Aryan Tari wins Harpa Blitz Reykjavik Open 2023, Pranav Venkatesh second

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/04/2023

GM Abhijeet Gupta lost to Sweden no.1 GM Nils Grandelius. He is now virtually out of the championship picture. The five-time Commonwealth Gold medalist misjudged a pawn capture in a rook and minor piece endgame. It eventually cost him the game. GM Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR), GM Maxime Lagarde (FRA), GM Gabor Papp (HUN), GM Nils and IM Quentin Loiseau (FRA) are in a five-way lead 6.5/8 heading into the final round. 14-players are trailing them by a half point at 6/8 each. Three Indians among them are - GM Abhijeet, IM Sidhant Mohapatra and GM Visakh N R. Sidhant scored a nice win over GM Marcin Dziuba (POL). Round 9 starts today at 11 a.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Five-way lead

WIM Gaal Zsoka (HUN) and WGM Dina Belenkaya (ISR) are currently the highest scoring female players at 5.5/8 each. Both GM Aryan Tari (NOR) and GM Pranav Venkatesh scored 8/9, suffering a loss each. Aryan's only loss was against the eventual second runner-up Iceland's latest GM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson. Pranav's sole defeat was against the winner, Aryan. It was the deciding factor in Aryan winning the Blitz Open event.

Harpa Blitz Top four (L to R) - 1st GM Aryan Tari, 2nd GM Pranav Venkatesh, 3rd GM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson and 4th GM Maxime Lagarde | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Abhijeet - Grandelius: 0-1

Sweden no.1 GM Nils Grandelius (2658) had no difficulty equalizing out of the Semi-Slav opening against GM Abhijeet Gupta (2620). Pieces got exchanged at regular intervals and a queenless occurred on the board within move no.15.

Position after 20...b5

Black gained the c4-pawn a few moves ago and decided to defend it. White has very minute temporary compensation for it. As per the computer, White should have exchanged twice on f6. 21.Rxf6 Rxf6 22.Nxf6 Kxf6 23.g3 and White has some kind of semblance to an equality, in practical terms it is difficult to accept that for a human. 21.Bg4 allowed Bxd4+ 22.Rxd4 Rxf1+ 23.Kxf1 e5 24.Rd6 Bxg4 25.Rxc6 Bf5 and now White needed to take the g5-pawn to stay in the fight. 26.Nc3? did the opposite b4 27.Nd5+ Kd7 28.Rf6 Be4 and Black is in a commanding position.

A tough loss for GM Abhijeet Gupta | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2023

Quentin - Pranav: 1-0

GM Pranav V (2545) played boldly against IM Quentin Loiseau (FRA, 2449) and it did not pay off.

Position after 22.Qf3

22...gxh4 is correct 23.Qxf7+ Kh6 24.Bf4+ exf4 25.e5 Bxf2+? Black had to play 25...Rg8 26.Qh7+ Kg5 surprisingly Black is doing fine here. 26.Kh1 Rg8 27.Qh7+ Kg5 28.Be4 Nxe5 29.Bxc6 Bxe1 30.Rxe1 Nxc6 31.Ne4+ and White is winning due to the black king's precarious situation.

Sidhant - Dziuba

Position after 21.Rc4

IM Sidhant Mohapatra (2376) found a nice tactic 21.Rc4! in reply to 20...e5 a double attack. 22.Rxc8 Qxc8 23.h6 Qg8 24.hxg7 Rxh3 25.Qf6+ and White went on to win the game. At one point four queens were present on the board but White was never in any trouble.

IM Sidhant Mohapatra is now at 6/8 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Visakh N R grinded a balanced double rook endgame and ended up winning the game, to take his score to 6/8

GM Danyyil Dvirnyy (ITA) - FM Vedant Panesar (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

