Reykjavik Open 2023 R5-6: Maxime Lagarde joins Abhijeet Gupta in the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/04/2023

GM Abhijeet Gupta defeated GM Pranav Venkatesh in the fifth round to gain sole lead 5/5. In the sixth round Abhijeet made a short 21-move draw against Turkey no.1 GM Mustafa Yilmaz. It allowed GM Maxime Lagarde (FRA) to catch up to him. He defeated Turkey no.2 GM Emre Can. Pranav bounced back by winning against IM Dimitar Mardov (USA). He is one of the sixth players in pursuit at a score of 5/6. FM Sahithi Varshini M defeated GM Simon Williams in the sixth round after the latter misplayed in the endgame allowing the teenager to score a win. She is now the highest scoring female player of Reykjavik Open 2023 so far 4.5/6. Round 7 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Sahithi Varshini beats Simon Williams

A total of 27 players are at 4.5/6. There are five Indians among them. They are - IM Sidhant Mohapatra, IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad, IM P Shyam Nikhil, GM Vignesh N R and FM Sahithi Varshini M. Sidhant and Dhulipalla both scored 1.5/2 on the final double round of the event.

GM Abhijeet Gupta is making all the right moves so far | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Pranav - Abhijeet, Round 5

Position after 28...Rg6+

The above position certainly gives an inkling that something has gone terribly wrong for White. 29.Kh1 Qf6 30.Rxd5 Qxf3+ 32.Kh2 Qf4+ 33.Kh1 Rxe3 34.Bxe3 Qf3+ 35.Kh2 Qxd5 36.Bf4 was perhaps a better continuation for GM Pranav V (2545). He decided the block the check by self-pinning the knight 29.Ng2 Qf6 30.f4? Nxf4 31.Bxf4 Qxf4-+ gave GM Abhijeet Gupta (2620) gained a decisive advantage. Black went on to win the game comfortably.

GM Abhijeet Gupta got the better of GM Pranav Venkatesh | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

IM Sidhant Mohapatra made a short work of IM Jonah B Willow (ENG) in just 19 moves | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Dimitar - Pranav, Round 6

Position after 16.Qc2?

16.Qc2? is a mistake by IM Dimitar Mardov (USA, 2445) as it allows Black to gain advantage using tactics. Try to find out how.

GM Pranav Venkatesh bounced back in the sixth round by scoring an emphatic victory over IM Dimitar Mardov (USA) | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Round 6: IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad (pictured) - GM Gabor Papp (HUN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Simon - Sahithi, Round 6

Position after 49...Rc3

FM Sahithi Varshini (2262) has offered her bishop as a sacrifice to GM Simon Williams (ENG, 2461). 50.Rxc3 obviously does not work bxc3 51.hxg6 c2 and Black wins. Thus, White's only defense was 50.Re1 Be4 51.Bxe4 dxe4 52.Rb1 Rb7 and the game goes on. However, the game continued 50.Ra1 Bc2 51.Rxf6 Ra3-+ and Black gained a decisive advantage due to her menacing pawns on the queenside. Black won the game after nine more moves.

FM Sahithi Varshini defeated GM Simon Williams (ENG) to move to 4.5/6 | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Round 5 and 6 in progress | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Beautiful view of the pier outside the venue | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

A total of 401 players including 34 GMs, 34 IMs, 5 WGMs and 5 WIMs are taking part from 45 countries across the world. The seven day nine-round Swiss League Rating tournament is organized by Icelandic Chess Federation from 29th March to 4th April 2023 at Harpa Conference Center in Reykjavik, Iceland. The time control of the tournament is 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move no.1. Accelerated pairings are used in all rounds.

Replay Round 5-6 games

Round 6 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
6	1	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2620	5	½ - ½	4½	GM	Yilmaz Mustafa	2629	4
6	5	12	GM	Livaic Leon	2569	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Panchanathan Magesh Chandran	2460	35
6	7	41	IM	Mardov Dimitar	2445	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Pranav V	2545	15
6	8	42	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2441	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Papp Gabor	2544	16
6	9	43	IM	Wadsworth Matthew J	2439	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Visakh N R	2538	20
6	10	54	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2376	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Lie Kjetil A.	2515	22
6	19	85	FM	Salles Louis	2287	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Vignesh N R	2513	24
6	20	89	FM	Heurtebize Olivier	2269	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2477	28
6	30	25	GM	Stefansson Hannes	2510	3	1 - 0	3	WIM	Pandey Srishti	2156	120
6	37	51	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2382	3	1 - 0	3	CM	Vemparala Nikash	2100	146
6	44	33	GM	Williams Simon K	2461	3½	0 - 1	3½	FM	Sahithi Varshini M	2262	92
6	49	217		Doran Chris	1918	3	0 - 1	3	FM	Panesar Vedant	2348	68
6	56	82	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2302	3	1 - 0	3		Gregersen Einar	1894	222
6	72	117	IM	Mohota Nisha	2177	3	½ - ½	3		Hauksson Helgi	1637	312
6	86	109	WIM	Sharma Isha	2197	2½	½ - ½	2½		Krassel Timofei	1880	228
6	103	315		Lien Sebastian	1618	2½	1 - 0	2½		Hari Charan Sai Kalluri	2066	161
6	126	162		Manukonda Arun	2061	2	1 - 0	2		Hasala Richard	1750	277
6	158	229		Cuvelier Annelies	1875	1½	1 - 0	1½		Lokeswara Rao M	1218	359
6	164	314		Vander Zwalmen Miranda	1625	1½	0 - 1	1½		Nitish Brunth Sundar	0	390

