Baku Open 2023 R6: Prraneeth Vuppala joins Leon and Tornike in the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 10/05/2023

GM Leon Luke Mendonca drew against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO) in the sixth round of Baku Open 2023. IM Prraneeth Vuppala got the better of Georgia no.2 GM Levan Pantsulaia with precise play. Prraneeth joind Leon and Tornike in a three-way lead 5/6. His live rating is now 2496.8. He already has all three norms, which means he is now just 3.2 Elo rating points away from becoming India's 82nd GM. GM Aditya Mittal and GM Raja Rithvik R drew against GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE) and GM Alexandr Predke (SRB) respectively. WGM Divya Deshmukh beat her second consecutive GM, Bharath Subramaniyam H. She is now at 4/6. Round 7 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

Aditya Mittal in pursuit

Seven players are trailing the leaders by a half point at 4.5/6 each. GM Aditya Mittal is the sole Indian among them. WGM Divya Deshmukh is currently the highest scoring female player 4/6.

IM Prraneeth Vuppala is one of the three leaders 5/6 | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO) - GM Leon Luke Mendonca (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

Levan - Prraneeth

Position after 29...d2

IM Prraneeth Vuppala (2442) created a strong passed pawn on the d-file. 29...d2 made White's position quite uncomfortable. 30.Rd1 Ng5 31.Qb3 Qc6+ 32.Nf3 Ne4 33.a4 Qb7 34.Rdxd2 is fine as White is unable to make progress otherwise. 34...Nxd2 35.Rxd2 Rc5 36.Rd6 Rec8 37.Qd3 Ra5 38.Qd4 Rf5 39.Qg4?

Position after 39.Qg4

39.Qg4 fixed the queen at that square. 39.Rd8+ or Qd3 would have been a better option. Black created a strong battery on the fifth rank 39...Rcc5 40.Rd4 White had to let go of the b6-pawn in order to save his knight Qxb6 41.Qe4 Qf6 Black played precisely to convert his advantage into a win eventually.

GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE) - GM Aditya Mittal (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

GM Raja Rithvik R (pictured) - GM Alexandr Predke (SRB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

GM Misratdin Iskandarov (AZE) - FM Aradhya Garg (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Azerbaijan Chess Federation

Divya - Bharath

Position after 52...Kh8

The reigning two-time National Women's champion, WGM Divya Deshmukh (2372) persevered a difficult position and waited for his opponent, GM Bharath Subramaniyam H (2517) to make a mistake. He did eventually. 52...Kh8 dropped the support of the f7-pawn. He should have played 34...g6 long back. White started pushing her passed c-pawn 53.c4 Rd8 54.Qe7 Rb8 55.c5 Qb1 55.c6 and White went on to win the game with precise play.

WGM Divya Deshmukh defeated her second consecutive GM of the event | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

Ilamparthi - Aditya Samant

Position after 11...g4!?

The above position should give you an inkling of what the game was. It was an exciting and sharp battle between two future GMs - IM Ilamparthi A R (2388) and IM Aditya S Samant (2501).

IM Ilamparthi A R and IM Aditya S Samant had an exciting game | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

IM Kanan Garayev (AZE) - FM Nikhil Dixit (pictured) | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

Replay Round 6 Live Commentary | Video: Azerbaijan Chess Federation

A total of 119 players including 32 GMs, 29 IMs, 11 WGMs and 7 WIMs are taking part from 14 countries across the world in Group A. The nine-day nine-round Swiss League tournament is organized by Azerbaijan Chess Federation and the Ministry of Youth & Sport of the Republic of Azerbaijan from 4th to 12th May 2023 at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. The time control of the tournament is 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds per move from the first move.

Replay Round 6 games

Round 6 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
6	1	36	GM	Sanikidze Tornike	2475	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2603	11
6	4	10	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2609	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	23
6	5	18	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2570	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2442	44
6	7	35	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Predke Alexandr	2685	2
6	8	20	GM	Petrov Nikita	2547	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2626	6
6	12	17	GM	Iskandarov Misratdin	2577	3½	½ - ½	3½	FM	Aradhya Garg	2284	82
6	14	49	FM	Kilic Eray	2414	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	12
6	18	21	GM	Guliyev Namig	2540	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2401	52
6	19	62	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2372	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2517	24
6	20	57	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2388	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Samant Aditya S	2501	25
6	26	41	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	3	1 - 0	3	WFM	Ismayil Malak	2115	119
6	28	43	IM	Jubin Jimmy	2455	3	1 - 0	3	WFM	Allahverdiyeva Ayan	2055	122
6	29	84	FM	Aliyev Ravan	2280	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2485	33
6	33	104	WGM	Abdulla Khayala	2213	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Padmini Rout	2375	60
6	35	107	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2199	2½	0 - 1	2	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2492	29

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	44	IM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	IND	2442	5	2529	0	4
2	11	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2603	5	2481	0	4
3	36	GM	Sanikidze, Tornike	GEO	2475	5	2461	0	4
4	19	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2560	4,5	2506	0	3
5	23	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2522	4,5	2483	0	4
6	5	GM	Abasov, Nijat	AZE	2634	4,5	2471	0	3
7	10	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	AZE	2609	4,5	2438	0	3
8	4	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2646	4,5	2420	0	3
9	14	GM	Bernadskiy, Vitaliy	UKR	2592	4,5	2379	0	3
10	22	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2531	4,5	2360	0	3
11	1	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2708	4	2512	0	3
12	38	IM	Nogerbek, Kazybek	KAZ	2474	4	2511	0	2
13	28	IM	Gokerkan, Cem Kaan	TUR	2500	4	2486	0	2
14	2	GM	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2685	4	2483	0	3
15	82	FM	Aradhya, Garg	IND	2284	4	2481	0	3

Det ails

Round 7 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	1	44	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2442	5		5	GM	Sanikidze Tornike	2475	36
7	2	11	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2603	5		4½	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2646	4
7	3	5	GM	Abasov Nijat	2634	4½		4½	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	23
7	6	25	IM	Samant Aditya S	2501	4		4	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2708	1
7	7	2	GM	Predke Alexandr	2685	4		4	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	41
7	9	6	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2626	4		4	IM	Jubin Jimmy	2455	43
7	11	35	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	4		4	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2612	9
7	15	82	FM	Aradhya Garg	2284	4		4	GM	Petrov Nikita	2547	20
7	17	12	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	3½		4	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2372	62
7	26	24	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2517	3		3	WGM	Balajayeva Khanim	2327	70
7	28	34	GM	Makhnev Denis	2483	3		3	FM	Mohamed Anees M	2315	75
7	31	52	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2401	3		3	FM	Orujov Farid	2225	101
7	32	91	FM	Ayush Sharma	2267	3		3	IM	Shahaliyev Ismayil	2400	53
7	33	94	FM	Dixit Nikhil	2257	3		3	FM	Manafov Vugar	2399	54
7	34	119	WFM	Ismayil Malak	2115	3		3	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2388	57

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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