Highest ranked Indian in the fray Abhijeet Gupta got off to a flier, defeating Osman Abdelgadir of Sudan, while Grandmaster M R Lalith Babu was held to a draw by Elena Partac of Moldova in the first round of the 16th Dubai International open chess that got underway here today.
It turned out to be a good day in the office for Gupta as he had to exert little for a maximum result against Abdelgadir.
Playing the white side of an English opening, Gupta got an early advantage and then spotted a simple tactic to earn a knight for just a pawn.
The rest was easy.
Lalith Babu faced an early wake up call by Partac who matched the Indian move for move despite a hige desparity in ratings.
It was a Caro Kann defense by Babu wherein Partac played a less played system and the game was always close to equal.
Babu fancied his chances in the rook and pawns endgame but Partac was equal to the task as she gave nothing away.
After 87 moves the draw was agreed to leaving both players on a half point after the first round.
The opening day was not devoid of upsets usual for a strong tournament like the Dubai open.