2nd elllobregat Open R5: Aditya Mittal still at the top

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/12/2021

IM Aditya Mittal held the top seed of the tournament, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) to a draw in the fifth round of 2nd elllobregat Open 2021. 15 players including five Indians are at a half point behind 4.0/5. They are - Arjun Erigaisi, Sethuraman, Visakh N R and Sankalp Gupta. Aditya will face Sethuraman at the top board. Visakh, Sethuraman and Sankalp drew with Arjun Erigaisi, Nikita Meshkovs (LAT) and former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) respectively. Aditya Mittal moves closer to his second GM-norm and the tournament triumph both. Round 6 starts today at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Aditya Samant prevails Nico Zwirs

Only one game ended decisively out of first six boards. However, the most interesting draw among them was between Karthikeyan Murali and Harsha Bharathakoti. IM Vignesh N R and Shantanu Bhambure drew with GM Marc Narciso Dublan (ESP) and GM Julen Luis Arizmendi Martinez (ESP); FM Aditya S Samant and WIM Isha Sharma defeated IM Nico Zwirs (NED) and WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER) each respectively.

IM Aditya Mittal maintains his sole lead 4.5/5 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Aditya Mittal - Abdusattorov: 0.5-0.5

IM Aditya Mittal had a well-fought draw with Uzbekistan no.2 GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Aditya Mittal continues his great form | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Visakh N R drew with Arjun Erigaisi

Sethuraman - Nikita: 0.5-0.5

Sethuraman got himself a good position against Nikita Meshkovs (LAT).

Position after 22.Re3

White needs to play a3 sooner than later and make sure nothing happens on the queenside as the rook is misplaced on c5 and the knight cannot do much. Thus the probability of Black launching a successful attack on the queenside is far less than White creating a chance for himself on the kingside. It is all easier than done on a practical game. Knights and queens got exchanged soon, the attack fizzled out, rendering the game end up in an equal rook, bishop and many pawns endgame.

Sethuraman will face Aditya Mittal in the next round | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Sankalp Gupta drew with former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Karthikeyan - Harsha: 0.5-0.5

Karthikeyan Murali and Harsha Bharathakoti, arguably had the most interesting draw of the round.

Position after 19.Re4

It goes without saying that, Karthikeyan is a very creative player, so whenever he gets an opportunity to express his creative side, he does it. 19.Re4 is a beautiful move. Try to figure out if taking the rook on e4 is a good idea for Black or not. The game eventually liquidated into a bishop vs rook endgame.

Position after 35.hxg6

White has two bishops and a bishop for Black's rook. Both players made their attempt to push for a full point, after 22 more moves the game ended in a draw because of insufficient material. Try to work out, what plans should White have in the above position and how can Black defend it.

When Karthikeyan is playing, you can almost always expect the unexpected

IM Vignesh N R (pictured) - GM Marc Narciso Dublan (ESP): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Julen Luis Arizemendi Martinez (ESP) - Shantanu Bhambure (pictured): 0.5-0.5

FM Aditya S Samant (pictured) - IM Nico Zwirs (NED): 1-0

WIM Isha Sharma (pictured) - WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER): 1-0 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

12th World Champion in the history of chess - Anatoly Karpov visited the tournament during Round 5 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Replay Round 5 games

The tournament is taking place at Hotel Playafels, at Castelldefels, Barcelona in Spain from 30th November to 8th December 2021. Every day game starts at 9:30 p.m. IST, except the last round, which starts at 2:30 p.m. IST. Time control is 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes/end + 30 seconds increment per move starting from move 1.

Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	43	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	4	½ - ½	3½	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2646	1
2	24	GM	Visakh N R	2515	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2627	5
3	6	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2620	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	2557	14
4	41	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2468	3½	½ - ½	3	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2633	2
5	30	IM	Saduakassova Dinara	2491	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2633	3
6	4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	31
7	33	IM	Beerdsen Thomas	2484	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Fedorchuk Sergey A.	2594	9
8	11	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2579	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Kacharava Nikolozi	2469	39
9	38	IM	Vrolijk Liam	2470	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2567	12
10	13	GM	Fier Alexandr	2563	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Gretarsson Helgi Ass	2476	37
11	36	IM	Garriga Cazorla Pere	2477	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Sosa Tomas	2542	17
12	20	GM	Van Foreest Lucas	2532	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Movsziszian Karen	2457	45
13	46	IM	Das Arghyadip	2453	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Vetoshko Volodymyr	2525	21
14	48	IM	Vignesh N R	2450	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2519	23
15	25	GM	Krzyzanowski Marcin	2510	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Das Sayantan	2436	54

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	43	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	4½		4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2620	6
2	1	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2646	4		4	GM	Van Foreest Lucas	2532	20
3	3	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2633	4		4	GM	Visakh N R	2515	24
4	5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2627	4		4	GM	Krzyzanowski Marcin	2510	25
5	17	IM	Sosa Tomas	2542	4		4	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2579	11
6	12	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2567	4		4	IM	Beerdsen Thomas	2484	33
7	29	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2491	4		4	GM	Fier Alexandr	2563	13
8	14	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	2557	4		4	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2468	41
9	2	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2633	3½		3½	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2485	32
10	35	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	3½		3½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	4
11	46	IM	Das Arghyadip	2453	3½		3½	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2606	7
12	75	IM	Suarez Uriel Adrian	2343	3½		3½	GM	Stocek Jiri	2557	15
13	21	GM	Vetoshko Volodymyr	2525	3½		3½	IM	Vignesh N R	2450	48
14	23	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2519	3½		3½	IM	Pantzar Milton	2441	53
15	89	CM	Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan	2282	3½		3½	GM	Asis Gargatagli Hipolito	2502	26

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Details

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