RTU Open 2021 R7: Narayanan and Kovalenko in the lead 6.0/7

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/08/2021

Narayanan S L beat Budisavljevic and Kovalenko scored a win against Gukesh to share the lead 6.0/7 at the conclusion of the seventh round of Riga Technical University Open 2021. While Narayanan capitalized on his opponent's positional mistakes, the Latvia no.1 took advantage of his opponent's incorrect onslaught on his kingside. They will face each other in the penultimate round, which could possibly have huge implications for the championship. Arjun Kalyan provided staunch defence to make a 120-move long marathon draw against Aram Hakobyan. Round 8 starts today at 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Arjun and Arjun in pursuit

GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Arjun Kalyan are in pursuit 5.5/7 along with eight other players. They are - GMs Aram Hakobyan (ARM), Ilia Smirin (ISR), Nikita Meshkovs (LAT), Velimic Ivir (SRB), Gergely Kantor (HUN), Alexander Donchenko (GER), Vahap Sanal (TUR) and IM Tomas Laurusas (LTU).

GM Narayanan S L shares the lead with Kovalenko | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Kovalenko - Gukesh: 1-0

Gukesh's ambitious attack did not work out the way he wanted against GM Igor Kovalenko (LAT).

Position after 24...g3

White took 25.fxg3 Nxg3 26.Rf3 and Black has no attack. A better approach would have been 22...Qf6 instead of 22...Ndf6.

Narayanan - Budisavljevic: 1-0

Narayanan S L scored a victory over GM Luka Budisavljevic (SRB) after he made positional mistakes.

Position after 22..Bd7

22...Bd7 is the first mistake made by Black. What should White do here?

Position after 24...Bf5

Black needed to defend the f7-pawn immediately, which means 24...Be6 would have been a better choice. Find out the best continuation for White.

Pranav - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5

IM Pranav Anand held GM R Praggnanandhaa to a draw. Pranav gained upper hand in the middlegame but practically it was not easy to convert it into a substantial one.

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 7:

GM Narayanan S L defeated GM Luka Budisavljevic (SRB)

GM Gergely Kantor (HUN) defeated IM Evgenios Ioannidis (GRE)

IM Cem Kaan Gokerkan (TUR) won against FM Siem Van Diel (NED)

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2644	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Gukesh D	2578	13
2	6	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2624	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Budisavljevic Luka	2495	27
3	24	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2503	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2612	7
4	10	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	4½	½ - ½	5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2597	11
5	26	GM	Kantans Toms	2501	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2657	1
6	2	GM	Nihal Sarin	2655	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Grigorov Grigor	2507	23
7	38	FM	Stukan Martin	2443	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2641	5
8	8	GM	Smirin Ilia	2610	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Roshka Yevgeniy	2476	31
9	14	GM	Ivic Velimir	2571	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Pultinevicius Paulius	2528	21
10	78		Kugler Florian	2223	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	2568	15
11	16	GM	Sanal Vahap	2557	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Miezis Normunds	2468	33
12	54	FM	Chukavin Kirill	2370	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2556	17
13	18	IM	Laurusas Tomas	2549	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Aditya Mittal	2464	35
14	20	GM	Kantor Gergely	2533	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Ioannidis Evgenios	2422	44
15	46	IM	Pranav Anand	2417	4½	½ - ½	4	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2608	9

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	6	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2624	6		6	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2644	3
2	1	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2657	5½		5½	GM	Sanal Vahap	2557	16
3	7	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2612	5½		5½	IM	Laurusas Tomas	2549	18
4	15	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	2568	5½		5½	GM	Smirin Ilia	2610	8
5	11	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2597	5½		5½	GM	Kantor Gergely	2533	20
6	24	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2503	5½		5½	GM	Ivic Velimir	2571	14
7	27	GM	Budisavljevic Luka	2495	5		5	GM	Nihal Sarin	2655	2
8	5	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2641	5		5	IM	Gokerkan Cem Kaan	2466	34
9	36	IM	Dmitrenko Viktor	2444	5		5	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	10
10	13	GM	Gukesh D	2578	5		5	FM	Stukan Martin	2443	38
11	17	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2556	5		5	IM	Pranav Anand	2417	46
12	23	GM	Grigorov Grigor	2507	5		5	FM	Chukavin Kirill	2370	54
13	37	IM	Petkov Momchil	2443	4½		4½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	4
14	9	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2608	4½		4½	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2433	41
15	43	IM	Vignesh N R	2428	4½		4½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2580	12

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details

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