23rd Dubai Open 2023 R7: Yangyi joins Aravindh in the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/06/2023

Aravindh Chithambaram drew against Maxim Matlakov in the seventh round of 23rd Dubai Open 2023. For the third consecutive round, Aravindh managed to get himself a fantastic position. However, he was unable to convert it as his attack fizzled out. Yangyi Yu (CHN) defeated Shant Sargsyan (ARM) to join Aravindh in the lead 5.5/7. They are followed by eight players at 5/8 each. Arjun Erigaisi and Abhijeet Gupta are the only two Indians among them. Arjun drew against M Amin Tabatabaei and Abhijeet defeated Vugar Asadli (AZE). It will be Arjun vs Yangyi and Abhijeet vs Aravindh in the penultimate round. Round 8 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun and Abhijeet in the fray

GM Abhijeet Gupta got himself in the championship picture as he defeated GM Vugar Asadli (AZE) by launching a great attack.

Yangyi Yu becomes the coleader of Aravindh Chithambaram 5.5/7

Aravindh - Matlakov

Position after 25...Rg7

White has a substantial advantage in the above position. 26.cxd5 and improving the pawn structure would have been better than 26.Rxd5 as the rook does not have anywhere to go except back and White is not going to get the d6-pawn either. 26.cxd5 g5 27.Rdf1 b5 28.Rf5 was the better alternative. 26...Qc7 27.g5 Rh7 28.Qxh7+ Qxh7 29.Rxh7 Kxh7 White's attack dissipated and the game meandered into a draw.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram once again got himself an advantageous position for the third consecutive game

GM Arjun Erigaisi - GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI): 0.5-0.5

Asadli - Abhijeet

Position after 22...c4

Black had already sacrificed a piece to gain an initiative on the queenside. White decided to return it 23.Qd2 Rfd8 24.Qd4 cxb3 25.Bxb3 a5 26.Qa7 Qc8 Black obviously wants to avoid the queen exchange to maintain the pressure. 27.Rd3 Ra8 28.Qb6 a4 29.Ba2 Rb8 30.Qa7 Rb7 31.Qb4 Be8 and it's over.

GM Abhijeet Gupta moves to 5/7

Karthik - Harsha

Position after 28.c5

GM Karthik Venkataraman (2528) cemented his knight's outpost at d6 with 28.c5. Although 28.Rxf7 Nxf7 29.Nxf7+ Rxf7 30.Rxf7 was also good, the game continued 28...f6 29.Be4 Be6 30.d4 exd4 31.exd4 Nf7 32.Rf4 Qg3 33.Nxf7+ Bxf7 34.Bxc6 Bg6 35.Qf2 Qxf2+ 36.R1xf2 White eventually went on to win the game.

In a battle of the upcoming FIDE World Cup 2023 participants, GM Karthik Venkataraman prevailed over GM Harsha Bharathakoti

GM Aditya Mittal - GM Nikolas Theodorou (GRE): 0.5-0.5

For more Round 7 photos, please click here.

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 7 games

Round 7 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	1	9	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2633	5	½ - ½	4½	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2662	6
7	3	3	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2701	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2677	5
7	7	25	GM	Asadli Vugar	2584	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2630	10
7	9	13	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2627	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Smirin Ilia	2599	20
7	12	16	GM	Vakhidov Jakhongir	2607	3½	1 - 0	4	GM	Adhiban B.	2589	24
7	13	34	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2528	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	18
7	15	36	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Theodorou Nikolas	2591	23
7	17	60	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2404	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2529	33
7	19	31		Sviridov Valery	2545	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	50
7	21	39	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Buksa Nataliya	2406	59
7	34	73	GM	Ahmad Al Khatib	2344	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Panda Sambit	2436	52
7	39	84	WGM	Eric Jovana	2217	½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	46

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	9	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2633	5,5	2631	0	28	10	17,3
2	1	GM	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2729	5,5	2616	0	27	10	7,9
3	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2677	5	2634	0	26	10	8,7
4	7	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2661	5	2622	0	26	10	9,1
5	3	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2701	5	2603	0	22,5	10	4,2
6	6	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	RUS	2662	5	2588	0	26	10	6,3
7	17	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2604	5	2573	0	22,5	10	9,9
8	10	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	IND	2630	5	2540	0	24	10	4,9
9	12	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	FID	2628	5	2539	0	24	10	4,5
10	20	GM	Smirin, Ilia	ISR	2599	5	2484	0	21	10	0,8
11	15	GM	Kovalev, Vladislav	FID	2612	4,5	2616	0	25,5	10	7,8
12	14	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2618	4,5	2579	0	25,5	10	1,2
13	21	GM	Bernadskiy, Vitaliy	UKR	2592	4,5	2573	0	25	10	5,2
14	29	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2550	4,5	2573	0	25	10	9,4
15	11	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2630	4,5	2573	0	24	10	2,5

Details

Round 8 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	1	1	GM	Yu Yangyi	2729	5½		5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2701	3
8	2	10	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2630	5		5½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2633	9
8	7	8	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2637	4½		4½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2528	34
8	10	33	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2529	4½		4½	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2612	15
8	13	13	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2627	4		4	GM	Gavrilescu David	2535	32
8	14	23	GM	Theodorou Nikolas	2591	4		4	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	39
8	15	24	GM	Adhiban B.	2589	4		4	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	36
8	18	18	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	3½		4	IM	Ohanyan Emin	2444	51
8	19	26	GM	Romanov Evgeny	2578	3½		3½	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2404	60
8	23	50	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	3½		3½	IM	Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan	2470	47
8	33	46	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	2½		2½	WIM	Mkrtchyan Mariam	2360	70
8	38	52	IM	Panda Sambit	2436	2		2	WIM	Mandura Tijana	2203	86

Details

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