Will Gukesh win Menorca Open for the second year in-a-row?

by Shahid Ahmed - 16/04/2023

The defending champion GM D Gukesh defeated the previous day leader, GM Aryan Chopra to get back in the lead. He drew the penultimate round game against the Netherlands no.2 GM Jorden van Foreest to move closer to a second consecutive triumph. IM Koustav Chatterjee defeated GM Xu Yi (CHN) and GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) in consecutive games to move to 6.5/8. Gukesh and Koustav are the only two Indians among seven leaders. They are followed by another seven players including five Indians - GM Pranav Venkatesh, GM Aryan, GM Harsha Bharathakoti, IM Prraneeth Vuppala and the reigning National champion, GM Karthik Venkataraman at 6/8 each. Final Round 9 starts today at 10 a.m. local time, 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Menorca Chess Open

Gukesh and Koustav in a seven-way lead

In the final round it's Gukesh vs Fedoseev and Niemann vs Koustav. If Gukesh wins his game, he becomes a champion as he has the best tie-breaks. While, a draw would allow any number of players to catch up or surpass him.

GM D Gukesh is one of the seven leaders at 6.5/8 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open 2023

Round 7: Gukesh - Aryan: 1-0

GM D Gukesh (2730) got a better position out of the Catalan opening against GM Aryan Chopra (2607).

Position after 13.b3

White offered his e5-pawn as a sacrifice with the move 13.b3. Black took the bait. 13...cxb3 14.axb3 Qxe5 15.Bf4 Black cannot take on f4 because Nf6+ finishes the game too quickly. 15...Qh5 16.Bd6 Rd8 17.Qc5 alternatively White could have traded the bishops at f8 and then went with Nc6.

Position after 27...c5

Black's position was already in shambles. 27..c5 invited 28.Rxe6+ Qxe6 29.Re4 Qxe4 30.Bxe4 Nc3 31.Qxc3 Bxe4 32.Qe5+ Re7 33.Qxc5 and Black really does not have much to fight for.

Position after 51...Rc6+

White made a very pretty finish 52.Qxc6+ and Black resigned as the black is unable to stop the f-pawn promotion and save its own bishop at the same time.

Gukesh is now World no.17 | Source: 2700chess.com

Thai Dai Van - Pranav Venkatesh

Position after 56.Kd1

GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE, 2649) and GM Pranav Venkatesh (2545) arguably had one of the most thrilling finishes of the day if not the most. The d7-pawn promotion looks unstoppable, yet White has some back-rank issues. The game continued 56...Nxf2+ which created some winning chances for White 57.Kd2 Ng4+ 58.Kc3 f2 59.Nxb8. Instead 59.d8Q would have been winning for White. The game eventually ended in a draw as White missed his opportunity. Find out what should have played to secure the draw in the above position.

GM Pranav Venkatesh had a thrilling game against GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) | Photo: Menorca Chess Open 2023

Round 8: GM Aryan Chopra - GM Pranav Venkatesh: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open 2023

Koustav - Fier, Round 8

Position after 48...Bg6

GM Alexandr Fier (BRA, 2599) blundered 48...Bg6?? in a relatively balanced endgame against IM Koustav Chatterjee (2520). Find out why it is a decisive mistake.

IM Koustav Chatterjee defeated GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) to become one of the seven leaders at 6.5/8 | Photo: Anniken Vestby/SjakkTromsø

IM Prraneeth Vuppala defeated GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) to move to 6/8 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open 2023

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 7-8 games

Round 8 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	1	3	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	2680	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Gukesh D	2730	1
8	2	4	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2674	5½	1 - 0	6	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2608	9
8	6	10	GM	Aryan Chopra	2607	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Pranav V	2545	22
8	7	28	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2520	5½	1 - 0	5	GM	Fier Alexandr	2599	12
8	9	15	GM	Xu Xiangyu	2587	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Aditya Mittal	2505	34
8	11	29	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2516	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Sanal Vahap	2582	17
8	12	58		Jinan Jomon	2421	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2553	19
8	13	20	GM	Visakh N R	2552	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Gurel Ediz	2489	39
8	14	54	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2437	5	1 - 0	4½	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2619	6
8	16	49	GM	Del Rio De Angelis Salvador G.	2449	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Iniyan P	2515	30
8	19	33	GM	Xu Yi	2505	4½	1 - 0	4½	WGM	Vantika Agrawal	2407	62
8	20	64	FM	Trost Edvin	2398	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Vignesh N R	2497	36
8	22	85	FM	Zwahr Paul	2266	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2472	41
8	25	68	IM	Padmini Rout	2388	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Can Emre	2594	13
8	27	26	GM	Pranav Anand	2525	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2382	69
8	28	27	IM	Beerdsen Thomas	2523	4	1 - 0	4	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2362	72
8	29	70	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2376	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Solodovnichenko Yuri	2489	38
8	30	74	IM	Eggleston David J	2360	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2476	40
8	34	81	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2302	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Rozen Eytan	2450	48
8	36	51	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2441	4	½ - ½	4	FM	Sourath Biswas	2265	86
8	40	63	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2400	4	1 - 0	4		Oberoi Shelev	2226	92
8	42	113		Marin Ferragut Pau	2131	3½	0 - 1	3½	FM	Panda Sambit	2452	46
8	44	73	FM	Panesar Vedant	2362	3½	1 - 0	3½		Lauer Marius	2119	116
8	46	129	CM	Tulendinov Dinmukhammed	2048	3½	0 - 1	3½	FM	Aarav Dengla	2349	76
8	48	135		Garcia Elio Juan	2012	3½	0 - 1	3½		Sanket Chakravarty	2327	80
8	51	87	FM	Sahithi Varshini M	2260	3½	1 - 0	3½		Halmeenmaki Tuomo	2114	118
8	52	89	FM	Schenderowitsch Michael	2237	3½	1 - 0	3½		Manukonda Arun	2072	124
8	55	188	AFM	Srivatsan Karthikeyan	1777	3½	1 - 0	3½		Fernandez Gil Marco Antonio	2208	96
8	57	99	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2195	3½	1 - 0	3½		Perez Aleman Pedro Tomas	1986	145
8	60	105	WIM	Pandey Srishti	2174	3½	1 - 0	3½		Krauchi Romero Martin	1889	164
8	69	109	FM	Mahitosh Dey	2154	3	1 - 0	3		Green Michael	1988	142
8	76	125		Phatak Aanjaneya	2070	2½	1 - 0	2½		Ferenczi Robert Frank	1826	176

