GM Neelotpal Das, WGM Tania Sachdev lose in C'wealth Chess

New Delhi: Little known Arjun Kalyan shocked GM Neelotpal Das in the first round of the Commonwealth Chess Championship while WGM Tania Sachdev also lost her opening round match, here Tuesday.

Sachdev lost to Anzel Solomons of South Africa when the Indian was declared lost on time. The championship got off to a flying start for the higher ranked players as almost all of them scored easily over lesser known opponents in the first round of this nine-rounds championship.

Top seed and rating favourite Abhijeet Gupta scored over T Selvabharathy from the white side of a Queen pawn game. The highest ranked player finished the game in quick time.

Playing after a long time in India, GM Koneru Humpy also had little difficulties in tackling Soham Datar who played white. Humpy, seeded second here, is by far the hot favourite for the women?s crown and at the same time give the other Grandmasters here a run for their money.

Local stars Vaibhav Suri and Sahaj Grover also had a field day with success but the later had to sweat a little harder before he could beat Abhinav Gola. The championship was inaugurated on Monday night by Dr. Ashok Chauhan, founder of the Amity group. FIDE Vice President Mr. D V Sundar and chairman of Commonwealth Chess Association Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan were also present to grace the occasion.

The championship has been sub-divided in to separate categories for under-8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 age groups for boys and girls while the under-18 and under-20 titles are merged in the open section. There is a massive turnaround as a total of 564 players have registered for the event.