GM Dobrov opens Kolkata Open with breezy victory

Shyam Nikhil caused a big upset by defeating International Master Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh, the tenth seed. Hossain made a lot of weaknesses in his kingside by pushing his pawns and this was well exploited by the Indian youngster.

In another upset, Swapnil Dhopade managed to draw against Ghaem Maghami of Iran Maghami surprisingly took a quick draw with the white pieces in 20 moves.

GM Krishnan Sasikiran also won easily against Taibur Rahman of Bangladesh in 36 moves of a Nimzo Indian Defence. Playing with the black pieces, it was an easy outing for the top seed, who crashed through the queenside with his major pieces.

GM Sambat Lputian of Armenia also had it easy against IM Chandrasekhar Gokhale winning in 32 moves. Playing with the white pieces he won a pawn and eventually nursed his material advantage into a win.

Arjun Tewari tried out the Guioco Piano opening against GM Koneru Humpy but could not find the right plan and eventually had to concede defeat to the Indian wonder girl. He did however manage to stretch the game to 51 moves.

GM Nguyen Ahn Dung of Vietnam won against Sohan Phadke in 28 moves of a Sicilian defence. He broke through on the queenside with his major pieces and forced his opponent to resign.

The local Grandmasters managed to win their games against their lower rated opponents. Sandipan Chanda the fifth seed managed to win against Mehdi Hasan of Bangladesh. Hasan tried to steer the game into a drawish ending but the experienced Sandipan managed to squeeze through in 59 moves.

Grandmasters Neelotpal Das and Dibyendu Barua also managed to win their games.