6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R7: Praggnanandhaa emerges sole leader, now World no.6
R Praggnanandhaa defeated Aram Hakobyan (ARM) in Round 7 of 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial. Aram went wrong in the double rook and minor piece endgame. While trying to save his pawns, he had to give up his knight. Praggnanandhaa converted his advantage into a full point comfortably. This win made him sole leader 5/7 and also World no.6 with a live rating of 2773.1. Aravindh Chithambaram had a well contested draw against Dmitrij Kollars (GER). Aravindh is now the lone pursuer at 4.5/7. Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) scored the only other victory of the round against Benjamin Gledura (HUN). Round 8 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia
Aravindh in the chase
Aram - Praggnanandhaa: 0-1
R Praggnanandhaa (2767) played only one Classical rated game against Aram Hakobyan (ARM, 2620) nearly three years ago. He won that battle. In this round, Praggnanandhaa repeated the same result.
White made a big mistake of retreating his knight 38.Ne1?? Bd4 39.Raxa3 Rxf2+ 40.Kh3 g5 41.Nf3 Rxc4 42.g4 Bc5 43.Kg3 Bxa3 44.Kxf2 Bc5+ 45.Kg3 Bd6+ 46.Kh3 f5 47.gxf5 g4+ and Black went on to win the game. 38.h4 or Rbb7 would have been fine for White.
Replay Round 7 live stream
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$ 19325). The top three prizes are 3100000 AMD (≈ US$ 8041), 1 850 000 AMD (≈ US$ 4799) and 1500000 (≈ US$ 3891).
Round 7 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2694 | GM | Sevian Samuel | ½ - ½ | GM | Xu Xiangyu | 2623 | 10 | |||
| 2 | 5 | 2665 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | ½ - ½ | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | 2641 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 6 | 2625 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | ½ - ½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2749 | 2 | |||
| 4 | 7 | 2663 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | 0 - 1 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2635 | 1 | |||
| 5 | 8 | 2620 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 0 - 1 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2758 | 9 |
Standings after Round 7
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2758 | 5 | 16,25 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2749 | 4,5 | 15,75 | 3 | 0 | |
| 3 | 6 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | GER | 2625 | 4 | 13,00 | 4 | 0 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2694 | 3,5 | 12,25 | 3 | 0 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | DEN | 2641 | 3,5 | 12,00 | 3 | 0 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2620 | 3,5 | 11,00 | 4 | 0 | |
| 7 | 5 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2665 | 3 | 10,00 | 3 | 0 | |
| 8 | 1 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2635 | 3 | 9,75 | 3 | 0 | |
| 9 | 10 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2623 | 3 | 9,50 | 4 | 0 | |
| 10 | 7 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | HUN | 2663 | 2 | 6,50 | 4 | 0 |
Round 8 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2623 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2758 | 9 | ||||
| 2 | 1 | 2635 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2620 | 8 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | 2749 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | GM | Gledura Benjamin | 2663 | 7 | ||||
| 4 | 3 | 2641 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | 2625 | 6 | ||||
| 5 | 4 | 2694 | GM | Sevian Samuel | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2665 | 5 |
Schedule
| Wednesday | 28 May at 19:00 | Opening Ceremony |
| Thursday | 29 May at 15:00 | Round 1 |
| Friday | 30 May at 15:00 | Round 2 |
| Saturday | 31 May at 15:00 | Round 3 |
| Sunday | 1 June at 15:00 | Round 4 |
| Monday | 2 June at 15:00 | Round 5 |
| Tuesday | 3 June at 15:00 | Round 6 |
| Wednesday | 4 June at 15:00 | Round 7 |
| Thursday | 5 June at 15:00 | Round 8 |
| Friday | 6 June at 11:00 | Round 9 |
| Friday | 6 June at 18:00 | Closing Ceremony |
