Bhopal 2017 Round 9: It's a fight with yourself!

by Sagar Shah - 27/12/2017

"It's a race against yourself," says Himanshu Sharma. The Haryana GM had a dismal national premier and finished in the last spot after losing eight games! In the Bhopal International he has worked hard in the months leading up to it and going into the last round he is one of the joint leaders. We bring you players, pictures, videos and photos all in his report from the city of lakes - Bhopal. No players have been able to make their IM/GM norms here, but the Bhopal International definitely has proved to be a great exposure for the local kids.

"Once there was an athlete," recounts Himanshu Sharma. He is telling us an anecdote which he had heard a few days ago. "The athlete had finished on the last spot in the race, but was beaming with happiness. Why are you so happy asked the people. Well in my previous race I had clocked 3 minutes 40 seconds. Today I clocked 3 minutes 30! I improved my time, and that makes me very happy!"

Himanshu's story was fictional, but it could very well apply to him. GM Himanshu Sharma is the only Indian grandmaster playing at the Bhopal International 2017. This was his first tournament after his National Premier debacle where he had lost a whopping 8 games out of 13 rounds. How would he fare? What were the improvements that he had brought in his game? The chess fans were eager to know. In the second round itself Himanshu slumped to a defeat against Utsab Chatterjee (rated 1978) and a feeling of deja vu started to creep in. But Himanshu is a fighter. He didn't lose his calm nor his composure. He came to the next rounds with the same amount of motivation and energy and scored a mammoth 6.5/7 and is now the joint leader of the Bhopal International 2017. In the ninth round he beat the top seed of the tournament Timur Gareyev. How did Himanshu do it? Why not hear it from the horse's mouth:

Losses teach you much more than your victories!

Timur Gareyev was leading the tournament with 6.5/7, but has slumped to two losses and is now out of the top prizes on 6.5/9.

It's a race against yourself - Himanshu Sharma

From a player who finished last at the National Premier to a player who may win the Bhopal International 2017, Himanshu Sharma has a lot of things to teach Indian youngsters.

Battle of generations between Gukesh and Atalik ended in a draw. After the game Atalik said that he was extremely impressed by the boy's talent.

GM Ivan Rozum was very well prepared but Tran Tuan Minh was up to the task and made a draw

Rahul Sangma lost his game to Vietnamese Nguyen Duc Hoa who is now leading the tournament thanks to a superior tiebreak

Alberto David started off well but has lost the last three rounds

Adam Tukhaev was unable to break through the defenses of Muhammad Khusenkhojaev

With five players leading the 7.5/9 it promises to be an excellent finale. Duc Hoa will play against Ivan Rozum in the final round, while Tran Tuan Minh will fight it out against Yeoh Li Tian. India's Himanshu Sharma has a chance to win the title if he beats GM Adam Tukhaev.

Results of round 9

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2595	7	½ - ½	7	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2544	6
2	9	GM	Himanshu Sharma		IND	2469	6½	1 - 0	6½	GM	Gareyev Timur		USA	2606	1
3	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2451	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Tukhaev Adam		UKR	2575	3
4	15	CM	Gukesh D	U11	IND	2362	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Atalik Suat		TUR	2545	5
5	24	IM	Sangma Rahul		IND	2311	6½	0 - 1	6½	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa		VIE	2504	7
6	8	IM	Yeoh Li Tian		MAS	2480	6½	1 - 0	6½	FM	Gajwa Ankit		IND	2284	29
7	32		Sekar B		IND	2274	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Girish A. Koushik		IND	2412	12
8	42		Senthil Maran K		IND	2208	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Ravi Teja S.		IND	2378	13
9	16	FM	Erigaisi Arjun	U15	IND	2359	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Deshmukh Anup		IND	2283	30
10	17		Kunal M.		IND	2352	6	1 - 0	6		Ajay Krishna S		IND	2281	31

Rankings after round 9:

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	7	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa		VIE	2504	Vietnam	7,5	0,0	51,0	55,0	45,00	6,0
2	2	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2595	Russia	7,5	0,0	50,5	55,0	44,50	6,0
3	6	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2544	Vietnam	7,5	0,0	48,5	53,0	43,25	7,0
4	8	IM	Yeoh Li Tian		MAS	2480	Malaysia	7,5	0,0	48,5	52,0	42,75	6,0
5	9	GM	Himanshu Sharma		IND	2469	Haryana	7,5	0,0	47,0	52,0	43,75	7,0
6	10	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2451	Tajikistan	7,0	0,0	49,0	53,5	40,25	5,0
7	5	GM	Atalik Suat		TUR	2545	Turkey	7,0	0,0	48,0	52,5	39,50	5,0
8	17		Kunal M.		IND	2352	Tamil Nadu	7,0	0,0	46,5	50,5	37,75	6,0
9	16	FM	Erigaisi Arjun		IND	2359	Telangana	7,0	0,0	46,0	49,5	37,50	5,0
10	27	FM	Shailesh Dravid		IND	2306	Maharashtra	7,0	0,0	45,5	49,5	38,00	5,0

Pairings for round 10

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	No.
1	7	GM	Nguyen Duc Hoa		VIE	2504	7½		7½	GM	Rozum Ivan		RUS	2595	2
2	6	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2544	7½		7½	IM	Yeoh Li Tian		MAS	2480	8
3	3	GM	Tukhaev Adam		UKR	2575	7		7½	GM	Himanshu Sharma		IND	2469	9
4	5	GM	Atalik Suat		TUR	2545	7		7		Kunal M.		IND	2352	17
5	27	FM	Shailesh Dravid		IND	2306	7		7	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad		TJK	2451	10
6	41		Nayak Rajesh		IND	2211	7		7	CM	Gukesh D	U11	IND	2362	15
7	1	GM	Gareyev Timur		USA	2606	6½		7	FM	Erigaisi Arjun	U15	IND	2359	16
8	12	IM	Girish A. Koushik		IND	2412	6½		6½		Masango Spencer		ZIM	2253	34
9	13	IM	Ravi Teja S.		IND	2378	6½		6½		Sekar B		IND	2274	32
10	35		Prakash Ram		IND	2245	6½		6½	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad		IND	2334	20