ChessMood Open R4: Samvel Ter-Sahakyan takes sole lead 4.0/4

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/10/2021

Samvel Ter-Sahakyan beat the top seed of the tournament, Narayanan S L to emerge as the sole leader 4.0/4 at the conclusion of the fourth round of ChessMood Open. Praggnanandhaa is the only Indian who is a half point behind the leader. They will face each other in the fifth round. Apart from Abhimanyu, Karthik and Mitrabha's win, it was a tough day for the Indian players at the top as Gukesh, Arjun, Krishna, Moksh, Raahil, Padmini and Pranav lost their respective games. WIMs Aakanksha Hagawane and Isha Sharma held IMs Daneshvar Bardiya (IRI) and Vaishali to a draw each respectively. Round 5 starts today from 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Praggnanandhaa in pursuit

Five players are at a half point behind the leader. They are - GMs R Praggnanandhaa, Alexey Goganov (RUS), Giga Quparadze (GEO), Levon Babujian (ARM) and IM David Shahinyan (ARM).

Samvel Ter-Sahakyan beat top seed Narayanan S L | Photo: Rupali Mullick

ChessMood Open logo | Photo: Official site

Narayanan - Ter-Sahakyan: 0-1

GM Narayanan S L made an interesting bishop sacrifice against GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM).

Position after 23.Bxh5

23.Bxh5 does not yield anything immediately as White does not have enough pieces to make the damage on the black king. The game continued 23...gxh5 24.Qe2 Nf8 25.Qxh5 Ng6 26.Nc2 Bf8 27.Ne3 Qe7. White took a bit longer to bring the knight. 25.Ne3 instead of taking the h5-pawn would have been faster, before Black could regroup his pieces.

Position after 30...Nb3

The position is incredible. It seems like things are falling apart for White, however there is a way to save the game. It is not an easy one. Find out what it is.

Narayanan's bishop sacrifice went wrong against Ter-Sahakyan | Video: ChessBase India

GM Praggnanandhaa had a hard-fought draw against IM David Shahinyan (ARM) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Goganov - Gukesh: 1-0

Sometimes two knights can be stronger than a pair of bishops. That is exactly what happened in the game between GM Alexey Goganov (RUS) and GM D Gukesh.

Position after 36.Ra1

Black's position is unpleasant. It is certainly not easy to play. 36...Bb3 makes sure after bxc5+ the b-file remains blocked temporarily after bxc5+. 36...Be6 37.bxc5+ Ka7 and now the Black king is stranded at the edge of the board. After 38.Rxa4+ bxa4, it is not only easy for White to pick up the a-pawn but also Black's king is more vulnerable than it would have been if it were on c7. White exploited the king's vulnerability and won the game shortly.

Goganov got the better of Gukesh | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Quparadze - Arjun: 1-0

GM Arjun Erigaisi made a questionable break against GM Giga Quparadze (GEO).

Position after 16...f5

16...f5 allowed White to transform the position in his favor by gaining space advantage and blindsiding the b7-bishop 17.d5 Ne5 18.Nd4 Bc8 19.Ra3 and Black's position is already quite unpleasant, as there is no good way to generate an attack on the kingside for Black. Thing spiralled out of Black's control and White eventually won the game.

It was not Arjun's day | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sokolovsky - Abhimanyu: 0-1

FM Yahli Sokolovsky (ISR) almost managed to save the game against GM Abhimanyu Puranik, until he overextended his position and made his king vulnerable.

Position after 41.f4

White would have probably still lost the game even without 41.f4. However, the pawn push only accelerated Black's chances of converting the advantage. For e.g. 41.Kf1 and White maintaining the checkmate threat on the seventh rank is a better alternative as it is not easy for Black to make progress.

GM Abhimanyu Puranik 3.0/4 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Mosadeghpour - Moksh: 1-0

GM Masoud Mosadeghpour (IRI) stopped IM Moksh Amit Doshi's great momentum.

