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It's Manuel, not Tigran! Petrosyan leads the Goa GM 2019 with 7.0/8

by Sagar Shah - 24/06/2019

Manuel Petrosyan played the opening like a book, middlegame like a machine and didn't let the endgame occur! He beat GM P. Iniyan in their top board clash and became the sole leader of the tournament with 7.0/8. Judging by Manuel's form it seems like he is all set to win the tournament with two rounds to go. But there are four more players trailing him by just half a point - Iturrizaga, Jojua, Paichadze and Rahman. No Indian player is in top 8 after 9 rounds. Currently the best performing one is Neelash Saha, who is on 6.0/8. In this article we look at some of the most critical games of round 8 and also tell you about the leaders in the below 1600 (C-group).

At the end of seven rounds of the Goa GM 2019 we had three leaders. Iniyan was paired on the top board against Manuel Petrosyan and Ter Sahakyan Samvel, the third leader, was going to fight it out on board two against Eduardo Itturizaga. A lot was expected from Iniyan on the top board. However, the GM from Erode, was not his usual confident self in the opening. He was quite circumspect and that helped Petrosyan build up quite a commanding position. A further error from Iniyan made sure that the game was beyond salvation.

 

Iniyan vs Petrosyan

White's last move was e3-e4. Looks natural, doesn't it. Do you see why it is an error?

The battle between two talents of India and Armenia was won by Petrosyan | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Petrosyan was extremely alert and simply picked up the b4 pawn. After ...Nxb4 cxb4 was impossible due to Qd4+. Also the knight from b4 was jumping to d3. Black won the game easily, but you must look at Petrosyan's technique. It was simply flawless.

The most tense encounter of round 8 was definitely Samvel Ter Sahakyan vs Eduardo Iturrizaga | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Iturrizaga's experience has taught him how to play chess when he is in a must-win situation. He was trailing the leaders by half a point and he had the black pieces. And so he decided to go for the provocative Sicilian Kan. As Iturrizaga said after the game, "I had to win the game, and hence had to take some risk." White's position soon grew quite menacing and it seemed like Samvel would win the game. But Iturrizaga held tight. If the Armenian had gone for a positional edge, he would have been better, but he wanted to finish off his opponent with a mating attack. That's where things began to go wrong and Iturrizaga fought back to win the game.

The final moments of the game captured on the camera

Itturizaga's tattoo! Wise words for everyone to learn from! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

A big result for Bangladesh fans was Ziaur Rahman's win over GM Abhijeet Gupta | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Luka Paichadze won his game against Nguyen van Huy and moved to 6.5/8 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Results of round 8

Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
119
IMIniyan P 25256 0 - 16 GMPetrosyan Manuel 2573
11
23
GMTer-Sahakyan Samvel 26116 0 - 1 GMIturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2637
1
35
GMGupta Abhijeet 2606 0 - 1 GMRahman Ziaur 2481
25
47
GMAleksandrov Aleksej 2588 ½ - ½ GMKostenko Petr 2473
28
517
GMTukhaev Adam 2527 ½ - ½ GMStupak Kirill 2584
8
69
GMJojua Davit 2580 1 - 0 Sankalp Gupta 2359
62
713
GMPaichadze Luka 2557 1 - 0 IMNguyen Van Huy 2456
32
831
IMVignesh N R 24595 0 - 15 GMIdani Pouya 2597
6
939
IMShyaamnikhil P 24345 1 - 05 GMDeepan Chakkravarthy J. 2557
12
1045
GMThipsay Praveen M 24055 0 - 15 GMDebashis Das 2544
14

Standings after round 8

Rk.SNo NameTypsexFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 nwwew-weKrtg+/-
111GMPetrosyan ManuelARM2573ARM7,00,036,540,534,506875,501,501015,0
21GMIturrizaga Bonelli EduardoVEN2637VEN6,50,037,041,032,75586,56,270,23102,3
39GMJojua DavitGEO2580GEO6,50,036,539,531,25586,56,090,41104,1
413GMPaichadze LukaGEO2557GEO6,50,032,536,529,50686,56,270,23102,3
525GMRahman ZiaurBAN2481BAN6,50,032,035,528,00686,55,640,86108,6
628GMKostenko PetrKAZ2473KAZ6,00,040,544,531,754864,491,511015,1
73GMTer-Sahakyan SamvelARM2611ARM6,00,039,042,529,505865,530,47104,7
88GMStupak KirillBLR2584BLR6,00,038,042,531,504866,17-0,1710-1,7
979Neelash SahaIND2315WB6,00,036,038,027,004863,242,762055,2
1039IMShyaamnikhil PIND2434TN6,00,035,539,028,254865,120,88108,8
1119IMIniyan PIND2525TN6,00,035,538,526,505865,490,51105,1
126GMIdani PouyaIRI2597IRI6,00,034,538,027,505866,53-0,5310-5,3
1317GMTukhaev AdamUKR2527UKR6,00,034,037,026,754866,07-0,0710-0,7
147GMAleksandrov AleksejBLR2588BLR6,00,033,537,528,005866,44-0,4410-4,4
1514GMDebashis DasIND2544ORI6,00,032,035,026,004866,46-0,4610-4,6