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 8 games

Round 8 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	2	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2620	6	0 - 1	5½	GM	Grandelius Nils	2658	2
8	6	39	IM	Loiseau Quentin	2449	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Pranav V	2545	15
8	8	3	GM	Tari Aryan	2649	5	1 - 0	5½	IM	Vignesh N R	2513	24
8	12	54	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2376	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Dziuba Marcin	2554	14
8	13	57	IM	Thorfinnsson Bjorn	2369	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Visakh N R	2538	20
8	14	21	GM	Dvirnyy Danyyil	2531	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Panesar Vedant	2348	68
8	17	71	IM	Sarkar Justin	2338	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2477	28
8	24	31	IM	Korley Kassa	2468	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Sahithi Varshini M	2262	92
8	27	85	FM	Salles Louis	2287	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Panchanathan Magesh Chandran	2460	35
8	29	99	IM	Large Peter G	2227	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2441	42
8	40	117	IM	Mohota Nisha	2177	4½	½ - ½	4½	FM	Soderstrom Adrian	2322	74
8	53	51	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2382	4	1 - 0	4		Southcott-Moyers Indy	2094	148
8	59	82	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2302	4	1 - 0	4	CM	Lohia Sohum	2081	152
8	60	162		Manukonda Arun	2061	4	0 - 1	4	WGM	Papp Sarah	2288	84
8	71	109	WIM	Sharma Isha	2197	4	1 - 0	4		Johannsdottir Johanna Bjorg	1974	195
8	76	215		Kee Steve	1919	4	½ - ½	4	WIM	Pandey Srishti	2156	120
8	99	252		Ostensson Julia	1822	3½	0 - 1	3½		Hari Charan Sai Kalluri	2066	161
8	165	276		Kasims Stefans	1753	2½	½ - ½	2½		Lokeswara Rao M	1218	359
8	170	292		Kjartansson Matthias Bjorgvin	1689	2½	1 - 0	2½		Nitish Brunth Sundar	0	390

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp	n	K	rtg+/-
1	4	GM	Mustafa Yilmaz			TUR	2629	6,5	0	8	34,5	2732	8	10	10,6
2	11	GM	Maxime Lagarde			FRA	2581	6,5	0	8	33	2723	8	10	14,6
3	16	GM	Gabor Papp			HUN	2544	6,5	0	8	31,5	2598	8	10	5,9
4	2	GM	Nils Grandelius			SWE	2658	6,5	0	8	30	2648	8	10	1,4
5	39	IM	Quentin Loiseau			FRA	2449	6,5	0	8	29	2554	8	10	13,1
6	5	GM	Abhijeet Gupta			IND	2620	6	0	8	35	2669	8	10	6,4
7	1	GM	Vasyl Ivanchuk			UKR	2664	6	0	8	33,5	2646	8	10	-0,3
8	13	GM	Matthieu Cornette			FRA	2563	6	0	8	32,5	2645	8	10	9,2
9	54	IM	Mohapatra Sidhant			IND	2376	6	0	8	32	2592	8	10	23,5
10	41	IM	Dimitar Mardov	U16		USA	2445	6	0	8	31,5	2515	8	10	8
11	18	GM	Sebastien Maze			FRA	2542	6	0	8	31,5	2530	8	10	0,6
12	22	GM	Kjetil A. Lie			NOR	2515	6	0	8	31	2523	8	10	2,3
13	20	GM	N R Visakh			IND	2538	6	0	8	29	2527	8	10	-0,3
14	73	IM	Elliot Papadiamandis			FRA	2323	6	0	8	27,5	2458	8	10	15,4
15	6	GM	Tamas Banusz			HUN	2616	6	0	7	31	2611	7	10	0,2
16	12	GM	Leon Livaic			CRO	2569	6	0	6	32,5	2667	6	10	7,1
17	3	GM	Aryan Tari			NOR	2649	6	0	6	31	2687	6	10	3,4
18	29	GM	Adrien Demuth			FRA	2475	6	0	6	30,5	2588	6	10	8,4
19	25	GM	Hannes Stefansson			ISL	2510	6	0	6	27,5	2473	6	10	-0,3
20	15	GM	V Pranav			IND	2545	5,5	0	8	34,5	2602	8	10	7
21	42	IM	Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla			IND	2441	5,5	0	8	32	2477	8	10	6,9
22	31	IM	Kassa Korley			DEN	2468	5,5	0	8	31,5	2487	8	10	2,9
	40	IM	Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo			MAD	2448	5,5	0	8	31,5	2456	8	10	2,4
24	8	GM	Emre Can			TUR	2600	5,5	0	8	31,5	2555	8	10	-3,3
25	43	IM	Matthew J Wadsworth			ENG	2439	5,5	0	8	31	2442	8	10	2,6

