 "Chess (#1183)")
The Delhi Open has seen a fantastic run by sole leader, Ivan Popov. The Russian GM (Elo of 2650) started as second seed, rated marginally behind Boris Grachev (2652). But Popov has smoked the field with seven straight wins.
There are three rounds left at the time of writing. Popov is guaranteed a share of the title if he scores 1.5 from three. A group of 11 players share second place with 5.5 each, and if Popov stumbles badly, one of them could overtake.
The pack sharing 2nd-12th includes Ravi Teja, Sriram Jha, Sayantan Das, Pradeep Kumar, Vignesh and Lalith Babu (all 5.5) . Three IMs, Teja, Das and Vignesh will be seeking GM norms while Kumar, who doesn't have a title yet will be gunning for at least an IM norm.
Over 200 players are playing the premier including 21 GMs and 21 IMs. Category B has a rating cap of 1999 and 602 players, while Category C (rating cap at 1599) has 1053 players. The Delhi Chess Association says it will push up the 2017 prize fund to Rs 51 lakh, from the current Rs 35 lakh (total of all sections).
The most fantastic streak in recent memory was Fabiano Caruana's seven at Sinquefield Cup, 2014. That was truly remarkable since it came against the world's best. Another great run sealed Veselin Topalov's bid for the world title at San Luis Rey, Argentina, in 2005. The Bulgarian started with 6.5 / 7. Incidentally, Topalov has qualified for the 2016 Candidates, which will be on schedule in March though negotiations for the title match are stuck due to sanctions against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
Delhi is a big event in terms of mass participation. But the Tata Steel is a super tournament. It starts on Sunday, as Delhi ends. Magnus Carlsen leads the Premier, (14-player round robin) with Anish Giri, Caruana, Wesley So, etc. The average rating is 2748 and only Hou Yifan (2673) and Loek Van Wely (2640) are rated below 2700. The Challengers has an average of 2569. The only Indian representative, Adhiban Baskaran (2653), is second-seeded in the Challengers behind Dieter Liviu Nisipeanu (2679).
At the DIAGRAM, White to play, (White: Ivan Popov Vs Black: Vitaly Sivuk, Delhi Open 2016), black has just played 22.- f6? weakening his kingside. White responded with 23. Bxg4! Bxg4 24. Qxg4 hxg4 25. Rxh6 fxe5. Defences like (26. - Qg7 27. Rdh1!) and (26.- Re8 27. Rxf6+ Kg7 28. Nb3! Rh8 29.Nd4; or 28. Nb3 c5 29. Rxd5 ) don't work. The game ended 26. Rh8+ Kg7 27. Rxa8 exf4 28. gxf4 g3 29. Rg1 Qe3 30. Rg2 c5 31. Rc8 Qxf4 32. Re8 (1-0). White will just play Re1-g1xg3, etc.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
