3rd Yerevan Open R7: Sivuk beats Narayanan to take sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/10/2021

Vitaly Sivuk (UKR) brought an end to Narayanan's four-game unbeaten streak as the former defeated him in the seventh round to take sole lead 6.5/7 at 3rd Yerevan Open. Narayanan got himself into a cramped position out of the opening and could not put up a good fight against the Ukrainian. Abhimanyu Puranik completely turned things around against Gukesh to win from an almost lost position. He is now just a half point behind the leader at 6.0/7. GM Karthik Venkataraman scored his fourth consecutive victory to move to 5.5/7. He will face Gukesh in the eighth round. IM Pranav Anand scored an impressive victory over GM Sandipan Chanda. Round 8 starts today at 3:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Abhimanyu bests Gukesh

The second board witnessed an exciting battle between two Indian players - Gukesh and Abhimanyu. The former was well on his way to victory but Abhimanyu fought back well and scored a victory from a difficult position. IM Moksh Amit Doshi drew with GM Harsha Bharathakoti and CM Prraneeth Vuppala scored a victory against IM Viachaslau Zarubitski (BLR).

Sivuk did not give any chance to Narayanan | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sivuk - Narayanan: 1-0

GM Vitaly Sivuk (UKR) outplayed GM Narayanan S L right out of the opening as the latter made some passive choices.

Position after 12...Bb8

12...e4 13.Nd2 d5 would have been a better choice. 12...Bb8 led to 13.d5 e4 14.Nd2 Nb6 15.Qb3 Bf5 16.Rfd1 Nbd7 an unpleasant position for Black.

Gukesh - Abhimanyu: 0-1

GM D Gukesh had an advantage initially against GM Abhimanyu Puranik.

Position after 21...Rc7

The bishop at a3 is not doing much and White should prioritize pushing the passed pawn. Since the d4-pawn is weak and Black's knight is out of play, 22.Bb2 threatening Bxd4 makes a lot of sense. 22.Qe4 d3 23.Qxa4 d2 allowed Black's d-pawn to become a monster. It played a key role in Black's victory.

Abhimanyu completely turned things around in his favor | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Bharath Subramaniyam made a solid draw with GM Klementy Sychev | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Amirezza - Karthik: 0-1

Untitled Amirezza Pour Agha Bala (IRI) made a positional mistake of exchanging his light square bishop for GM Karthik Venkataraman's knight.

Position after 29.Bxe4

29.Bxe4 may not lose instantly for White, but it certainly puts him on the highway to a loss. 29...Bxe4 needed to be met with an interesting variation 30.f5 exf5 31.e6, if 30...gxf5 then 31.g6 according to the computer. The game continued 30.Rc4 Qb7 31.Rfc1 Kd7. Now Black has a deadly threat of Rh8-h1. White may have been able to momentarily stop it 32.Nf5 Rh8 33.Nh6. However, it left a vaccuum on the queenside 34...Nxb3. Black won the game in another eight moves.

GM Karthik Venkataraman has scored four consecutive victories | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Arystanbek Urazayev (KAZ) held GM Arjun Erigaisi to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranav - Sandipan: 1-0

IM Pranav Anand is a very strong talented youth. If you make a mistake against him, he will catch and make you pay. GM Sandipan Chanda made a mistake for which he had to suffer a loss.

Position after 19...b5

Find out why 19...b5 is a big mistake and the best continuation for White.

IM Pranav Anand got the better of GM Sandipan Chanda | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Moksh Amit Doshi - GM Harsha Bharathakoti: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Viachaslau Zarubitski (BLR) - CM Prraneeth Vuppala: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Raahil Mullick - Atharva Godbole: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WFM Srishti Pandey defeated WIM Priyanka Nutakki in second consecutive tournament | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more Round 7 photos, please click here.

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes of Round 7.

