Grand Swiss R1: Arjun Erigaisi splits the point with Andrey Esipenko

by Shahid Ahmed - 28/10/2021

Arjun Erigaisi faced the strongest opponent among the Indian players in the first round of FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021. He managed to hold his own against Andrey Esipenko, who is known to have caused trouble for the world champion Magnus Carlsen twice in this year. Nihal Sarin, D Gukesh and Vaishali are the only three Indian players who scored a win each. The youngsters - Praggnanandhaa, Raunak, Vantika and Divya managed to hold their relatively stronger opponents Gabriel, Cheparinov, Munguntuul and Zawadzka to a draw each respectively. Nihal will face Caruana in the second round, which starts today at 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Nihal, Gukesh and Vaishali win

Harikrishna and Harika made a steady start as they drew with Vladislav Kovalev (FID) and IM Nataliya Buksa (UKR) each respectively. Adhiban and Sethuraman had a hard-fought draw. Ganguly also drew with Sanan Sjugirov (RUS). The second round has a lot of interesting pairings - Dubov vs. Arjun, Pragg vs. Adhiban and Divya vs. Harika.

Arjun Erigaisi made a steady start | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 official logo | Photo: FIDE

Erigaisi - Esipenko: 0.5-0.5

Arjun Erigaisi made a great start against Andrey Esipenko.

Position after 18.Bg5

17...Ne8 allowed White to gain the upper hand and Arjun correctly found it 18.Bg5. Black cannot play 18...f6 as 19.Bf4 Ne5 20.Nc5 makes things pleasant for White. Black had to concede a double-pawn 18...bxa4 19.Rxc7 Nxc7 20.Bxd8 Nb5 21.Kb2 and White has a slight edge. Although, computer says White is much better after a few more moves, in reality, it is not easy for White to scrape a full point out of it.

Andrey Esipenko beat Carlsen in Tata Steel 2021 and almost eliminated Carlsen at the FIDE World Cup 2021 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Gabriel - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5

Praggnanandhaa had an opportunity to turn things in his favor against Gabriel Sargissian (ARM).

Position after 28.Nc6

White has back rank weakness, 28...Qc8 was a way to make an attempt to extract something. 29.Qd6 Kg7 30.Nxe5 Rxe5 31.Rd1 Qe6 could have been more favorable for Black. The game continued 28...Qf4 29.f3 Rc8 30.Nxe5 Qxe5 and it headed towards a draw.

Nihal - Georgiev: 1-0

North Macedonia no.1 GM Kiril Georgiev misjudged the intention of Nihal's dark-square bishop.

Position after 24.Bg5

Black's first course of action here should be to trade the bishops. The longer it lingers on the kingside, the more trouble it can cause. That is exactly what happened. 24...b5 25.Bf6 Bf8 26.h5 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Rc8 28.Re1 and things just slowly spiraled out of control for Black.

Nihal Sarin's modern-day opening preparation in the London | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal beats Georgiev for the second time since Gibraltar Masters in 2018 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Harikrishna had a relatively calm draw with Vladislav Kovalev (FID) | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Adhiban drew with Sethuraman | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

February - Vaishali: 0-1

IM Vaishali made a short work of WIM Jesse February (RSA) in just 20 moves.

Position after 14.f3

Find out why 14.f3 is a big mistake.

Highlights

A few interesting finishes from Round 1

Alireza Firouzja (FRA) defeated Nijat Abasov (AZE)

Vasif Durarbayli (AZE) lost to Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI)

Pavel Ponkratov (RUS) defeated Vaim Zvjaginsev (RUS)

Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ) lost to Manuel Petrosyan (ARM)

Arturs Neiksaans (LAT) defeated Alexey Sarana (RUS)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew with Temur Kuybokarov (AUS)

GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) lost to WGM Leya Garifullina (RUS)

Photo Gallery

GM Harika Dronavalli - IM Nataliya Buksa (UKR): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Top seed Mariya Muzychuk was held to a draw by 19-year-old IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich makes the first move on Caruana's board | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Fabiano Caruana (USA) beat Maksim Chigaev (RUS) convincingly | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

The tournament hall | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Top boards of the Women's section | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Schedule

Everyday game starts at 2 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST) between 27th October and 7th November 2021. Rest day is on Tuesday 2nd November 2021.

Time Control

The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

Qualification

The top two players in the open event will qualify for the FIDE Candidates 2022. The next six players will earn their spots in the FIDE Grand Prix. The Women's Grand Swiss winner will qualify to the Women's Candidates. The following four best players will qualify for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix.

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 425,000 with the first prize being $70,000. For Women's the total prize fund is $125,000, first prize $20,000. Total numbers of prizes are 60, Open - 40 and Women - 20.

Replay Round 1 Open games

Replay Round 1 Women games

Replay the live stream

FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss Round 1 | Live commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Round 1 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	6	60	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Esipenko Andrey	RUS	2720	6
1	7	7	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2719	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	FID	2634	61
1	25	25	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2672	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2620	79
1	27	27	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	ARM	2664	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2618	81
1	28	82	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2617	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2663	28
1	30	84	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2609	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	BUL	2659	30
1	41	41	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2652	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Georgiev Kiril	MKD	2577	95
1	53	53	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Rakotomaharo Fy Antenaina	MAD	2484	107
1	54	108	GM	Miezis Normunds	LAT	2467	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2640	54
1	4	4	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2511	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Buksa Nataliya	UKR	2409	29
1	15	40	IM	Padmini Rout	IND	2380	0	0 - 1	0	WGM	Zhu Jiner	CHN	2455	15
1	21	46	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2322	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	MGL	2433	21
1	22	22	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	POL	2428	0	½ - ½	0	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2305	47
1	25	50	WIM	February Jesse Nikki	RSA	1857	0	0 - 1	0	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2419	25

Details

Round 2 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
2	1	41	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2652	1		1	GM	Caruana Fabiano	USA	2800	1
2	4	12	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	IRI	2701	1		1	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	53
2	15	59	GM	Dreev Aleksey	RUS	2635	½		½	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2719	7
2	16	8	GM	Dubov Daniil	RUS	2714	½		½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	60
2	25	81	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2618	½		½	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2672	25
2	26	79	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2620	½		½	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	ARM	2664	27
2	27	28	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2663	½		½	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2609	84
2	29	30	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	BUL	2659	½		½	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2617	82
2	44	54	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2640	½		½	GM	Vokhidov Shamsiddin	UZB	2521	104
2	5	25	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2419	1		1	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	GEO	2484	10
2	11	47	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2305	½		½	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2511	4
2	14	19	IM	Arabidze Meri	GEO	2441	½		½	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2322	46
2	20	17	GM	Cramling Pia	SWE	2447	0		0	IM	Padmini Rout	IND	2380	40

Details

Links

Official site

Chess-results: Open and Women

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

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