Young India Grandmaster Ankit Rajpara came up with an inspired performance to get the better of highly rated Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany in the first round of the Qatar Masters Open International chess tournament here today.
Up against one of the toughest opponents in his career, Rajpara might have been under pressure but he did not show it. The win came in spectacular fashion as Naiditsch king danced to the tunes of Indian, and the German could never recover.
For the records, Rajpara had begun with the Caro Kann defense and whipped white king out of its comfort zone with a timely counter attack.
Grandmaster Neelotpal Das also secured a sensational result for himself by defeating highly regarded Moldovan GM Viktor Bologan.
Das, a seasoned campaigner, sensed his chances and pounced on them to register a win that he will cherish for a long time.
Among the fancied Indians in the fray, sixth seed Grandmaster P Harikrishna got a full point defeating Andhra state-mate D Harika. Playing an irregular opening, Harika was close to achieving a draw against her fancied rival but Harikrishna's ability to put pressure in the endgame eventually made the difference.
Abhijeet Gupta faced some early resistance from Irine Sukandar Kharisma of Indonesia but the former found his way forward on the queen side out a queen pawn game in the middle game. Knocking down a pawn, Gupta seized control and scored an easy first round victory.
At the top of the tables, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik was held to a draw by Stelios Halkias of Greece, giving a just indication how evenly matched the field is in the strongest open tournament of the world.
Kramnik, with his black pieces, got nothing and Halkias in fact was putting pressure when he decided to let go and sign the peace treaty.
If this was not enough, Georgian girl Bela Khotenashvili put it across compatriot Baadur Jobava, a member of the elite circles in spectacular fashion. Baadur went for his trademark complications, but on this day missed the thread amidst wild complexities.
