23rd Dubai Open 2023 R3-4: Aravindh Chitambaram emerges sole leader 4/4

by Shahid Ahmed - 31/05/2023

Aravindh Chithambaram defeated previous round leader, Vahap Sanal (TUR) to gain sole lead at 23rd Dubai Open 2023. Yangyi Yu (CHN) and M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) are the only two players trailing by a half point at 3.5/4. Aravindh will face the top seed Yangyi in the fifth round. Vahap made the incorrect exchange which opened up the f-file and worsened his position further. Aditya Mittal scored a nice win over Ilia Smirin (ISR). The latter made a couple of inaccuracies in the rook endgame which Aditya capitalized on. Aditya, Arjun Erigaisi, B Adhiban and Harsha Bharathakoti are at 3/4 each. Round 4 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Aditya Mittal beats Ilia Smirin

Apart from Aravindh and Aditya, GM Sandipan Chanda is the only other Indian to win his game in fourth round against GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder (CHI). In the third round, GM Arjun Erigaisi crushed GM Evgeny Romanov (NOR). IM Sambit Panda and IM Anuj Shrivatri held 44th Chess Olympiad Gold medalist GM Jakhongir Vakhidov (UZB) and GM Rodrigo to a draw each respectively.

Aravindh Chithambaram beat Vahap Sanal (TUR) to gain sole lead

Aravindh - Theodorou, Round 3

Position after 53.Re2

It was not easy to figure out that 53...Bg1 is the correct way for Black to stay in the game. 53...Re6 54.Be5 Rc6 55.Rd2+ Ke6 56.Kb4 and White went on to win the game.

Final moments: Aravindh Chithambaram vs Nikolas Theodorou | Video: ChessBase India

Arjun Erigaisi beats Evgeny Romanov | Video: ChessBase India

GM Arjun Erigaisi decimated GM Evgeny Romanov (NOR)

GM Volodar Murzin - GM Aditya Mittal: 0.5-0.5

GM Karthikeyan Murali - GM Sandipan Chanda: 0.5-0.5

IM Sambit Panda held the 44th Chess Olympiad GM Jakhongir Vakhidov (UZB) to a draw

GM Rodrigo Schroeder Vasquez (CHI) - IM Anuj Shrivatri (pictured): 0.5-0.5

Vahap - Aravindh, Round 4

Position after 30...Ne5

Sometimes the correct exchange of pieces can turn things in your favor and incorrect ones worsen things further. The latter happened with the Turkey no.2 GM Vahap Sanal (2600). Th best response for White after 30...Ne5 was 31.Re3 to continue the fight. 31.Bxe5 opened up the f-file which only helped Black and allowed the queen to come through the kingside via e7-h4. 31...fxe5 32.Rf2 Be7 33.Qd3 Qg4 34.Ref1 h6 35.Qe3 Bg6 and it was just a matter of time before things fell apart for White.

Aditya Mittal - Smirin

Position after 43.Rd6+

Where should the king move? Back or towards the h5-pawn? 43...Ke7 would have been correct. 43...Kg5?? invited 44.Kd3. The game continued 44.c6 Re8 Black did not use his second chance well. 44...Re4 was the last opportunity to salvage a half point. 45.Kd3 h4 46.Kd4 and White went on to win the game.

GM Aditya Mittal is now at an unbeaten 3/4

For more Round 3 and Round 4 photos, please click at the respective links.

Final moments: Salem Saleh (UAE) vs Abhimanyu Mishra (USA) | Video: ChessBase India

A total of 81 players including 47 GMs, 19 IMs, a WGM and 3 WIMs are taking part in the Category A (>2200) from 31 countries across the world. The tournament is being organized by Dubai Chess & Culture Club from 27th May to 4th June 2023 at Dubai Chess & Culture Club, UAE. The nine-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 3-4 games

Round 4 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	1	19	GM	Sanal Vahap	2600	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2633	9
4	3	14	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	2618	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2701	3
4	5	6	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2662	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Adhiban B.	2589	24
4	6	18	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	2661	7
4	10	10	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2630	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Miladinovic Igor	2507	37
4	11	34	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2528	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2630	11
4	13	36	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Smirin Ilia	2599	20
4	16	58	IM	Badelka Olga	2406	2	0 - 1	1½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2627	13
4	20	30	IM	Kacharava Nikolozi	2550	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Panda Sambit	2436	52
4	21	33	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2529	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Zou Chen	2413	53
4	22	50	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	1½	1 - 0	1½	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2524	35
4	24	60	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2404	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	39
4	30	46	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Mamatov Melis	2399	63

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	9	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2633	4	2573	0	7,5	10	15
2	1	GM	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2729	3,5	2591	0	6,5	10	6,5
3	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2677	3,5	2587	0	6,5	10	8,6
4	14	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2618	3	2628	0	9	10	5,4
5	36	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2522	3	2611	0	6,5	10	10,6
6	6	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	RUS	2662	3	2593	0	7	10	4,6
7	3	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2701	3	2583	0	6,5	10	2,4
8	12	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	FID	2628	3	2575	0	7	10	5,1
9	7	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2661	3	2574	0	7,5	10	3,8
10	19	GM	Sanal, Vahap	TUR	2600	3	2557	0	7,5	10	5,8

Details

Round 5 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
5	1	9	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2633	4		3½	GM	Yu Yangyi	2729	1
5	3	3	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2701	3		3	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	18
5	6	36	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	3		3	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2628	12
5	7	24	GM	Adhiban B.	2589	3		3	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	2618	14
5	10	39	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	2½		2½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2630	10
5	12	13	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2627	2½		2½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2528	34
5	18	25	GM	Asadli Vugar	2584	2½		2½	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	50
5	24	73	GM	Ahmad Al Khatib	2344	2		2	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2529	33
5	25	52	IM	Panda Sambit	2436	2		2	IM	Injac Teodora	2402	61
5	30	60	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2404	1½		1½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	46

Details

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