3rd Menorca Open R6: Aryan Chopra wins a 136-move marathon against Nihal Sarin, stays at the top

by Shahid Ahmed - 06/04/2024

GM Aryan Chopra defeated GM Nihal Sarin to stay in the lead 5.5/6 at 3rd Menorca Open 2024. Aryan had a long-term positional advantage in the middlegame. He could have finished things a lot earlier in the rook and opposite color bishop endgame. Due to being low on the clock, Aryan decided not to take unnecessary risks. He eventually won the game after 136 moves. GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) is Aryan's coleader. Daniel made a short work of GM Kirill Alekseenko (AUT) in just 27 moves. Aryan and Daniel will inevitably clash against each other in the seventh round. Seven players including top seed GM Arjun Erigaisi and GM Pranav Anand are at 5/6 each. Arjun and Pranav will battle on board no.2. Round 7 starts today at 10 a.m. local time, 1 p.m. IST. Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

Arjun Erigaisi and Pranav Anand in the fray

GM Aryan Chopra won a prolonged battle against GM Nihal Sarin | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Aryan - Nihal

Position after 71...d5?

GM Aryan Chopra (2630) had a long-term positional advantage in the middlegame against GM Nihal Sarin (2698). Nihal made a desperate attempt to get back at the game 71...d5? If White had taken the pawn 72.exd5 Kf3 73.d6 e4+ 74.Kc4 things would have finished much earlier. Due to low time, he wanted to avoid taking unnecessary risk and opted for 72.c4 dxc4+ 73.Kxc4 it prolonged the inevitable. The game eventually transposed into a queen and bishop vs rook and bishop which Aryan won.

GM Arjun Erigaisi defeated his statemate GM Raja Rithvik R

Replay Round 6 Live Commentary by IM Michael Rahal (ESP) | Video: Michael Rahal

A total of 275 players including 43 GMs, 56 IMs, 6 WGMs and 6 WIMs are taking part from 45 countries across the world in Group A (>1750). The six day nine-round Swiss League Rating tournament is organized by Chess Menorca from 2nd to 7th April 2024 at Ciutadella in Menorca, Spain. The time control of the tournament is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 6 games

Round 6 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	12	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2630	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2698	2
2	13	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2630	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Alekseenko, Kirill	2655	7
3	10	GM	Warmerdam, Max	2633	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Klimkowski, Jan	2505	39
4	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2756	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Raja, Rithvik R	2532	31
5	3	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2690	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Sosa, Tomas	2562	24
6	5	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2668	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Pranav, Anand	2519	35
7	6	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2662	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Balakrishnan, Praveen	2500	43
8	8	GM	Pichot, Alan	2644	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Seemann, Jakub	2465	63
9	19	GM	Idani, Pouya	2602	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2632	11
10	14	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2621	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Makkar, Rajat	2452	67
11	38	GM	Krzyzanowski, Marcin	2510	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2609	15
12	48	IM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	2491	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel	2604	17
13	56	FM	Macias Pino, Diego	2478	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Lagarde, Maxime	2640	9
14	16	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2607	3½	1 - 0	3½	IM	Baskin, Robert	2466	62
15	18	GM	Pranav, V	2604	3½	1 - 0	3½	IM	Koelle, Tobias	2467	61

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	12	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2630	5,5	25	21,5	19
	13	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2630	5,5	22,5	19,5	19,5
3	63	IM	Seemann, Jakub	POL	2465	5	24	22,5	18
	14	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	ESP	2621	5	23	20,5	18
	3	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2690	5	23	20,5	16
	10	GM	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2633	5	22,5	19,5	18,5
	39	IM	Klimkowski, Jan	POL	2505	5	22	19,5	19,5
	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2756	5	22	19,5	17,5
	35	GM	Pranav, Anand	IND	2519	5	20	17,5	17
10	7	GM	Alekseenko, Kirill	AUT	2655	4,5	26	23	18,5
	6	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2662	4,5	24,5	21,5	17
	11	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2632	4,5	24,5	21,5	16,5
	19	GM	Idani, Pouya	IRI	2602	4,5	24	19,5	18
	2	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2698	4,5	23,5	21,5	18
	43	GM	Balakrishnan, Praveen	USA	2500	4,5	23,5	20,5	17

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	12	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2630	5½	5½	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2630	13
2	35	GM	Pranav, Anand	2519	5	5	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2756	1
3	39	IM	Klimkowski, Jan	2505	5	5	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2690	3
4	63	IM	Seemann, Jakub	2465	5	5	GM	Warmerdam, Max	2633	10
5	2	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2698	4½	5	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2621	14
6	46	IM	Lamard, Guillaume	2495	4½	4½	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2662	6
7	7	GM	Alekseenko, Kirill	2655	4½	4½	IM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	2491	48
8	11	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2632	4½	4½	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2495	47
9	15	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2609	4½	4½		Xiao, Tong(Qd)	2484	52
10	41	GM	Petkov, Momchil	2502	4½	4½	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2607	16
11	17	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel	2604	4½	4½	FM	Macias Pino, Diego	2478	56
12	43	GM	Balakrishnan, Praveen	2500	4½	4½	GM	Pranav, V	2604	18
13	71	IM	Tarhan, Adar	2446	4½	4½	GM	Idani, Pouya	2602	19
14	32	GM	Fernandez, Daniel Howard	2528	4½	4½	IM	Alexakis, Dimitris	2443	72
15	37	IM	Iermito, Sebastian	2511	4½	4½	IM	Akbas, Umut Ata	2436	76

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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