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	4	20	GM	Visakh N R	2538	6		6	GM	Tari Aryan	2649	3
9	5	5	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2620	6		6	GM	Lie Kjetil A.	2515	22
9	9	18	GM	Maze Sebastien	2542	6		6	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2376	54
9	10	15	GM	Pranav V	2545	5½		6	IM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2323	73
9	16	24	IM	Vignesh N R	2513	5½		5½	IM	Carlsson Ludvig	2375	55
9	17	28	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2477	5½		5½	WIM	Gaal Zsoka	2320	75
9	18	68	FM	Panesar Vedant	2348	5½		5½	IM	Korley Kassa	2468	31
9	19	35	GM	Panchanathan Magesh Chandran	2460	5½		5½	IM	Sarkar Justin	2338	71
9	31	38	GM	Knaak Rainer	2455	5		5	WIM	Sharma Isha	2197	109
9	36	106		Cornelisse John	2203	5		5	IM	Ajay Krishna S	2382	51
9	40	62	FM	O`Gorman Tom	2357	5		5	IM	Mohota Nisha	2177	117
9	43	42	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2441	5½		5½	WGM	Belenkaya Dina	2300	83
9	50	198		Pozimski Szymon	1972	5		5	FM	Karthik Rajaa	2302	82
9	57	161		Hari Charan Sai Kalluri	2066	4½		4½	FM	Trimitzios Petros	2358	60
9	64	92	FM	Sahithi Varshini M	2262	4½		4½	FM	George Samir David	1993	188
9	76	120	WIM	Pandey Srishti	2156	4½		4½		Frank Anton 2006	1857	237
9	154	359		Lokeswara Rao M	1218	3		3		Ingason Sigurdur	1756	273

Details

A total of 180 players including 7 GMs, 11 IMs and 3 WIMs took part from 24 countries across the world. The one-day nine-round Swiss League Blitz Rating tournament was organized by The Reykjavík Open Organizing Committee on 2nd April 2023 at Harpa Conference Center in Reykjavik, Iceland. The time control was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.

Final standings in Blitz

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	3	GM	Aryan Tari			NOR	2561	8	1	8	56,5	2621	9	8	7,09	0,91	10	9,1
2	6	GM	V Pranav	U18		IND	2500	8	0	8	55	2620	9	8	6,53	1,47	10	14,7
3	5	IM	Vignir Vatnar Stefansson	U20		ISL	2506	7,5	0,5	7	57,5	2561	9	7,5	6,39	1,11	10	11,1
4	2	GM	Maxime Lagarde			FRA	2576	7,5	0,5	7	51	2434	9	7,5	8,04	-0,54	10	-5,4
5	1	GM	Luke J Mcshane			ENG	2591	7	0	7	55,5	2418	9	7	7,89	-0,89	10	-8,9
6	15	IM	Matthew J Wadsworth			ENG	2330	7	0	7	51,5	2378	9	7	6,20	0,80	20	16
7	9	IM	Thomas Willemze			NED	2440	7	0	7	51,5	2328	9	7	7,64	-0,64	10	-6,4
8	20	FM	Vedant Panesar	U20		IND	2278	7	0	7	51,5	2417	9	7	5,24	1,76	20	35,2
9	39	FM	Ashvin Sivakumar			SGP	2152	7	0	7	51,5	2383	9	7	4,30	2,70	20	54
10	7	GM	Magesh Chandran Panchanathan			IND	2494	7	0	6	55	2424	9	7	7,21	-0,21	10	-2,1
11	27	IM	Ludvig Carlsson	U20		SWE	2245	7	0	6	48,5	2318	9	7	5,75	1,25	20	25
12	12	GM	Helgi Ass Gretarsson			ISL	2370	6,5	0	6	58,5	2360	9	6,5	6,17	0,33	10	3,3
13	21	FM	Tom O`gorman			IRL	2271	6,5	0	6	51	2362	9	6,5	5,15	1,35	20	27
14	24	IM	Kyron Griffith			USA	2254	6,5	0	6	49,5	2184	9	6,5	6,67	-0,17	20	-3,4
15	42		Matthieu Loncke	U20		BEL	2125	6,5	0	6	48,5	2248	9	6,5	4,91	1,59	20	31,8
16	71		Bragi Halldorsson	S65		ISL	1993	6,5	0	6	47,5	2146	9	6,5	4,43	2,07	20	41,4
17	57	CM	Sohum Lohia	U14		ENG	2036	6,5	0	6	46,5	2294	9	6,5	3,60	2,90	40	116
18	32	IM	Peter G Large	S65		ENG	2192	6,5	0	6	45,5	2029	8	5,5	5,83	-0,33	20	-6,6
19	33	CM	Halldor Halldorsson			ISL	2190	6,5	0	6	45	2093	9	6,5	7,08	-0,58	20	-11,6
20	23	IM	Hilmir Freyr Heimisson			ISL	2254	6,5	0	5	47	2138	9	6,5	7,40	-0,90	20	-18

Details

Blitz Regulations

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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