On Tuesday December 21, one of the final events of this year’s chess calendar officially began. The AICF-AAI Cup is hosted and provided with its acronym by the All India Chess Federation and the officers of the Asian, Australasian, and Indian chess federation. This year’s event, which is due to draw to a close on December 30th, is taking place amid the historic architecture of the bustling metropolos of New Delhi.
Round one saw some exciting chess games played, with stars such as 25 year old Polish Grandmaster Radoslav Wojtaszek who came a stunning second place in the World Chess Championships earlier this year, and Anton Korobov, this year’s Ukranian chess champion. Round one has left all to play for still, as there were a number of nail-biting draws. Wojtaszek drew with his oppopnent Parimarjan Negi, whilst the two top Indian players Abhijeet Gupta and K Sasikiran drew when they played each other too. Moreover, Russian player Evgeny Alekseev drew in his game with Korobov.
It is going to be exciting to watch Gupta and Saskikiran play on their home turf. Both are exciting and intriguing players. Gupta, for instance, well known for opening the Slav Defence (which begins d4 d5 and then continues c4 c6) and its rarer variant the Semi-Slav when he plays with the white pieces, has won a number of medals in chess championships across the world.
The AICF-AAI Cup is set to provide just over a week of fascinating chess games and analysis. Luckily, live commentaries and videos and other types of update are posted on the official AICF-AAI Cup website, so make sure that you tune in to get the latest news on what is going to be a brilliant way to round off the chess year!