2nd Menorca Open R4-5: Raja Rithvik crushes Fier and Fedoseev

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/04/2023

GMs D Gukesh, Pranav Venkatesh, Raja Rithvik R and Aryan Chopra are the four leaders at the conclusion of Round 5 at 2nd Menorca Open 2023. All four of them are at 4.5/5 each. Raja Rithvik scored two fantastic victories against GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) and GM Vladimir Fedoseev in Round 4 and 5 respectively. In both games, Rithvik played bravely and took matters into his hands to beat his opponents. Pranav drew with Jorden before beating GM Hans Niemann (USA) in a grueling battle. The teenager handled the queen and minor piece better than the American. Gukesh and Aryan scored two convincing wins to move to the top of the standings. Round 6 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Menorca Chess Open

Gukesh, Pranav Venkatesh, Raja Rithvik and Aryan in a four-way lead

Four Indian players born in 2001 or after, are in the lead at an unbeaten 4.5/5 each. It will be Pranav vs Gukesh and Aryan vs Raja Rithvik on the top two boards. 16 players are at 4/5 each. There are six Indians among them - GM Karthik Venkataraman, GM Aditya Mittal, GM Harsha Bharathakoti, GM Pranav Anand, GM Visakh N R and IM Prraneeth Vuppala.

GM Pranav Venkatesh is one of the four leaders at 4.5/5 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open 2023

Round 4: Fier - Raja Rithvik: 0-1

GM Raja Rithvik R (2472) opted for the Petroff's Defense with the black pieces against the newly crowned 49th La Roda Open 2023 winner, GM Alexandr Fier (BRA, 2599). Players opt for Petroff as it is quite a solid opening and Black can equalize easily out of the opening which Rithvik did.

Position after 21.Rd1

White made a grave mistake of playing 21.Rd1. Black is yet to develop his bishop, yet he has a target in his sight. He pounced on the opportunity 21...Bxh3! White cannot accept the sacrifice 22.gxh3 as there are multitude of threats - 22...Rg6+/Qg4+/Qxe3+. 22.Qf3 sidestepping does not get rid of the imminent problems Bf5 sometimes you have to take a step back to progress in an advantageous position. 23.Qxd5 Be4 the bishop is now at a better place and crucial diagonal 24.Qd7 Rh6 25.Rdb1 Rh2 and it's over.

Beating GM Alexander Fier (FRA) in a fiery way is no easy task which was accomplished by GM Raja Rithvik R | Photo: Menorca Chess Open 2023

Gukesh - Kobo, Round 5

Position after 30.Ne2

Sometimes a simple unassuming exchange can prove to be fatal. In the above position, GM Ori Kobo (ISR, 2549) traded the rooks 30...Rxc1. Little did he know that it will turn out to be the decisive mistake. Find out why it is so and try to think like the top seed, GM D Gukesh (2730).

Niemann - Pranav Venkatesh

Position after 58.Bf1

The queen and minor piece endgame was quite a difficult endgame to play for both sides. GM Hans Niemann (USA, 2706) made the first big mistake 58.Bf1? Qh5+ 59.Kg1 Qg4+ would have probably given Black a quicker win. However, GM Pranav Venkatesh (2545) opted for 58...b4 59.Qf3 h5 60.Bc4 Kh6 61.Bb3 Qh4+ and things spiraled out of control for White. Pranav beautifully seized his advantage and ensured that he doesn't miss his opportunity to beat the second seed of the tournament.

Raja Rithvik - Fedoseev

Position after 13...g4

When you are facing the super-strong GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2674) who sacrificed his pawn 13...g4 with the sole intention of launching a devastating attack, what would you do? GM Raja Rithvik R (2472) accepted the challenge and took it 14.Bxg4 Rg8 15.Bh3 Qh6 16.Kh1 Nf6. Black had to accelerate the attack 16...Bxh2 17.Kxh2 e5. Instead, 16...Nf6 allowed White to consolidate the position 17.f4 Bd7 18.Rf2 Bc7 19.Nf1 Bg7 20.b4 Rc8 21.Bb2 h5 22.a4 both players are playing on separate flank. 22...Ng4 23.Rc2 Bd8 24.Qd1 Bh4 25.Bxg4 another brave move. White is not afraid of opening up the h-file because he knows that he will be able to thwart all attempts. 25...hxg4 26.g3 Be7 27.Ba3 Qf8 28.Qc1 a6 29.cxd5 exd5 30.b5 White is now taking the attack to Black.

Position after 30.b5

Now that White has stopped all possibilities of Black on the kingside, he launches an attack of his own on the queenside. 30.b5 Bxa3 31.Rxa3 cxb5 32.axb5 Qd6 33.Ra7 Rb8 34.b6 Rh8 35.Qa3 since Black's bishop is virtually dead, White can afford to exchange the queens as the resultant endgame is winning for him.