Position after 16.f4

Black's position is quite difficult to play as both bishops path are obstructed. The only thing going for Black is, White is still yet to complete the development of pieces. The game continued 16...Re8 17.c4 bxc3 18.bxc3 Qf6 19.Rb1 Rab8 20.Nxd7 and it was all over for Black. Find out what Black should have done instead.

GM Mosad Mosadeghpour - IM Moksh Amit Doshi: 1-0 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

CM Prraneeth Vuppala - IM Nikoloz Petriashvili (GEO): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WIM Aakanksha Hagawane - IM Daneshvar Bardiya (IRI): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WIM Isha Sharma - IM Vaishali: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more Round 4 photos, please click here.

Replay Round 4 games

The tournament is taking place at Tsaghkadzor Marriott Hotel, Tsaghkadzor in Armenia from 4th to 12th October 2021. Time control is 90'/40 + 30' + 30" per move. Everyday game starts at 3 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST), except 12th October, the final round will start at 10:30 a.m. local time (12 p.m. IST).

Round 4 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2647	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2607	6
2	5	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2618	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Shahinyan David	2469	27
3	14	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2557	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Gukesh D	2640	2
4	3	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2640	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Sturt Raven	2485	20
5	17	GM	Quparadze Giga	2495	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2634	4
6	7	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2605	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Babujian Levon	2447	32
7	31	IM	Schekachikhin Maksim	2448	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2603	8
8	25	GM	Kasparov Sergey	2471	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Paichadze Luka	2566	12
9	9	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2570	2	1 - 0	2½	IM	Davtyan Artur	2453	28
10	39	FM	Sokolovsky Yahli	2422	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2568	10
11	13	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	2562	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Krishna Teja N	2385	44
12	19	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2486	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2379	46
13	21	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2483	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Mullick Raahil	2368	48
14	41	GM	Harutjunyan Gevorg	2409	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Movsziszian Karen	2480	22
15	23	IM	Mitrabha Guha	2479	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Barseghyan Armen Ar.	2356	50
16	43	IM	Farahat Ali	2392	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Minasian Artashes	2472	24
17	45	IM	Padmini Rout	2380	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	2471	26
18	51	IM	Danielyan Vahe	2335	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Pranav Anand	2430	36
19	37		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2430	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Dilanyan Grigor	2214	72
20	53	FM	Hakemi Arman	2323	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Daghli Arash	2427	38

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	6	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2607	4		3½	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2618	5
2	32	GM	Babujian Levon	2447	3½		3½	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2557	14
3	27	IM	Shahinyan David	2469	3½		3½	GM	Quparadze Giga	2495	17
4	21	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2483	3		3	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2647	1
5	23	IM	Mitrabha Guha	2479	3		3	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2640	3
6	8	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2603	3		3	GM	Harutjunyan Gevorg	2409	41
7	26	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	2471	3		3	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2570	9
8	10	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2568	3		3	GM	Kasparov Sergey	2471	25
9	12	GM	Paichadze Luka	2566	3		3	IM	Schekachikhin Maksim	2448	31
10	38	FM	Daghli Arash	2427	3		3	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	2562	13
11	72	FM	Dilanyan Grigor	2214	3		3	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2486	19
12	20	IM	Sturt Raven	2485	3		3	IM	Farahat Ali	2392	43
13	4	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2634	2½		3	IM	Danielyan Vahe	2335	51
14	2	GM	Gukesh D	2640	2½		2½	FM	Ohanyan Emin	2373	47
15	29	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2453	2½		2½	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2605	7
16	28	IM	Davtyan Artur	2453	2½		2½	GM	Harutyunyan Tigran K.	2567	11
17	30	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	2451	2½		2½	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2543	15
18	16	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2517	2½		2½	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2435	33
19	18	GM	Mikaelyan Arman	2487	2½		2½	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2367	49
20	66	FM	Poormosavi Seyed Kian	2255	2½		2	GM	Movsziszian Karen	2480	22

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Details

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