Barcelona Open 2021 R1-5: Hakobyan halts the Jeevitesh juggernaut

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/08/2021

Fourth seeded GM Aram Hakobyan brought IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh's fantastic momentum to a screeching halt as he beat him in the fifth round to take the sole lead 5.0/5 at Barcelona Open 2021. GMs Karthikeyan Murali and Visakh N R are the only two player who are at a half point behind the leader 4.5/5 each respectively. While Karthikeyan drew with Sethuraman in the fifth round, Visakh beat GM Fernanda Peralta in a very nice finish. Karthikeyan will face Hakobyan today in the sixth round which will probably have huge implications for the championship, Visakh will go against the fierce Alexander Fier. Round 6 starts today at 8:00 p.m. IST. Photo: Catalan Chess Federation

Karthikeyan and Visakh in pursuit

18 players are at 4.0/5 including the top seed Sethuraman S P who drew his last two games. GMs Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh, Arjun Kalyan, IMs Vignesh, Jeevitesh, Vaishali, Aditya Mittal and Pranav Anand are among the Indians who is in a very a close fight at 4.0/5 each respectively.

GM Aram Hakobyan is the sole leader 5.0/5 | Photo: Catalan Chess Federation

Round 3: Praggnanandhaa - Pranav: 1-0

Praggnanandhaa and Pranav drew with each other at the recently concluded Riga Technical University Open 2021, however this time IM Pranav Anand made an inaccuracy in the middlegame which got him in trouble.

Position after 16...Qxd5

16...Qxd5 causes Black to lose the e5-pawn. 17.c4 Qd6 18.Ba3 Qd8 and it was just over for Black.

Praggnanandhaa is now at 4.0/5 | Photo: Catalan Chess Federation

Karthikeyan - O'gorman: 1-0

GM Karthikeyan Murali scored a very nice victory over FM Tom O'gorman (IRL).

Position after 25...bxa2

White is completely winning here and does not need to be concerned about the pawn promotion at a1. Find out the beautiful winning continuation which Karthikeyan did in the game.

Karthikeyan will face the sole leader Hakobyan in the sixth round | Photo: Catalan Chess Federation

Round 4: Yuffa - Jeevitesh: 0-1

GM Daniil Yuffa (RUS) had a substantial advantage against IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh J.

Position after 27...Nc5

28.d4 would have maintained White's advantage. However, 28.Ne2 allowed Black to get some offense, 28...Nd3+ 29.Kb1 Nf2 which prompted White to make a mistake.

Position after 30.Rh7

30.Rh7 is a blunder. Find out why and what White needed to play to make sure he does not lose.

Round 5: Jeevitesh - Hakobyan: 0-1

Jeevitesh's fantastic momentum came to an end against GM Aram Hakobyan (ARM).

Position after 15.Nc5

White needed to play 15.c3 or Nc3. 15.Nc5 pins the own knight against the c2-pawn. It all went downhill for White from here.

IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh J made an impressive start 4.0/5

Highlights

Here is an interesting finish from Round 5:

GM Fernando Peralta (ARG) lost to GM Visakh N R

GM Visakh N R 4.5/5 | Photo: Catalan Chess Federation

Replay Round 1-5 games

Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	35	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J	2322	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2612	4
2	1	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	3½	½ - ½	4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	6
3	9	GM	Fier Alexandr	2558	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2641	2
4	5	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2608	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Sochacki Christophe	2490	14
5	7	GM	Peralta Fernando	2570	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Visakh N R	2516	12
6	23	IM	Vignesh N R	2428	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel	2524	11
7	15	GM	Dvirnyy Danyyil	2488	3	½ - ½	3½	GM	Hamitevici Vladimir	2471	16
8	3	GM	Moussard Jules	2621	3	1 - 0	3	FM	Hristodorescu Daniel	2211	52
9	41	MK	Martin Barcelo Carles	2263	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2556	10
10	31	IM	Hernandez Cristian Andres	2365	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2503	13
11	19	IM	Aditya Mittal	2464	3	1 - 0	3	MK	Ros Alonso Jaume	2180	60
12	43	FM	Boix Moreno Daniel	2252	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2459	20
13	45	FM	Jimenez Ruano Adrian	2240	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Pranav Anand	2417	24
14	25	WGM	Vaishali R	2393	3	1 - 0	3		Romero Pallares Daniel	2222	50
15	76		Alcala Gonzalez Cesar	2089	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Nezad Husein Aziz	2386	28

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2612	5		4½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	6
2	12	GM	Visakh N R	2516	4½		4	GM	Fier Alexandr	2558	9
3	16	GM	Hamitevici Vladimir	2471	4		4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	1
4	2	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2641	4		4	IM	Aditya Mittal	2464	19
5	20	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2459	4		4	GM	Moussard Jules	2621	3
6	30	FM	O`gorman Tom	2377	4		4	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2608	5
7	10	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2556	4		4	IM	Vignesh N R	2428	23
8	24	IM	Pranav Anand	2417	4		4	GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel	2524	11
9	13	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2503	4		4	WGM	Vaishali R	2393	25
10	14	IM	Sochacki Christophe	2490	4		4	IM	Sai Agni Jeevitesh J	2322	35
11	40	FM	Dalaud Dorian	2286	3½		4		Alcala Gonzalez Cesar	2089	76
12	62	MK	Del Amo Carbo Jordi	2173	3½		3½	GM	Peralta Fernando	2570	7
13	77	WIM	Gomez Barrera Javiera Belen	2083	3½		3½	GM	Dvirnyy Danyyil	2488	15
14	81		Vasquez Toledo Cristian	2064	3½		3½	MK	Alvarez Albiol Victor	2214	51
15	28	IM	Nezad Husein Aziz	2386	3		3½	CM	Blasco Coll Andreu	2198	55

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details

Edit: Praggnanandhaa-Pranav and Yuffa-Jeevitesh games corrected.

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