Untitled Ojas Kulkarni stuns GM Pap Misa

All four Indian GMs - Nihal Sarin, Abhimanyu Puranik, Arjun Erigaisi and Raunak Sadhwani continue their momentum from their previous respective events. Each of them won their opening round game comfortably. Among the Indians, Ojas Kulkarni scored the biggest upset of the round against GM Pap Misa (SRB). WGM Varshini V held IM Nikola Nikolovski (MKD) and WIM Isha Sharma held compatriot IM Sankalp Gupta to a draw.

Nihal scored an exciting victory over CM Nikola Kanov | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Martic - Nihal: 0-1

FM Ivan Martic (SRB) went wrong early in the opening.

Position after 20.Bb5

White is making some serious threats with 20.Bb5 but actually they are hollow. Black could have taken 20...axb5 but Nihal obviously did not want 21.Bg5 bothering him further. So he played 20...0-0-0 and put all White's ideas to rest. He won the game in another three moves.

Ivan Martic tried to do too much against Nihal Sarin | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Puranik - Milikow: 1-0

Abhimanyu Puranik scored clinical victory against FM Yoav Milikow (ISR).

Position after 17...g5

17...g5 completely exposes the Black king. Find out how should White take advantage of it.

Abhimanyu Puranik started the tournament with a victory | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Arjun - Sarenac: 1-0

Arjun Erigaisi scored a comfortable victory against David Sarenac (SRB).

Position after 13...Qb8

13...Qb8 makes it seem like the queen is on the verge of getting trapped. What should White do first before attempting to capture the queen?

Arjun starts with a win | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Kruckenhauser - Raunak: 0-1

Raunak made a quick work of his opponent in just 17 moves.

Position after 11.Bg5

11.Bg5 is not a good idea as White does not have a good defense against 11...Qd5. White should have played 11.0-0 instead.

Raunak scored the fastest victory among top boards | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Ojas Kulkarni scored the biggest upset among Indians as he beat GM Pap Misa (SRB) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WGM Varshini held IM Nikola Nikolovski (MKD) to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

The All-Indian match between IM Sankalp Gupta and WIM Isha Sharma ended in a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Highlights

Here are a couple of interesting finishes from Round 1

GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) had to stalemate against FM Ioannis Kalogeris (GRE) to save the day

FM Domen Tisaj (SLO) had a nice finish against GM Valentin Dragev (AUT)

Replay Round 1 games

Will Nihal Sarin win the Serbia Open Masters 2021? - A curtain raiser | Video: ChessBase India

Round 1 results

Rd.Bo.No. NameFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameFEDRtg No.
18151
FMMartic IvanSRB231400 - 10GMNihal SarinIND2620
8
11515
GMPuranik AbhimanyuIND258901 - 00FMMilikow YoavISR2301
158
12121
GMErigaisi ArjunIND256701 - 00Sarenac DavidSRB2289
164
126169
FMKruckenhauser ArthurAUT228300 - 10GMSadhwani RaunakIND2555
26
13131
GMZanan EvgenyISR253501 - 00Tanmay ChopraIND2273
174
132175
CMDev ShahIND227000 - 10GMIskandarov MisratdinAZE2533
32
148191
FMDefromont BenjaminFRA22460½ - ½0IMRaja HarshitIND2484
48
164207
Spasic PetarSRB222700 - 10IMAditya MittalIND2438
64
16565
IMNikolovski NikolaMKD24380½ - ½0WGMVarshini VIND2226
208
166209
WIMBlagojevic TijanaSRB22220½ - ½0IMMohammad Nubairshah ShaikhIND2436
66
168211
Ojas KulkarniIND221601 - 00GMPap MisaSRB2431
68
17171
IMSankalp GuptaIND24290½ - ½0WIMSharma IshaIND2213
214
172215
Aleksic NevenSRB221300 - 10IMBharath Subramaniyam HIND2426
72
184228
WIMRakshitta RaviIND219000 - 10FMBabazada KhazarAZE2409
84
18585
IMRaja Rithvik RIND240801 - 00Kosmas-Lekkas DimitriosGRE2186
229
186230
Radisavljevic DaliborSRB21860½ - ½0IMAkshat KhampariaIND2406
86
1101101
IMMullick RaahilIND238601 - 00Petrovic AleksaSRB2142
246
1107107
FMVatsal SinghaniaIND23710½ - ½0Papidakis GeorgiosGRE2135
252
1111111
IMVardaan NagpalIND236601 - 00WIMSrdanovic JovanaSRB2126
256
1113113
Pranav VIND236601 - 00Dimitrijevic DusanSRB2122
258
1114260
WFMBalabayeva XeniyaKAZ21160½ - ½0WGMNandhidhaa P VIND2365
114
1115115
Souhardo BasakIND236400 - 10FMLundin JanSWE2114
261

Details

Round 2 pairings

Rd.Bo.No. NameFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameFEDRtg No.
278
GMNihal SarinIND262011IMRaja Rithvik RIND2408
85
21198
IMMegalios KonstantinosGRE239011GMPuranik AbhimanyuIND2589
15
216102
IMRozen EytanISR238611GMErigaisi ArjunIND2567
21
22026
GMSadhwani RaunakIND255511IMMullick RaahilIND2386
101
22632
GMIskandarov MisratdinAZE253311IMVardaan NagpalIND2366
111
22834
IMNenezic MarkoSRB253111Pranav VIND2366
113
25364
IMAditya MittalIND243811IMHasanzade ToghrulAZE2323
142
25772
IMBharath Subramaniyam HIND242611Ojas KulkarniIND2216
211
26448
IMRaja HarshitIND2484½½FMRonka ErikFIN2303
157
267214
WIMSharma IshaIND2213½½IMNikolovski NikolaMKD2438
65
26866
IMMohammad Nubairshah ShaikhIND2436½½FMBrilej JakaSLO2244
193
269208
WGMVarshini VIND2226½½IMSankalp GuptaIND2429
71
27486
IMAkshat KhampariaIND2406½½FMOzdemir Serhan BeratTUR2191
226
281219
CMJandric DamjanSRB2202½½FMVatsal SinghaniaIND2371
107
283114
WGMNandhidhaa P VIND2365½½FMDjokic MihailoSRB2129
255
291212
Papadopoulos PanayotisGRE221600Souhardo BasakIND2364
115
2100152
WIMVelikic AdelaSRB230800WIMRakshitta RaviIND2190
228
2117174
Tanmay ChopraIND227300CMDebevec BlazSLO2135
251
2118258
Dimitrijevic DusanSRB212200CMDev ShahIND2270
175

Details

Links

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