18th Tashkent Open R1-7: Nihal, Abhimanyu and Saparmyrat in a three-way lead
IM Saparmyrat Atabayev (TKM), GM Nihal Sarin and GM Abhimanyu Puranik are in a three-way lead 6/7 at 18th Tashkent Open, Agzamov Memorial 2025 Open A (≥1800). In the seventh round all three of them scored a win each. Saparmyrat, Nihal and Abhimanyu defeated GM Leon Luke Mendonca, GM Sanan Sjugirov (HUN) and GM Prraneeth Vuppala. The total prize fund is US$ 75000. The top three prizes are US$ 20000, 10000 and 7000. The ten day ten-round Swiss league rating tournament is being organized by Uzbekistan Chess Federation at International Chess Academy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 20th to 29th March 2025. Round 8 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
S L Narayanan in pursuit
GM S L Narayanan defeated GM Sergei Lobanov. GM Sanan Sjugirov (HUN), GM Jingyao Tin (SGP) and Narayanan are trailing the leaders by a half point at 5.5/7 each.
Round 7: Nihal - Sanan: 1-0
GM Nihal Sarin (2687) never lost a Classical rated game against GM Sanan Sjugirov (HUN, 2631). Their last decisive Classical game was at FIDE World Cup 2021 when Nihal defeated and eliminated his opponent. This time, it was an extremely complex game arising out of Sicilian Defense.
It was clear that Nihal was playing for one result. 26...Nf8 27.g6 fxg6 28.Nxe5 Rxe5 29.fxg6 Rc7 30.gxh7+ Kh8 31.Rf3 Ne6 32.Rf1 and White eventually went on to win this complex battle.
Prraneeth - Abhimanyu: 0-1
GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2636) never lost a Classical rated game against GM Prraneeth Vuppala (2437). Out of three battles, Abhimanyu won twice and drew the other one. In their fourth battle, the higher-rated Abhimanyu prevailed once again.
Abhimanyu made a sound exchange sacrifice 21...Rxf4! 22.gxf4 Qxf4 23.Qc1 Qf6 24.b4? White needed to develop his pieces. Instead, 24.b4 just makes a pseudo threat. 24...Bg6 25.b5 Rf8 26.Qe3 Nd8 27.Re2 Be4 Black has a firm grip on the position and he went on to convert his advantage into a win comfortably.
A total of 153 players including 20 GMs, 32 IMs and a WIM are taking part from 15 countries across the world in Open A (≥1800). The ten day ten-round Swiss league rating tournament is being organized by Uzbekistan Chess Federation at International Chess Academy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 20th to 29th March. It has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Replay Round 1-7 games
Round 7 results
| Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | 1 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2687 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | 2631 | 6 | ||
| 7 | 2 | 16 | IM | Atabayev Saparmyrat | 2529 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Mendonca Leon Luke | 2643 | 4 | ||
| 7 | 3 | 31 | GM | Prraneeth Vuppala | 2437 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2636 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 4 | 7 | GM | Narayanan S L | 2622 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Lobanov Sergei | 2508 | 18 | ||
| 7 | 9 | 11 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2554 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | IM | Abdilkhair Abilmansur | 2408 | 39 | ||
| 7 | 11 | 3 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | 2651 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Aditya Mittal | 2550 | 12 | ||
| 7 | 13 | 50 | IM | Ritviz Parab | 2363 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Lalit Babu M R | 2495 | 20 | ||
| 7 | 14 | 55 | FM | Mohamed Anees M | 2354 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | IM | Ansat Aldiyar | 2474 | 22 | ||
| 7 | 15 | 23 | IM | Suyarov Mukhammadzokhid | 2474 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | IM | Audi Ameya | 2404 | 40 | ||
| 7 | 17 | 24 | IM | Saydaliev Saidakbar | 2461 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | IM | Moksh Amit Doshi | 2373 | 48 | ||
| 7 | 18 | 25 | IM | Neelash Saha | 2460 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | IM | Khusenkhojaev Muhammad | 2350 | 58 | ||
