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RTU Open 2021 R4: Aram Hakobyan takes the sole lead 4.0/4

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/08/2021

Aram Hakobyan became the only player with a 100% score as he beat Abhimanyu Puranik in the fourth round of Riga Technical University Open 2021. A total of 15-players are in the pursuit at 3.5/4. The Indian players among them are - Arjun Erigaisi, Narayanan S L, Nihal, Gukesh, Visakh and Praggnanandhaa. Visakh vs. Erigaisi, Karthikeyan vs. Aditya and Arjun Kalyan vs. Rithvik will be some exciting All-Indian battles in the next round. Nihal will face the sole leader Aram Hakobyan. Round 5 and 6 starts today at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. IST respectively. Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open

A day of short draws

Three out of top six boards ended in draws in less than 25 moves. It is quite understandable that everyone wanted to save energy for the following day as it has the tournament's second double-rounds. Only four games were decisive among the top ten boards, and white won them all.

Aram Hakobyan (ARM) 4.0/4 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open

Arjun Erigaisi - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin made a quick seven-move draw.

Arjun Erigaisi 3.5/4 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Hakobyan - Puranik: 1-0

Aram Hakobyan (ARM) beat Abhimanyu Puranik to take the sole lead.

Position after 29..Rc5

29...Rc5 seems like a good way to generate some counterplay, but it actually does the opposite, White gets a good opportunity to attack on the kingside. Find out what Black could have done instead.

Praggnanandhaa - Pavlov: 1-0

Praggnanandhaa defeated IM Sergey Pavlov (UKR) with a showcase of positional play.

Position after 20.Rxd4

White aimed for the backward d7-pawn which became the deciding factor for the rest of the game.

Praggnanandhaa 3.5/4 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Gukesh - Haldorsen: 1-0

Gukesh defeated IM Benjamin Haldorsen (NOR) after the latter made both positional and tactical mistakes.

Position after 25...Nce4

The idea behind 25...Nce4 is simple, Black wants to bring a knight to the c3-square. So 26.Bxe4 is quite logical, now Black should have recaptured with the knight, 26...dxe4 was not such a good idea. 27.Ndxe6 fxe6 gives Black a double-pawn on the e-file and the hopes of getting the knight to c3 is gone. Soon Black made a tactical error which cost him a pawn and eventually blundered the knight before resigning.

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 4:

GM Daniil Yuffa (RUS) defeated IM Evgenios Ioannidis (GRE)

FM Dmitry Borisovsky (RUS) lost to GM Karthikeyan Murali

IM Aditya Mittal defeated Matas Indriunas

Replay Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
111
GMErigaisi Arjun25973½ - ½3GMNihal Sarin2655
2
221
GMPultinevicius Paulius25283½ - ½3GMNarayanan.S.L2624
6
37
GMHakobyan Aram261231 - 03GMPuranik Abhimanyu2580
12
423
GMGrigorov Grigor25073½ - ½3GMSmirin Ilia2610
8
53
GMKovalenko Igor26441 - 03IMLaurusas Tomas2549
18
65
GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr.2641½ - ½IMArjun Kalyan2503
24
79
GMPraggnanandhaa R26081 - 0IMPavlov Sergey2481
30
813
GMGukesh D25781 - 0IMHaldorsen Benjamin2471
32
927
GMBudisavljevic Luka2495½ - ½GMIvic Velimir2571
14
1015
GMMeshkovs Nikita2568½ - ½IMDmitrenko Viktor2444
36
1140
FMJuksta Karolis24380 - 1GMSanal Vahap2557
16
1217
GMYuffa Daniil25561 - 0IMIoannidis Evgenios2422
44
1319
GMKulaots Kaido25481 - 0GMAkesson Ralf2395
48
1443
IMVignesh N R24280 - 1GMKantor Gergely2533
20
1586
Kretainis Kristaps21920 - 1GMVisakh N R2516
22

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
12
GMNihal Sarin26554GMHakobyan Aram2612
7
23
GMKovalenko Igor2644GMYuffa Daniil2556
17
36
GMNarayanan.S.L2624GMKulaots Kaido2548
19
48
GMSmirin Ilia2610GMPultinevicius Paulius2528
21
520
GMKantor Gergely2533GMPraggnanandhaa R2608
9
622
GMVisakh N R2516GMErigaisi Arjun2597
11
774
CMVardanyan Aras2255GMGukesh D2578
13
816
GMSanal Vahap2557GMGrigorov Grigor2507
23
936
IMDmitrenko Viktor244433GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr.2641
5
1010
GMKarthikeyan Murali260633IMAditya Mittal2464
35
1112
GMPuranik Abhimanyu258033IMPetkov Momchil2443
37
1214
GMIvic Velimir257133IMHaria Ravi2440
39
1342
IMPlotkin Mark243033GMMeshkovs Nikita2568
15
1418
IMLaurusas Tomas254933IMPranav Anand2417
46
1524
IMArjun Kalyan250333IMRaja Rithvik R2433
41

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details



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