornike,	2425	18

Details

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