This story is from November 27, 2014

Rajpara downs Naiditsch in Qatar Masters chess opener

GM 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.
Rajpara downs Naiditsch in Qatar Masters chess opener
DOHA: 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 on Thursday.
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.
Among other Indians, up and coming Aravindh Chithambaram and GM M Shyam Sundar also got good results securing draws against higher ranked Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia and Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, while S Vijayalakshmi did well to hold compatriot Sandipan Chanda.
Important and Indian results round 1 (Indians unless specified): Anish Giri (Ned) beat Mikhail Antipov (Rus); Stelios Halkias (Gre) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) beat Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul); John Paul Gomez (Phi) lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Ding Liren (Chn) beat Al-Sayed Mohammed (Qat); D Harika lost to P Harikrishna; Baadur Jobava (Geo) lost to Bela Khotenashvili (Geo); Murali Karthikeyan lost to Pavel Eljanov (Ukr); Arkadij Naiditsch (Ger) lost to Ankit Rajpara; Debashis Das lost to Alexander Moiseenko (Ukr); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) drew with Aravindh Chithambaram; M Shyam Sundar drew with Ivan Cheparinov (Bul); Sergei Movsesian (Ukr) beat Sayantan Das; M S Thejkumar drew with Vladimir Akopian (Arm); Viktor Bologan (Mda) lost to Neelotpal Das; Sundararajan Kidambi lost to Ivan Ivanisevic (Cro); Samuel Shankland (Usa) beat Rishi Sardana; Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus) beat Shardul Gagare; Abhijeet Gupta beat Irine Sukandar Kharisma (Ina); Mary Ann Gomes lost to Surya Shekhar Ganguly; Alexander Ipatov (Tur) beat P Konguvel; Sandipan Chanda drew with S Vijayalakshmi; Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) lost to G N Gopal ; Aleksandar Indjic (Srb) beat Sameer Kathmale.
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