KOLKATA: The last time Levon Aronian visited the city, he had one of the worst tournaments of his career in the Grand Chess Tour in 2019. The Armenian-born Grandmaster made amends by getting off to a perfect start in the Kolkata rapid and blitz tournament at the National Library here on Wednesday.
At the end of three rounds of rapid events on the opening day, the World No. 4 finished with an all-win record, getting the better of US GM Sam Shankland, India's Adhiban Baskaran and Vidit Gujrathi. Although Aronian was not at his best, yet he managed to pull things out of tight situations, showing glimpses of his class. "I won't say I played spectacular chess, but yes I didn't make big mistakes," Aronian said after the day's play. "I now need to carry on this momentum," he added.
India No. 2 Gujrathi must be repenting for failing to subdue Aronian in spite of having an edge. "I had a clear edge against Aronian who I feel blundered in the opening. But I came under severe time pressure," he stated.
Adhiban, on the other hand, would like to forget his first tournament day since marriage as fast as possible. The Tamil Nadu boy arrived at Kolkata late on Tuesday after tying the knots on Monday. But it was a nightmarish start as he lost all the three games on the opening day, going down to Vidit, Aronian and Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo.
Another player who had a bad day in office was R Vaishali. The Women's Grandmaster managed just half-a-point from a draw against brother R Praggnanandha in the opening round. The only female player in this event stumbled against Murali Karthikeyan and Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem in the subsequent rounds.
However, two other youngsters - Praggnanandha and Arjun Erigaisi - did well to end with two points. While the former drew with Vaishali and Shankland, he got the better of Erigaisi, who scored a swashbuckling 17-move win over two-time Indian champion Karthikeyan in the last round of the day.
Maghsoodloo took time to settle down after reaching the city just hours before the start of the tournament due to visa issues as he settled for just one win against Adhiban after losing the opening two rounds to Erigaisi and Shankland.
