Sixth-seeded Tejas Joshi (ELO 1762) survived a major scare from 13-year-old Pratik Kunder (ELO 1035) but managed to hold out for a draw in the first round of SBI Life FIDE Rating Chess Tournament, which got underway at the Russian Cultural Centre.
Pratik opted for the Sicilian Defense against the King Pawn opening of Tejas and the game went on an equal footing. The experienced Tejas tried all his tricks but Pratik was equal to the task to maintain the balance. An inaccuracy by Tejas on move 29 allowed Pratik to gain a winning advantage. But Pratik faced with shortage of time was unable to convert the advantage and not prepared to take a risk offered a draw, which was quickly accepted by Tejas.
A similar result was also witnessed on board 8, where Ajit Kalsekar (ELO 1618) was held to a draw by Sailee Desai (1022) in an irregular opening. Barring these two games, the other results on the top boards went on an expected line – the top ranked player of the tournament, Atul Dahale, FM Sajandas Joshi and Amardeep Bartakke won their game against Arjun Vora, Siddhi More and Ashish Parkar.
This one lakh prize money tournament has a attracted a total of 110 players inclusive of 65 FIDE rated players. The event is being conducted by Indian Chess School under the aegis of All India Chess Federation.
Key Results of Round 1: Vora Arjun (0) lost to Dahale Atul (1), FM Joshi S G 2120 (1) beat More Siddhi (0), Parkar Ashish (0) lost to Bartakke Amardeep (1), Santhosh Khedekar (1) beat Nivaan Shah (0), Gupta Ananya Vikas (0) lost to Gopal Rathod (1), Joshi Tejas (½) draw Kunder Pratik (½), Dey Jeet (0) lost to Patil Ketan (1), Shah Jeet (1) beat Kinkhabwala Hrithik (0), Kalsekar Ajit (½) drew Desai Sailee (½), Abhishek Hinduja (0) lost to Mishra Sanjeev (1), Akshit Jha (1) beat Aryan Laxmesh Pednekar (0), Bang Madhusudan (0) lost to Bhuta Hriday (1), Gengaje Pratik (1) beat Bhangle Arnav (0), Bhansali Mehak (0) lost to Shirish Khodwe (1), Bhuptani Chaitanya (0) lost to Kuwar Tushar (1), Potawad Anirudhha (1) beat Bohra Kanishk (0); Chandan Nishka (0) lost to Kadam Rishi R (1), Bang Atharva (1) beat Desai Henil (0).