GM Vitaly Sivuk (UKR) defeated GM Narayanan S L

GM Aleksey Goganov (RUS) defeated IM Nikoloz Petriashvili (GEO)

Replay Round 7 games

The tournament is taking place at Yerevan in Armenia from 14th to 22nd October 2021. Time control is 90'/40 + 30' + 30" per move. Round 1-4 and 6-8 starts at 2 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. IST). Round 5 and the final round will start at 11:00 a.m. local time (12:30 p.m. IST).

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	12	GM	Sivuk Vitaly	UKR	2529	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Narayanan S.L.	IND	2647	1
2	2	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2568	5
3	7	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	ARM	2562	4½	½ - ½	5	IM	Shahinyan David	ARM	2469	23
4	30	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2435	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Sychev Klementy	RUS	2555	9
5	37	FM	Daghli Arash	IRI	2427	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Mikaelyan Arman	ARM	2487	17
6	32		Pour Agha Bala Amirreza	IRI	2432	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	IND	2483	19
7	24	IM	Tahbaz Arash	IRI	2459	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Nadanian Ashot	ARM	2317	55
8	27	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	KAZ	2451	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	3
9	4	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	GEO	2570	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Babujian Levon	ARM	2447	28
10	8	GM	Goganov Aleksey	RUS	2557	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Petriashvili Nikoloz	GEO	2432	31
11	10	GM	Pultinevicius Paulius	LTU	2552	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Golubka Petro	UKR	2438	29
12	34	IM	Pranav Anand	IND	2430	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Chanda Sandipan	IND	2543	11
13	44	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	IND	2379	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	IND	2517	13
14	16	GM	Quparadze Giga	GEO	2495	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Daneshvar Bardiya	IRI	2403	39
15	53	IM	Morchiashvili Bachana	GEO	2319	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	ARM	2471	22

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	5	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2568	6		6½	GM	Sivuk Vitaly	UKR	2529	12
2	1	GM	Narayanan S.L.	IND	2647	5½		5½	IM	Shahinyan David	ARM	2469	23
3	17	GM	Mikaelyan Arman	ARM	2487	5½		5½	IM	Tahbaz Arash	IRI	2459	24
4	19	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	IND	2483	5½		5	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	2
5	16	GM	Quparadze Giga	GEO	2495	5		5	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	ARM	2562	7
6	26	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	IND	2453	5		5	GM	Goganov Aleksey	RUS	2557	8
7	9	GM	Sychev Klementy	RUS	2555	5		5	FM	Nazari Arad	IRI	2298	56
8	30	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2435	5		5	GM	Pultinevicius Paulius	LTU	2552	10
9	3	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	4½		5	IM	Pranav Anand	IND	2430	34
10	4	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	GEO	2570	4½		4½	GM	Simonian Hrair	ARM	2430	33
11	13	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	IND	2517	4½		4½	FM	Daghli Arash	IRI	2427	37
12	44	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	IND	2379	4½		4½	GM	Hayrapetyan Hovik	ARM	2500	14
13	20	GM	Movsziszian Karen	ARM	2480	4½		4½	FM	Hakemi Arman	IRI	2323	51
14	55	IM	Nadanian Ashot	ARM	2317	4½		4½	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	ARM	2471	22
15	27	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	KAZ	2451	4½		4½	FM	Atakhan Abtin	IRI	2319	54

Details

Links

Yerevan Che ss Federation

Related news:

	Abhimanyu Puranik clinches 3rd Yerevan Open @ 23/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Abhimanyu Puranik is on the verge of winning 3rd Yerevan Open @ 22/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Yerevan Open R6: Narayanan and Sivuk share the lead @ 20/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Yerevan Open R5: Narayanan wins an endgame grind @ 19/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Yerevan Open R4: Sychev, Mikaelyan and Daghli at the top @ 18/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Yerevan Open R3: Gukesh and Kunal in a five-way lead @ 17/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Yerevan Open R2: Sidhant Mohapatra stuns Paulius Pultinevicius @ 16/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd Yerevan Open R1: Poormosavi holds top seed Narayanan to an exciting draw @ 15/10/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)