India’s Anandbatla Satvik clinches category B title in Delhi International Chess

India’s Anandbatla Satvik emerged triumphant in Category B of the ongoing Delhi Grandmasters (GMs) Open Chess Tournament on June 10. The 14-year-old player from Telangana finished with nine out of 10 points in a strong field of 800-plus players. Satvik received Rs 4 lakh — the highest-ever first prize for an amateur chess event in India.

Sundram Kumar and Shaikh Sohil, both of India, claimed second and third places with 8.5 points each, though their compatriots Avhad Prajwal and Mohammed Tabsheer Alam also finished with the same number of points. Sundram Kumar and Shaikh Sohil took home Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively.

In the premier section, Category A, four players, including top seed Indian GM Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna, led the field with 5.5 points after six rounds of ten. The others who were tied with the Kerala player were Armenia’s Mamikon Gharibyan, Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta, and Manuel Petrosyan, also of Armenia.

Amongst the notable encounters witnessed in the sixth round on June 10, Narayanan and Abhijeet Gupta played out a tense draw.

Eight players were tied for the next spot with five points each. They were Swedish GM Vitaly Sivuk, Belarusian GM Mihail Nikitenko, Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh, Belarusian GM Alexei Fedorov, Indian International Master (IM) Aronyak Ghosh, Indian IM Neelash Saha, GM Samant Aditya S. of India, and Indian Alekhya Mukhopadhyay.

In another top-end sixth-round clash, Sivukand Fedorov drew their encounter, preserving their unbeaten records and joining the pack tied at five points.

With four more rounds to be played in the 10-round competition, the race for the title is heating up, much like the Delhi weather.

Earlier, in the fourth round, Narayanan SL registered a comprehensive win over Vietnam’s GM Nguyen Duc Hoa, while GM Diptayan Ghosh, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, and GM Abhijeet Gupta also scored clinical wins. Among others, GM Manuel Petrosyan, GM Mihail Nikitenko, GM MamikonGharibyan, GM Boris Savchenko, and GM Luka Paichadze also defeated their opponents with confident performances.

On the opening day, June 7, the biggest upset of the day was registered by India’s Vairaj Sogerwal, who stunned Armenia’s GM Karen H. Grigoryan. Also, 17-year-old MeetanshDixit of India held Georgian heavyweight GM Levan Pantsulaia to a thrilling draw.

In other action on the first day, Narayanan SL began his campaign with a solid win over Singapore’s Sai Siddharth, while Indian GMs Diptayan Ghosh and Abhijeet Gupta, and Armenia’s GM Manuel Petrosyan, registered convincing wins.

The Category C section, featuring over 1,200 participants, is scheduled to start on June 11.

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The tournament, which offers a total prize money of Rs 1.21 crore across three categories, started on June 7 and is scheduled to conclude on June 14 at Tivoli Gardens, Chattarpur, New Delhi. Besides the prize money for top performers, players will be awarded crucial points that will count towards the FIDE World Championship Cycle.

Organised under the aegis of the All India Chess Federation, over 2,500 players from more than 20 countries, including 24 GMs, are competing in Asia’s largest classical-format open tournament.