Chess Chess Delhi International Open: Ilamparthi stuns Harsha; Srikanth holds Karthik Grandmaster and National junior champion Karthik Venkataraman and GM-elect Harsha Bharathakoti found the going tough at the Delhi International Open Grandmasters chess tournament Rakesh Rao NEW DELHI 09 January, 2019 21:26 IST Indian Air Force player K Srikanth who held Grandmaster Karthik Venkataraman in the opening round of Delhi International Open Grandmasters chess tournament in New Delhi on Wednesday. - SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Rakesh Rao NEW DELHI 09 January, 2019 21:26 IST 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 Grandmasterschess 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 anyconsolation 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.Important first-round results (Indians unless stated) Rajarshi Dutta lost to Farrukh Amonatov (Tjk); Alexandr Predke (Rus) bt P. Ramakrishna; Lakshmi Krishna Bhushan lost to Levan Pantsulaia (Geo); Vaibhav Suri bt Isha Sharma; Vellanki Jayachandra lost to ivan Rozum (Rus); Ivan Popov (Rus) bt Dilshad Mohammad; Arpan Das lost to Luka Paichadze (Geo); Aleksej Aleksandrov (Blr) bt Sourth Biswas; K. Sai Nirupama lost to Abhijeet Gupta; S. L. Narayanan bt Manoj Mishra; Om Kadam lost to M. Karthikeyan; Karthik Venkataraman drew with K.Srikanth; Harsha Bharathakoti lost to A. R. Ilamparthi; Samriddhaa Ghosh drew with N. R. Vignesh; Nitish Das drew with Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb). Support Sportstar Dear Reader, Support our journalism — where text and pictures intermingle so seamlessly — and help us scale up your experience as the world changes around us. Your contribution is vital to our brand of uninfluenced, boots-on-the-ground reportage that’s worth your while. Clickbait sensationalism is not for us, but editorial independence is — we owe it to you. Support Quality Journalism Subscribe to our daily newsletter Get your daily dose of Sportstar with handpicked stories delivered right to your inbox! SUBSCRIBE Please enter a valid email address. Dugout videos