 

Deepan Chakkravarthy lose his game to P. Shyaamnikhil. Shyaamnikhil needs only one GM norm to become the latest GM of our country as he has already surpassed the 2500 Elo barrier in the past | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Neelash Saha played an inspired game of chess and managed to get the better of GM Vadim Malakhatko | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Neelash Saha vs Malakhatko

Black has just played his knight to f7. What did Neelash play?

Black is threatening to block the e5 square with his knight. And hence Neelash just played e4-e5! sacrificing the pawn and opening up his bishop on c2! The game was quite complex, but Neelash managed to win.

Abhijit Kunte managed to beat Pranav without any real difficulties with black | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Debashis Das played the Sicilian Dragon for the first time in his chess career and beat GM Pravin Thipsay | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Debashis Das speaks about his win against Thipsay and how he worked hard to prepare the Dragon

Anuj Shrivatri scored a fine win over M.R. Venkatesh | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Anuj Shrivatri vs M.R. Venkatesh

White has just played his bishop to f6. Venkatesh took the bishop with gxf6. Do you see how you can win the game?

What's cooking?! Adam Tukhaev is on 6.0/8. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The AICF annual general meeting was held in Goa and secretaries from all the states of India flew in to attend the meeting | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The Delhi Chess team at work in Goa! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Solid like a rock! Shahid Ahmed is the reason why you see so many game videos on the ChessBase India channel during Goa GM 2019 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Oh my God, did we just leave the geyser on in the room?!! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

C category (below 1600)

The top board clash between Mayur Kalbande and Prashanth Vangala ended in a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Vrashank Chouhan (black) managed to beat Varun Wagh in round six | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ravi Chopra with the white pieces beat Utkarsha Agarwal on board three | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Results of round 6

Bo.No. NameTypRtgClub/CityPts. ResultPts. NameTypRtgClub/City No.
13Kalbande Mayur 1578MP5 ½ - ½5 Vangala Prashanth 1499AP48
28Wagh Varun 1565MAH5 0 - 15 Vrashank Chouhan U131497RAJ50
316Ravi Chopra 1554UP5 1 - 05 Utkarsh Agrawal 1491MP54
4116Kesavan G 1408TN5 ½ - ½ Prasath K R 1545TN25
589Neeraj Kumar 1442KER 0 - 1 Ahirwar Aniket 1568MP7
626Patil Sharvil U151543MAH ½ - ½ Gopinath P 1458TN74
732Patil Pranav Prafulla 1527MAH 1 - 0 Sarvaliya Niraj 1435GUJ97
840Dhanush Ram M U131508KAR ½ - ½ Sudheer M K 1391KER130
9148Umer Muhthar P S 1376KER 0 - 1 Pednekar Ayush 1504GOA45
10199Rishi R 1319TN 0 - 1 Prajwal K M U151503KAR47

Standings after round 6

Rk.SNo NameTypsexFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 
150Vrashank ChouhanU13IND1497RAJ6,00,021,524,524,506
216Ravi ChopraIND1554UP6,00,019,022,022,006
348Vangala PrashanthIND1499AP5,50,023,526,023,255
43Kalbande MayurIND1578MP5,50,022,025,522,755
545Pednekar AyushIND1504GOA5,50,021,524,522,255
632Patil Pranav PrafullaIND1527MAH5,50,021,024,021,755
7116Kesavan GIND1408TN5,50,021,022,019,505
862Stephen Raj AIND1479TN5,50,020,023,020,755
97Ahirwar AniketIND1568MP5,50,019,021,520,005
1047Prajwal K MU15IND1503KAR5,50,019,021,019,255