Delhi International Open: Ilamparthi stuns Harsha; Srikanth holds Karthik

Much against the trend of results, Grandmaster and National junior champion Karthik Venkataraman and GM-elect Harsha Bharathakoti found the going tough as the Delhi International Open Grandmasters
chess tournament threw up unexpected opening-round heroes here on Wednesday.

Though the top-19 seeds were among those with a point each, Karthik faced unexpected resistance from Air Force recruit K. Srikanth and eventually split the point after 72 moves. If Karthik needed any
consolation after dropping half a point, he had to only look at Harsha’s plight.

Harsha, awaiting the confirmation of his Grandmaster title, ran into the reigning National under-9 champion A. R. Ilamparthi, rated 561 points below at 1920, crashed to a 43-move defeat.

On a day when almost every overseas Grandmaster won, Uzbek Marat Dzhumaev, — a regular in Indian events for over a decade — was held by Nitish Das.

Samriddhaa Ghosh proved equal to International Master N. R. Vignesh in 41 moves following a sequence of perpetual checks.