5th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R1: Arjun Erigaisi starts with a win
Arjun Erigaisi makes a great start at 5th Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2024. He played a nice positional game against Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM). Arjun maneuvered his knight beautifully after his opponent created holes in his dark squares. The knight played a key role in Arjun getting the advantage and converting it into a full point. The only other victor of the round is, Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU). The Romania no.2 crushed Volodar Murzin in a 21-move miniature. The total prize fund of the tournament is 7450000 AMD (≈ US$ 18400). The top three prizes are 3100000 AMD (≈ US$ 7976), 1 850 000 AMD (≈ US$ 4760) and 1500000 (≈ US$ 3859). Arjun will face Shant Sargsyan (ARM) in Round 2. It starts at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia
Bogdan-Daniel Deac crushes Murzin in 21 moves
Arjun - Hovhannisyan
24...c6 created a hole on d6-square 25.c5 seized control of it. White's idea is to put a knight on d6 and completely dominate the position. That is exactly what Arjun Erigaisi did against Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM, 2611). 25...Bf6 26.Rd1 Qc8 27.Ng2 Rxd1+ 28.Rxd1 Re8 29.Ne3 Rd8 30.Nc4 Rxd1+ 31.Qxd1 Qe6 32.Nd6 and White has achieved his goal. 32...Qd7 33.Qh5 Qe7 34.h4 White is asserting his dominance further. 34...Qe6 Black lets go of the b7-pawn to gain some activity 35.Nxb7 Qb3 36.Qf3 Ne6 37.Kg2 and White won the game in another ten moves.
Deac - Murzin
Volodar Murzin (2650) made a big mistake 16...Rc6? Find out the winning continuation for White which Bogan-Daniel Deac (ROU, 2680) played in the game.
Photo Gallery
Replay Round 1 games
Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2713 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | ½ - ½ | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | 2662 | 10 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2687 | GM | Sevian Samuel | ½ - ½ | GM | Sargsyan Shant | 2639 | 9 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2761 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 1 - 0 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2611 | 8 | |||
| 4 | 4 | 2647 | GM | Bluebaum Matthias | ½ - ½ | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | 2625 | 7 | |||
| 5 | 5 | 2680 | GM | Deac Bogdan-Daniel | 1 - 0 | GM | Murzin Volodar | 2650 | 6 |
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2761 | 1 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | GM | Deac Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2680 | 1 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 7 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2625 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | ARM | 2639 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 10 | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | ARM | 2662 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 6 | 1 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | IRI | 2713 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | GM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2687 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | GM | Bluebaum Matthias | GER | 2647 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 9 | 6 | GM | Murzin Volodar | FID | 2650 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 1 | |
| 8 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2611 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 1 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2662 | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | GM | Murzin Volodar | 2650 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 7 | 2625 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | GM | Deac Bogdan-Daniel | 2680 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | 2611 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | GM | Bluebaum Matthias | 2647 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | 9 | 2639 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2761 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 2713 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | GM | Sevian Samuel | 2687 | 2 |
Time Control
90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game (with 30 seconds increment starting from move one).
Prizes
The total prize fund is 7450000 AMD (≈ US$ 18400). The top three prizes are 3100000 AMD (≈ US$ 7976), 1 850 000 AMD (≈ US$ 4760) and 1500000 (≈ US$ 3859). There are also Chessify prizes for all ten participants. The top three Chessify prizes are - bundles worth $350, $300 and $250 each.
Schedule
| Sunday | 9 June at 19:00 | Opening Ceremony |
| Monday | 10 June at 15:00 | Round 1 |
| Tuesday | 11 June at 15:00 | Round 2 |
| Wednesday | 12 June at 15:00 | Round 3 |
| Thursday | 13 June at 15:00 | Round 4 |
| Friday | 14 June at 15:00 | Round 5 |
| Saturday | 15 June at 15:00 | Round 6 |
| Sunday | 16 June at 15:00 | Round 7 |
| Monday | 17 June at 15:00 | Round 8 |
| Tuesday | 18 June at 11:00 | Round 9 |
| Tuesday | 18 June at 17:00 | Closing Ceremony |
