Dynamite's GM Salem Saleh trolls Oslo

It may only be the 2nd match, but Dynamite has the upper hand on the Eastern Division standings after romping to a 9.5-6.5 win over Oslo Trolls on Thursday. Grandmaster Salem Saleh won Delhi the crucial points as Dynamite moved 3.5 points clear of Oslo Trolls, who had a solid line up.

While it is obvious that Saleh showed no mercy and was the reason why the team did well, it has to be noted that the Trolls were without the services of their top two boards — GM Frode Urkedal and GM Roland Pruijssers. Oslo played with two International Masters on the first two boards and two FIDE Masters on the other two.

If one removes Delhi’s Saleh out of the equation, the result looks very clear. On the second board, GM Vaibhav Suri won two games and lost two. So did GM Sahaj Grover and untitled Aradhya Garg. With the three boards tied 2-2 each, Saleh’s 3.5/4 blitzkrieg was the one that made the difference.

Watch the young Indian's brilliance in full flow against the top board of the Trolls. Garg dominated and crushed Hauge on the queenside, immobilizing black completely. The cherry on the cake was a pin and a fork.

In the post-match reflection, GM Vaibhav Suri commented, “We won by a pretty good margin, all credit goes to Salem Saleh of UAE. He played very good scoring 3.5/4 points. Personally, I scored 2.0/4 which is 50 percent not that great but I guess the games are pretty interesting. And we had Sahaj as well playing. He did pretty decently as well along with Aradhya. I think it was a pretty successful match for us and looking forward to the next one against Armenia.”