Final position after 53.Nd6+

GM Raja Rithvik R scored two fantastic victories against GM Alexandr Fier and GM Vladimir Fedoseev | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 4 results

GM Pranav Venkatesh - GM Jorden van Foreest (NED): 0.5-0.5

GM Aditya Mittal - GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE): 0.5-0.5

IM Koustav Chatterjee - GM D Gukesh: 0-1

GM Karthik Venkataraman - GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR): 1-0

GM Aryan Chopra - GM Vignesh N R: 1-0

GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) - GM Raja Rithvik R: 0-1

IM P Shyam Nikhil - GM Xiangyu Xu (CHN): 0.5-0.5

IM Sambit Panda - GM Vahap Sanal (TUR): 0.5-0.5

GM Tomas Sosa (ARG) - IM Vantika Agrawal: 0.5-0.5

FM Karthik Rajaa - GM Yuri Solodovnichenko (UKR): 0.5-0.5

IM Ediz Gurel (TUR) - FM Sourath Biswas: 0.5-0.5

WIM Rucha Pujari - IM Siddharth Jagadeesh (SGP): 0.5-0.5

WIM Srishti - IM Jakob Leon Pajeken (GER): 0.5-0.5

Aanjaneya - IM Seyed Kian Poormosavi (IRI): 0.5-0.5

Round 5 results

GM D Gukesh - GM Ori Kobo (ISR): 1-0

GM Hans Niemann (USA) - GM Pranav Venkatesh: 0-1

GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) - GM Aditya Mittal: 0.5-0.5

GM Raja Rithvik R - GM Vladimir Fedoseev: 1-0

GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) - GM Karthik Venkataraman: 0.5-0.5

GM Burak Firat (TUR) - GM Aryan Chopra: 0-1

GM Miguel Santos Ruiz (ESP) - IM Sambit Panda: 0.5-0.5

IM Prraneeth Vuppala - GM Jose Fernando Cuenca Jimenez (ESP): 1-0

IM Ajay Krishna S - GM Brandon Jacobson (USA): 0.5-0.5

GM Vignesh N R - Sanket Chakravarty: 0.5-0.5

FM Sourath Biswas - GM Salvador G Del Rio De Angelis (ESP): 0.5-0.5

WGM Nandhidhaa P V - Aanjaneya Phatak: 0.5-0.5

A total of 200 players including 37 GMs, 30 IMs, 3 WGMs and 6 WIMs are taking part from 38 countries across the world in Group A (>1750). The six day nine-round Swiss League Rating tournament is organized by Chess Menorca from 11th to 16th April 2023 at Ciutadella in Menorca, Spain. The time control of the tournament is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 4-5 games

Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Gukesh D	2730	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Kobo Ori	2549	21
2	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2706	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Pranav V	2545	22
3	3	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	2680	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Aditya Mittal	2505	34
4	41	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2472	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2674	4
5	5	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	2649	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2516	29
6	45	GM	Firat Burak	2456	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Aryan Chopra	2607	10
7	32	GM	Henderson De La Fuente Lance	2506	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Albornoz Cabrera Carlos Daniel	2586	16
8	7	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2617	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Chen Qi B	2493	37
9	44	IM	Fernandez Guillen Ernesto J.	2461	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	2609	8
10	9	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2608	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2476	40
11	11	GM	Warmerdam Max	2605	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Sokolovsky Yahli	2464	43
12	14	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	2590	3	½ - ½	3	FM	Panda Sambit	2452	46
13	17	GM	Sanal Vahap	2582	3	1 - 0	3	FM	Seemann Jakub	2439	53
14	54	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2437	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2553	19
15	20	GM	Visakh N R	2552	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Low Zhen Yu Cyrus	2425	55

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2730	4,5	16	13,5	13
2	22	GM	Pranav V	IND	2545	4,5	15,5	13,5	14
3	41	GM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2472	4,5	15	13	13,5
4	10	GM	Aryan Chopra	IND	2607	4,5	14,5	12,5	13
5	3	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	NED	2680	4	17,5	15	13,5
6	5	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	CZE	2649	4	17	14,5	13,5
7	29	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	IND	2516	4	16,5	14	13
8	16	GM	Albornoz Cabrera Carlos Daniel	CUB	2586	4	16	13,5	13,5
9	33	GM	Xu Yi	CHN	2505	4	16	13,5	12,5
10	34	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2505	4	15,5	13	13,5
11	9	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	IND	2608	4	15	12,5	12
12	32	GM	Henderson De La Fuente Lance	AND	2506	4	14,5	12,5	13,5
13	17	GM	Sanal Vahap	TUR	2582	4	14,5	12,5	12
14	26	GM	Pranav Anand	IND	2525	4	14,5	12	12
15	11	GM	Warmerdam Max	NED	2605	4	14,5	12	11,5

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	22	GM	Pranav V	2545	4½		4½	GM	Gukesh D	2730	1
2	10	GM	Aryan Chopra	2607	4½		4½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2472	41
3	26	GM	Pranav Anand	2525	4		4	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	2680	3
4	32	GM	Henderson De La Fuente Lance	2506	4		4	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	2649	5
5	29	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2516	4		4	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2608	9
6	33	GM	Xu Yi	2505	4		4	GM	Warmerdam Max	2605	11
7	16	GM	Albornoz Cabrera Carlos Daniel	2586	4		4	IM	Aditya Mittal	2505	34
8	44	IM	Fernandez Guillen Ernesto J.	2461	4		4	GM	Sanal Vahap	2582	17
9	54	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2437	4		4	GM	Visakh N R	2552	20
10	25	GM	Pultinevicius Paulius	2532	4		4	FM	Trost Edvin	2398	64
11	38	GM	Solodovnichenko Yuri	2489	3½		3½	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2706	2
12	4	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2674	3½		3½	IM	Sousa Andre Ventura	2470	42
13	39	IM	Gurel Ediz	2489	3½		3½	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2619	6
14	7	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2617	3½		3½	GM	Firat Burak	2456	45
15	14	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	2590	3½		3½	IM	Rozen Eytan	2450	48

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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