Gukesh glorious at 48th La Roda Open 2022, Praggnanandhaa third

by Shahid Ahmed - 18/04/2022

GM D Gukesh won his first Classical tournament of the year at 48th La Roda International Open 2022. He scored an unbeaten 8.0/9 and finished a half point ahead of the competition. He did not leave things to be decided on tie-breaks. He missed MPL 58th National Senior Open and 19th Delhi International GM Open on tie-breaks. GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM) secured second place 7.5/9. Five players scored 7.0/9. GM Praggnanandhaa R and GM Raunak Sadhwani were placed third and fourth respectively according to tie-breaks. Top three prizes were €3000, €2000 and €1000 along with a trophy each. Total prize fund of the tournament was €14000. Photo: Official site

Gukesh becomes the first Indian to win La Roda Open

GM D Gukesh became the first Indian player to win La Roda International Open in 48 years. Last year in the 47th edition, WGM Nandhidhaa became the first woman to make a podium finish. Gukesh took an average of 28 moves to score wins in this tournament. In the last three rounds, the average went down to 24 moves. It only shows how well Gukesh played in this event.

Top three (L to R) - 3rd Praggnanandhaa R, 1st D Gukesh and 2nd Haik Martirosyan | Photo: Official site

Champion - GM D Gukesh 8.0/9 | Photo: Gukesh's twitter

Very nicely crafted prize and memento for the winner, GM D Gukesh | Photo: Gukesh's twitter

GM Raunak Sadhwani, GM D Gukesh and GM Praggnanandhaa R with the tournament officials and organizers | Photo: Gukesh's twitter

Praggnanandhaa - Gukesh, Round 6

Position after 24.Rc1

One of the highly anticipated game of the tournament was a rematch between Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh from their final round encounter at the recently concluded Kvika Reykjavik Open 2022. Black went 24...Nb5 25.Kg2 Nd4 26.Nxd4 exd4 27.Bf4 Bd6 28.fxg6 Bxf4 29.Qxf4 fxg6 giving White a huge decisive advantage. This time it was Praggnanandhaa who was unable to seize his advantage and Gukesh managed to save the day.

Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh another exciting encounter within a week | Photo: Official site

Gukesh - Mikhalevski, Round 9

Position after 11...Nb4

White going 5.h4, 6.h5 put Black in disarray. Instead of completing the development of pieces 11...Re8, Black played the strange 11...Nb4. White continued 12.Bd2 c5 13.Rc1 b6 14.a3 Nd5 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.Rxc5 White is completely dominating the position. Gukesh won the game in another ten moves.

GM D Gukesh won the must-win final round game to win the tournament | Photo: Official site

Gukesh scored an unbeaten 8.0/9, gained 11.1 Elo rating points, taking his live rating to 2646.5

Gukesh tweeted his thoughts on his victory

Praggnanandhaa congratulated Gukesh

Praggnannadhaa drew with Haik Martirosyan in the final round, thus ensuring Gukesh' victory | Photo: Official site

GM Raunak Sadhwani defeated FM Lim Zhuo Ren (MAS) to secure fourth place | Photo: Official site

The tournament hall at La Caja Blanca | Photo: Official site

A total of 183 players including 7 GMs and 7 IMs took part from 13 countries across the world. The tournament was organized by Club Ajedrez Polideportivo La Roda from 13th to 17th April 2022 at La Caja Blanca in La Roda, Albacete, Spain. The nine-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes each with 30 seconds increment from move no. 1.

Replay Round 1-9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Gukesh D	2637	7	1 - 0	6½	GM	Mikhalevski Victor	2554	6
2	5	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2624	6½	½ - ½	7	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	2633	3
3	19	FM	Buendia Pinar Alvaro	2295	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2639	1
4	4	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2628	6	1 - 0	6	FM	Lim Zhuo Ren	2317	17
5	14	FM	Domingo Nunez Ruben	2401	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel	2493	7
6	27		Alfaya Marcelo Roberto	2229	6	0 - 1	6	FM	Martinez Reyes Pedro Ramon	2401	13
7	8	IM	Martin Duque Jesus	2421	5½	0 - 1	6	FM	Domingo Nunez Alejandro	2311	18
8	10	IM	Bernal Moro Luis Javier	2415	5½	½ - ½	5½	FM	Buenafe Moya Javier	2199	30
9	32	FM	Santos Antonio P	2192	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Rubio Mejia Luis Ignacio	2409	11
10	41		Valdepenas Octavio Javier	2129	5½	1 - 0	5½	FM	Gavarrete Nahun	2349	15

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Gukesh D		IND	2637	0	India	8,0	48,5	53,5	40,5	46,25	0,0
2	3	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.		ARM	2633	0	Armenia	7,5	51,0	55,5	41,0	44,50	0,0
3	5	GM	Praggnanandhaa R		IND	2624	0	India	7,0	53,5	58,5	38,5	44,00	0,0
4	4	GM	Sadhwani Raunak		IND	2628	0	India	7,0	51,0	56,0	36,5	42,50	0,0
5	7	GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel		ESP	2493	2496	CAT	7,0	47,0	51,0	36,5	38,75	0,0
6	13	FM	Martinez Reyes Pedro Ramon		VEN	2401	2404	MAD	7,0	45,0	50,0	36,0	38,50	0,0
7	18	FM	Domingo Nunez Alejandro		ESP	2311	2330	GAL	7,0	45,0	49,0	34,0	37,00	0,0
8	6	GM	Mikhalevski Victor		ISR	2554	2613	CAN	6,5	50,5	55,0	36,5	37,25	0,0
9	1	GM	Sargsyan Shant		ARM	2639	0	Armenia	6,5	46,5	51,0	34,0	36,25	0,0
10	19	FM	Buendia Pinar Alvaro		ESP	2295	2297	CTM - Excalibur	6,5	46,5	50,0	34,5	33,75	0,0
11	16	IM	Alshameary Puente Ismael		ESP	2344	2348	AND - P. A. Oromana	6,5	45,5	49,5	34,5	32,50	0,0
12	11	IM	Rubio Mejia Luis Ignacio		ESP	2409	2421	MAD	6,5	44,5	49,5	34,0	35,25	0,0
13	41		Valdepenas Octavio Javier		ESP	2129	2132	VAL	6,5	41,5	45,0	31,5	30,50	0,0
14	60		Machado Hernandez Junior		ESP	2015	2012	CTM - Excalibur	6,5	41,0	44,5	29,5	30,25	0,0
15	39		Bustos Bernardo Samuel		ESP	2132	2154	CTM - Getafe	6,5	39,0	42,0	31,0	29,00	0,0

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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