3rd Menorca Open R7-8: Arjun Erigaisi outplays Aryan Chopra, grabs sole lead, now World no.5

by Shahid Ahmed - 07/04/2024

GM Aryan Chopra drew against his coleader, GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) in 20 moves to stay in the lead 6/7. The top seed of 3rd Menorca Open 2024, GM Arjun Erigaisi showcased his fantastic positional understanding beating GM Pranav Anand and joined the above at the top along with GM Max Warmerdam (NED). Arjun outplayed Aryan in the penultimate round to grab sole lead 7/8. He is also now World no.5 in the live ratings. Arjun will face GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) in the final round to determine the winner. Arjun eliminated Fedoseev at FIDE World Cup 2023. Later they drew at Qatar Masters 2023. Can Arjun continue his fantastic run and win the tournament? Round 9 starts today at 10 a.m. local time, 1 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Arjun scores a hat-trick

GM Arjun Erigaisi won three games in-a-row to become the sole leader 7/8 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 7: Pranav Anand - Arjun Erigaisi: 0-1

GM Arjun Erigaisi (2756) opted for Accelerated Sicilian Dragon against GM Pranav Anand (2519). Pranav managed to take away castling rights from Arjun's king. However, Arjun found a safe haven for the king by doing artificial castling.

Position after 26...e4

The above position is a great example of uncoordinated pieces versus well-placed pieces and perfect harmony. It would not be an exaggeration to say Black is positionally winning after 26...e4 as there are so many ideas and threats. White is a bit too late to stop them. 27.f4 Bf6 28.h3 Rf8 29.Rc1 g5 since the black cannot be attacked easily, he is unafraid in opening the kingside 30.Rce1 Kg6 king can be used as a piece in the middlegame too. 31.b5 opening another flank helps Black cxb5 32.Bxb5 Rb8 33.c4 dxc4 34.fxg5 Bxg5 open position helps the one with bishop pair and the black king still cannot be perturbed.

Arjun - Aryan, Round 8

Position after 30.Rc7

Arjun got a vice grip on his position against GM Aryan Chopra (2630). 30...g6 is the correct way to play for Black. It was not easy to find the precise defense. 30...Bd7? 31.d6 Rf5 32.Nxd7+ Nxd7 33.Re4 Nc5 34.Re7 White invaded the seventh rank with both of his rooks. Since defending the d6-pawn was not a viable choice, White decided to trade it for the kingside pawns. It was evidently the right decision. Arjun had no trouble converting the technical endgame to win the game. This win moved Arjun to World no.5 in the live ratings and also the sole tournament leader.

Arjun Erigaisi is now World no.5 with a live rating of 2762 | Source: 2700chess.com

WGM Priyanka Nutakki won the All-Indian clash against IM Divya Deshmukh | Photo: Menorca Open

Round 8 in progress | Photo: Menorca Open

Replay Round 7 Live Commentary by IM Michael Rahal (ESP) | Video: Michael Rahal

Replay Round 8 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 7-8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2756	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2630	12
2	10	GM	Warmerdam, Max	2633	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2630	13
3	3	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2690	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Fernandez, Daniel Howard	2528	32
4	38	GM	Krzyzanowski, Marcin	2510	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Alekseenko, Kirill	2655	7
5	14	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2621	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Iermito, Sebastian	2511	37
6	16	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2607	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Klimkowski, Jan	2505	39
7	35	GM	Pranav, Anand	2519	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2698	2
8	5	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2668	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Balakrishnan, Praveen	2500	43
9	6	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2662	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Seemann, Jakub	2465	63
10	50	IM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	2490	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2632	11
11	47	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2495	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2609	15
12	52		Xiao, Tong(Qd)	2484	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel	2604	17
13	18	GM	Pranav, V	2604	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Lamard, Guillaume	2495	46
14	19	GM	Idani, Pouya	2602	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Mamedov, Edgar	2317	117
15	56	FM	Macias Pino, Diego	2478	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Sosa, Tomas	2562	24

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2756	7	42	38	30,5
2	13	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2630	6,5	43,5	40	32
	7	GM	Alekseenko, Kirill	AUT	2655	6,5	41,5	37,5	30,5
	10	GM	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2633	6,5	40,5	37	31
	3	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2690	6,5	40,5	36,5	28
	14	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	ESP	2621	6,5	40	36	30
	16	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	ESP	2607	6,5	40	35,5	28
8	12	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2630	6	41,5	38	31
	33	IM	Vogel, Roven	GER	2528	6	41,5	37,5	26,5
	19	GM	Idani, Pouya	IRI	2602	6	41,5	35,5	29
	5	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2668	6	40,5	37	28
	24	GM	Sosa, Tomas	ARG	2562	6	39,5	37,5	28
	6	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2662	6	39	35	28
	18	GM	Pranav, V	IND	2604	6	38,5	35	26,5
	47	IM	Szpar, Milosz	POL	2495	6	38,5	34,5	26,5

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2756	7	6½	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2690	3
2	7	GM	Alekseenko, Kirill	2655	6½	6½	GM	Warmerdam, Max	2633	10
3	13	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2630	6½	6½	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	2621	14
4	6	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2662	6	6½	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2607	16
5	24	GM	Sosa, Tomas	2562	6	6	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2668	5
6	12	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2630	6	6	GM	Pranav, Anand	2519	35
7	33	IM	Vogel, Roven	2528	6	6	GM	Pranav, V	2604	18
8	47	IM	Szpar, Milosz	2495	6	6	GM	Idani, Pouya	2602	19
9	8	GM	Pichot, Alan	2644	5½	6	GM	Zhu, Jiner	2463	64
10	11	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2632	5½	5½	GM	Avila Pavas, Santiago	2500	42
11	17	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel	2604	5½	5½	IM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	2490	50
12	71	IM	Tarhan, Adar	2446	5½	5½	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2565	22
13	26	GM	Nasuta, Grzegorz	2552	5½	5½		Xiao, Tong(Qd)	2484	52
14	28	GM	Gorshtein, Ido	2540	5½	5½	IM	Kosakowski, Jakub	2482	54
15	32	GM	Fernandez, Daniel Howard	2528	5½	5½	IM	Castellanos Rodriguez, Renier	2467	60

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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