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp	n	K	rtg+/-
1	5	GM	Abhijeet Gupta			IND	2620	5,5	0	6	17	2829	6	10	11,4
	11	GM	Maxime Lagarde			FRA	2581	5,5	0	6	17	2822	6	10	13,4
3	4	GM	Mustafa Yilmaz			TUR	2629	5	0	6	17,5	2731	6	10	7,9
4	1	GM	Vasyl Ivanchuk			UKR	2664	5	0	6	16,5	2696	6	10	3
5	15	GM	V Pranav			IND	2545	5	0	6	16	2702	6	10	11,7
6	43	IM	Matthew J Wadsworth			ENG	2439	5	0	6	14,5	2483	6	10	4,1
7	23	GM	Leon Mons			GER	2514	5	0	5	17	2634	5	10	9,1
8	12	GM	Leon Livaic			CRO	2569	5	0	5	16,5	2736	5	10	7,9
9	54	IM	Mohapatra Sidhant			IND	2376	4,5	0	6	17	2553	6	10	14,8
10	30	IM	Evgenios Ioannidis			GRE	2473	4,5	0	6	17	2615	6	10	11,8
11	13	GM	Matthieu Cornette			FRA	2563	4,5	0	6	16,5	2639	6	10	6,7
	42	IM	Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla			IND	2441	4,5	0	6	16,5	2513	6	10	8,2
13	31	IM	Kassa Korley			DEN	2468	4,5	0	6	16	2521	6	10	4,5
14	2	GM	Nils Grandelius			SWE	2658	4,5	0	6	16	2542	6	10	-5,5
15	22	GM	Kjetil A. Lie			NOR	2515	4,5	0	6	15,5	2468	6	10	-2,3
16	28	IM	P Shyaamnikhil			IND	2477	4,5	0	6	15	2478	6	10	1,1
17	16	GM	Gabor Papp			HUN	2544	4,5	0	6	15	2504	6	10	-1,7
18	8	GM	Emre Can			TUR	2600	4,5	0	6	14,5	2609	6	10	1,6
19	45	FM	Shubh Jayesh Laddha	U16		USA	2422	4,5	0	6	14,5	2185	5	10	-1,2
20	7	GM	Alexandr Fier			BRA	2606	4,5	0	6	14	2424	6	10	-7,3
	24	IM	N R Vignesh			IND	2513	4,5	0	6	14	2429	6	10	-4,5
22	18	GM	Sebastien Maze			FRA	2542	4,5	0	6	14	2459	6	10	-4,7
	21	GM	Danyyil Dvirnyy			ITA	2531	4,5	0	6	14	2467	6	10	-3,7
24	39	IM	Quentin Loiseau			FRA	2449	4,5	0	6	13,5	2415	6	10	0,5
	44	IM	Alan-Safar Ramoutar			TTO	2425	4,5	0	6	13,5	2158	6	10	-8,8

Details

Round 7 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	1	11	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2581	5½		5½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2620	5
7	2	15	GM	Pranav V	2545	5		5	GM	Ivanchuk Vasyl	2664	1
7	12	18	GM	Maze Sebastien	2542	4½		4½	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2441	42
7	15	24	IM	Vignesh N R	2513	4½		4½	FM	Laddha Shubh Jayesh	2422	45
7	16	28	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2477	4½		4½	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2376	54
7	17	92	FM	Sahithi Varshini M	2262	4½		4½	GM	Demuth Adrien	2475	29
7	18	14	GM	Dziuba Marcin	2554	4		4	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2302	82
7	19	20	GM	Visakh N R	2538	4		4	IM	Kolbus Dietmar	2273	88
7	23	35	GM	Panchanathan Magesh Chandran	2460	4		4		Melaa Sondre	2243	97
7	30	98	FM	Baasansuren Erdene	2232	4		4	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2382	51
7	35	68	FM	Panesar Vedant	2348	4		4		Van Kessel Wessel	2137	133
7	68	298		Pedersen Sondre-Andreas	1674	3½		3½	IM	Mohota Nisha	2177	117
7	84	220		Dasgupta Avyukt	1896	3		3	WIM	Sharma Isha	2197	109
7	86	120	WIM	Pandey Srishti	2156	3		3		Gregersen Einar	1894	222
7	103	281		Spagnoli Benjamin	1744	3		3		Manukonda Arun	2061	162
7	128	161		Hari Charan Sai Kalluri	2066	2½		2½		Hallsson Jon Eggert	1747	279
7	148	390		Nitish Brunth Sundar	0	2½		2½		Fresow Boris	1804	258
7	177	359		Lokeswara Rao M	1218	1½		1½		Beatty Samuel	1571	322

Details

Links

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Tournament regulations

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