8th Sunway Sitges Open R7: Abhimanyu Puranik joins the four-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/12/2021

Tournament leaders Dmitrij Kollars (GER) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew their game against each other, which allowed Ivan Cheparinov (BUL) and Abhimanyu Puranik to catch up with them 6.0/7 in Round 7 of 8th Sunway Sitges Open 2021 Group A. Abdusattorov will face Abhimanyu and Cheparinov will be up against Kollars in Round 8. Arjun Erigaisi, Sethuraman and Harsha Bharathakoti maintain their chase 5.5/7 each. GM Karthikeyan Murali brought Sharan Rao's great momentum to halt by handing him a loss after he scored a hat-trick of wins against IMs. Round 8 starts today at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Arjun Erigaisi, Sethuraman and Harsha in pursuit

Sethuraman drew with Eltaj Safarli (AZE), both Arjun Erigaisi and Harsha Bharathakoti won their respective games to be a half point behind the leaders at 5.5/7 each.

Abhimanyu Puranik is among the leaders 6.0/7 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Hans - Abhimanyu: 0-1

Hans Niemann's (USA) ambitious approach did not work against Abhimanyu Purnaik.

Position after 24.e5

White's king is at the center of the board, so breaking the center wide open does not seem to be a good idea. 24.e5 dxe5 25.fxe5 Bxe5 Black is certainly more than happy to have the center open.

Position after 36.Bxc5

White brought its own demise with 36.Bxc5 Rc8 37.Qxb4 Qxd5 38.Rc2 Bxd1 and White resigned as 39.Rxd1 runs into Bg5.

It was not Hans' day | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sethuraman - Safarli: 0.5-0.5

Sethuraman got a very good opportunity in the final moments of the endgame against Eltaj Safarli (AZE). He probably missed it due to being low on time.

Position after 34...b5

34...b5 is a mistake because 35.cxb6 cxb6 36.Bf2 Nc6 and now White needed to play 37.Kc1 to ensure himself of a pawn. However, 37.c3 was played in the game and White's chances evaporated.

Sethuraman could have got himself back in the lead | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal - Nikolozi: 1-0

GM Nihal Sarin missed a theoretical win in the pawn ending against IM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO).

Position after 35...Kc7

Although the number of pawns are same, White's king being advanced decides the fate. White went for the early outflank as he played 36.Ka6 right away. That is exactly what is required for White to win, however not now. White needs to exhaust all pawn moves, so that when White outflanks successfully, he is ready to capture his opponent's pawns and push his own faster. Eventually White got into a mess and had to play correctly to save the game.

Position after 41...Ke6

Pawn endings are not as trivial as one might think. The h5-pawn seems to be racing towards h1. Find out how can White save this.

Nihal missed his chance and then had to save the day against IM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Arjun Erigaisi scored a fine victory against Nikola Nestrovic (SRB) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Pranesh M - GM Denis Kadric (BIH): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Leon Livaic (CRO) - GM Neelotpal Das: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Karthikeyan Murali defeated Sharan Rao and halted his fantastic winning streak | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo (ESP) - Dhananjay S: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

CM Prraneeth Vuppala - WIM Chelsie Monica Ignesias Sihite (INA): 1-0 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Deimante Daulyte-Cornette (FRA) - Utsab Chatterjee: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER) - WIM Sakshi Chitlange: 0-1 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sudarshan Bhat - IM Moksh Amit Doshi: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	3	4	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2645	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	12
7	4	11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2579	14
7	6	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Kacharava Nikolozi	2469	42
7	7	43	GM	Nestorovic Nikola	2467	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	8
7	8	47	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2621	10
7	10	50	IM	Pranesh M	2437	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Kadric Denis	2572	16
7	11	19	IM	Livaic Leon	2547	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	62
7	16	71	FM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2396	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	32
7	18	88	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Dann Matthias	2482	34
7	19	7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	4	1 - 0	4½		Sharan Rao	2179	160
7	20	5	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2643	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Vaishali R	2401	66
7	23	21	GM	Maze Sebastien	2541	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Padmini Rout	2345	95
7	24	89	IM	Salimova Nurgyul	2353	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2537	22
7	26	29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Galiana Fernandez Adrian	2333	100
7	28	97	IM	Srijit Paul	2340	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2479	36
7	32	51	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	4	1 - 0	4		Tanmay Chopra	2221	140
7	33	55	IM	Molina Roberto Junio Brito	2420	4	1 - 0	4	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2187	155
7	35	171	WIM	Fisabilillah Ummi	2159	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	58
7	36	59	IM	Gines Esteo Pedro Antonio	2413	4	½ - ½	4		Dhananjay S	2174	163
7	37	17	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	3½	1 - 0	3½	FM	Samant Aditya S	2318	107

Details

Round 8 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	2	6	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2633	6		6	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2604	12
8	4	8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2629	5½		5½	IM	Muradli Mahammad	2503	30
8	6	34	IM	Dann Matthias	2482	5½		5½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2613	11
8	8	32	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2489	5½		5½	GM	Fier Alexandr	2572	15
8	9	70	IM	Dionisi Thomas	2396	5½		5	GM	Nihal Sarin	2662	3
8	12	46	GM	Rios Cristhian Camilo	2460	5		5	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2630	7
8	13	16	GM	Kadric Denis	2572	5		5	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2429	51
8	14	19	IM	Livaic Leon	2547	5		5	IM	Pranesh M	2437	50
8	18	62	GM	Neelotpal Das	2410	5		5	IM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	29
8	19	58	IM	Pranav Anand	2416	5		5	GM	Priasmoro Novendra	2502	31
8	20	42	IM	Kacharava Nikolozi	2469	5		5	IM	Srijit Paul	2340	97
8	21	71	FM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2396	4½		4½	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	2555	17
8	22	18	GM	Megaranto Susanto	2548	4½		4½	CM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2377	77
8	25	28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2506	4½		4½	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2354	88
8	27	40	IM	Vrolijk Liam	2473	4½		4½	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2351	90
8	29	84	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	2360	4½		4½	IM	Aditya Mittal	2459	47
8	30	48	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	2455	4½		4½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2336	99
8	33	160		Sharan Rao	2179	4½		4½	IM	Gines Esteo Pedro Antonio	2413	59
8	35	163		Dhananjay S	2174	4½		4½	FM	Hess Max	2404	65
8	36	178	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2132	4½		4½	IM	Ali Muhammad Lutfi	2399	68

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

13th - 22nd December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

23rd December - 1:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

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