| 7 | 19 | 59 | FM | Namitbir Singh Walia | 2347 | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | IM | Gan-Erdene Sugar | 2459 | 26 | ||
| 7 | 20 | 27 | FM | Jain Kashish Manoj | 2459 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | IM | Slizhevsky Alexander | 2353 | 56 | ||
| 7 | 21 | 30 | IM | Nitish Belurkar | 2441 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | FM | Rostovtsev Dmitry | 2292 | 68 | ||
| 7 | 22 | 36 | IM | Soham Kamotra | 2430 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | Nithin Babu | 2242 | 74 |
Standings after Round 7
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | IM | Atabayev, Saparmyrat | TKM | 2529 | 6 | 28 | 31 | 0 | 5 | 2707 | 1,38 | 10 | 13,8 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2687 | 6 | 28 | 30,5 | 0 | 5 | 2692 | 0,42 | 10 | 4,2 | ||
| 3 | 5 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | IND | 2636 | 6 | 26 | 29 | 0 | 5 | 2670 | 0,26 | 10 | 2,6 | ||
| 4 | 6 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | HUN | 2631 | 5,5 | 30,5 | 33,5 | 0 | 5 | 2701 | 0,73 | 10 | 7,3 | ||
| 5 | 9 | GM | Tin, Jingyao | SGP | 2597 | 5,5 | 26,5 | 30 | 0 | 5 | 2619 | 0,34 | 10 | 3,4 | ||
| 6 | 7 | GM | Narayanan, S L | IND | 2622 | 5,5 | 25 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 2600 | -0,07 | 10 | -0,7 | ||
| 7 | 4 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | U20 | IND | 2643 | 5 | 29 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 2548 | -0,47 | 10 | -4,7 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | UZB | 2525 | 5 | 29 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 2612 | 0,95 | 10 | 9,5 | ||
| 9 | 34 | IM | Begmuratov, Khumoyun | U16 | UZB | 2430 | 5 | 29 | 31,5 | 0 | 3 | 2603 | 1,77 | 10 | 17,7 | |
| 10 | 3 | GM | Indjic, Aleksandar | SRB | 2651 | 5 | 28 | 31,5 | 0 | 3 | 2562 | -0,50 | 10 | -5 | ||
| 11 | 12 | GM | Aditya, Mittal | U20 | IND | 2550 | 5 | 28 | 30,5 | 0 | 3 | 2563 | 0,28 | 10 | 2,8 | |
| 12 | 24 | IM | Saydaliev, Saidakbar | UZB | 2461 | 5 | 27,5 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 2542 | 0,87 | 10 | 8,7 | ||
| 13 | 10 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | FID | 2593 | 5 | 26 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 2529 | -0,47 | 10 | -4,7 | ||
| 14 | 25 | IM | Neelash, Saha | IND | 2460 | 5 | 26 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 2477 | 0,29 | 10 | 2,9 | ||
| 15 | 36 | IM | Soham, Kamotra | IND | 2430 | 5 | 26 | 28,5 | 0 | 4 | 2476 | 0,75 | 10 | 7,5 |
Round 8 pairings
| Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | 5 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2636 | 6 | 6 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2687 | 1 | |||
| 8 | 3 | 9 | GM | Tin Jingyao | 2597 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Narayanan S L | 2622 | 7 | |||
| 8 | 5 | 25 | IM | Neelash Saha | 2460 | 5 | 5 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | 2651 | 3 | |||
| 8 | 6 | 4 | GM | Mendonca Leon Luke | 2643 | 5 | 5 | GM | Prraneeth Vuppala | 2437 | 31 | |||
| 8 | 7 | 10 | GM | Nesterov Arseniy | 2593 | 5 | 5 | IM | Soham Kamotra | 2430 | 36 | |||
| 8 | 10 | 8 | GM | Daneshvar Bardiya | 2609 | 4½ | 5 | IM | Ritviz Parab | 2363 | 50 | |||
| 8 | 11 | 12 | GM | Aditya Mittal | 2550 | 5 | 5 | IM | Vaz Ethan | 2430 | 37 | |||
| 8 | 12 | 44 | FM | Chinguun Sumiya | 2385 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Adhiban B. | 2554 | 11 | |||
| 8 | 15 | 46 | FM | Khusenkhojaev Mustafokhuja | 2382 | 4½ | 4½ | IM | Ayush Sharma | 2485 | 21 | |||
| 8 | 18 | 68 | FM | Rostovtsev Dmitry | 2292 | 4½ | 4½ | FM | Jain Kashish Manoj | 2459 | 27 | |||
| 8 | 19 | 28 | Utegaliyev Azamat | 2456 | 4½ | 4½ | FM | Mohamed Anees M | 2354 | 55 | ||||
| 8 | 20 | 56 | IM | Slizhevsky Alexander | 2353 | 4½ | 4½ | IM | Nitish Belurkar | 2441 | 30 | |||
| 8 | 21 | 59 | FM | Namitbir Singh Walia | 2347 | 4 | 4 | GM | Madaminov Mukhiddin | 2550 | 13 | |||
| 8 | 23 | 20 | GM | Lalit Babu M R | 2495 | 4 | 4 | FM | Karimov Alisher | 2334 | 63 | |||
| 8 | 24 | 72 | IM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2253 | 4 | 4 | IM | Goutham Krishna H | 2449 | 29 |
