Silver Lake Open R1: Nihal and Raunak make a winning start

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/06/2021

Someone once said that there is a flight which is taking Indian players to various events all across the globe. Covid-19 pandemic might have put brakes on that plan for a little over a year but as the world is slowly recovering back to normalcy, Indian players have started travelling to play Open events in Serbia. A total of eleven Indian players are taking part in this event. Nihal Sarin is warming up before his campaign begins at the FIDE World Cup next month. Both Nihal and Raunak made a winning start in the first round. Round 2 starts today at 12:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Abhimanyu Puranik was held to a draw

Indian players are off to a fantastic start. Both Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani won their respective games comfortably with a sharp play. Abhimanyu Puranik was held to a draw by CM Caputcuoglu Zeki Berke. IMs Harshit Raja and Raahil Mullick also started with a win each.

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

Kanov - Nihal: 0-1

Nihal started the tournament with a brilliant display of attack, although his opponent had an opportunity to defend, but it is not easy to calculate everything accurately during a tournament.

Position after 16.f4

Put yourself in Nihal's shoes and think what should Black do here.

Position after 18...Qd7

Black is obviously threatening Qg4, Re3 and make things difficult for White. How should White defend here? Kanov was unable to find the correct defence and things slowly went out of his control.

Nihal Sarin in Mikhail Tal mode | Video: Sagar Shah

Puranik - Berke: 0.5-0.5

GM Abhimanyu Puranik was held to a solid draw by CM Caputcuoglu Zeki Berke. However Berke had an opportunity to wreck the kingside.

Position after 28.Rc2

Black could have played 28...gxh4 29.gxh4 Bxh4. This makes both kings volatile but the resultant position is slightly better for Black. This was the sole opportunity Black had, eventually the game ended up in a draw.

Berke played solid against Abhimanyu Puranik | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Raunak - Djokic: 1-0

Raunak seized every opportunity he was presented by his opponent FM Mihailo Djokic.

Position after 21...Rb2

21...Rb2 is a big mistake for Black. Find out why. Raunak converted his advantage with ease and won the game.

Raunak started the event with an emphatic victory | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Harshit Raja started the tournament with a victory | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Raahil Mullick also scored a win | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Replay Round 1 games

Round 1 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	70	CM	Kanov Nikola	2140	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	3
1	4	4	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	0	½ - ½	0	CM	Caputcuoglu Zeki Berke	2138	71
1	6	6	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Djokic Mihailo	2129	73
1	12	13	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	0	1 - 0	0		Tyurin Artem	2106	79
1	20	22	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	0	1 - 0	0		Parkajic Branislav	2078	88
1	45	114		Devnani Kush	1855	0	1 - 0	0	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	50
1	52	58	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	0	1 - 0	0		Doraszelski Alexander	1802	121
1	54	61		Radisavljevic Dalibor	2186	0	1 - 0	0		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	123
1	64	131		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	0	0 - 1	0	FM	Kowalski Igor	2322	32
1	21	24		Gajic Aleksandar	1908	0	1 - 0	0		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	79

Details

Round 2 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
2	2	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	1		1	CM	Topalov Aleksandar	2260	45
2	3	41	IM	Klasan Vladimir	2298	1		1	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	6
2	7	48		Zhukenov Aituar	2241	1		1	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	13
2	14	21	FM	Tadic Stefan	2390	1		1	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	58
2	15	62		Terryn Ezra	2184	1		1	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	22
2	21	32	FM	Kowalski Igor	2322	1		1		Devnani Kush	1855	114
2	27	69		Akbas Umut Ata	2141	½		½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	4
2	42	50	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	0		0		Bozanic Jovan	1961	101
2	60	123		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	0		0		Tonic Milos	2073	89
2	64	96		Kandjolas Konstantin	2017	0		0		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	131
2	47	79		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	0		0		Stojanovic Irina	0	106

Details

Links

Official site

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