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2730	6,5	45	40,5	30,5
2	3	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	NED	2680	6,5	42	38	31
3	4	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	FID	2674	6,5	42	38	29,5
4	21	GM	Kobo Ori	ISR	2549	6,5	39,5	36	28,5
5	7	GM	Chigaev Maksim	FID	2617	6,5	39	35	27,5
6	28	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	IND	2520	6,5	38,5	34,5	27,5
7	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2706	6,5	38	34,5	29
8	22	GM	Pranav V	IND	2545	6	44	40,5	30,5
9	10	GM	Aryan Chopra	IND	2607	6	42,5	38	30
10	9	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	IND	2608	6	42	38	29
11	54	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	IND	2437	6	38	36	27
12	15	GM	Xu Xiangyu	CHN	2587	6	38	34,5	27
13	29	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	IND	2516	6	37,5	34	28
14	23	GM	Sosa Tomas	ARG	2544	6	35	31,5	25,5
15	5	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	CZE	2649	5,5	43,5	39	29,5

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	1	1	GM	Gukesh D	2730	6½		6½	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2674	4
9	2	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2706	6½		6½	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2520	28
9	4	9	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2608	6		6½	GM	Kobo Ori	2549	21
9	5	23	GM	Sosa Tomas	2544	6		6	GM	Aryan Chopra	2607	10
9	6	29	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2516	6		6	GM	Xu Xiangyu	2587	15
9	7	22	GM	Pranav V	2545	6		6	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2437	54
9	12	35	IM	Tiglon Bryce	2502	5½		5½	GM	Visakh N R	2552	20
9	14	31	GM	Krzyzanowski Marcin	2511	5½		5½		Jinan Jomon	2421	58
9	15	17	GM	Sanal Vahap	2582	5		5½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2472	41
9	19	50	IM	Zhao Yuanhe	2447	5		5	GM	Pranav Anand	2525	26
9	21	30	GM	Iniyan P	2515	5		5	FM	Seemann Jakub	2439	53
9	22	34	IM	Aditya Mittal	2505	5		5	FM	Trost Edvin	2398	64
9	23	36	IM	Vignesh N R	2497	5		5	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2400	63
9	24	40	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2476	5		5	IM	Mohammad Fahad Rahman	2396	65
9	25	44	IM	Fernandez Guillen Ernesto J.	2461	5		5	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2376	70
9	27	76	FM	Aarav Dengla	2349	4½		4½	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	2609	8
9	28	13	GM	Can Emre	2594	4½		4½	FM	Sahithi Varshini M	2260	87
9	30	46	FM	Panda Sambit	2452	4½		4½		De Groote Ewoud	2207	97
9	31	80		Sanket Chakravarty	2327	4½		4½	GM	Cabrera Alexis	2450	47
9	32	84	FM	Bizhigitov Zhangir	2285	4½		4½	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2441	51
9	33	55	IM	Low Zhen Yu Cyrus	2425	4½		4½	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2195	99
9	35	59	IM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2418	4½		4½	WIM	Pandey Srishti	2174	105
9	37	86	FM	Sourath Biswas	2265	4½		4½	FM	Shivakumar Shawnak	2418	61
9	38	62	WGM	Vantika Agrawal	2407	4½		4½		Aguilo Benejam Alfredo	2064	126
9	40	94	FM	Laurent Julien G.	2223	4½		4½	IM	Padmini Rout	2388	68
9	41	101	IM	Mannion Stephen R	2190	4½		4½	FM	Panesar Vedant	2362	73
9	45	69	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2382	4		4	IM	Borsos Bogdan	2170	107
9	47	72	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2362	4		4	FM	Mahitosh Dey	2154	109
9	48	112		Sanroman Costas Mauro	2132	4		4	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2302	81
9	65	124		Manukonda Arun	2072	3½		3½		Fellowes Billy	1721	194
9	66	184		Sureda Gonzalez Miquel	1792	3½		3½		Phatak Aanjaneya	2070	125

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

Related news:

	Gukesh convincingly defends Menorca Open title, Pranav Venkatesh second @ 17/04/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	2nd Menorca Open R6: Aryan Chopra emerges sole leader @ 15/04/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	2nd Menorca Open R4-5: Raja Rithvik crushes Fier and Fedoseev @ 14/04/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	2nd Menorca Open R1-3: Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad defies World no.20 Gukesh @ 13/04/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)