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RTU Open 2021 R8: Kovalenko, Narayanan and Donchenko in a three-way race

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/08/2021

Narayanan S L made a short draw with Latvia no.1 Igor Kovalenko in the penultimate round of Riga Technical University Open 2021. They are joined by the top seed of the tournament, Alexander Donchenko at 6.5/8. The German made quite a comeback, chaining five consecutive victories after making a slow start 1.5/3. Ten players are just a half point behind the three leaders. For Narayanan to win the tournament, he needs to win his final round game against Ilia Smirin and hope the game between Kovalenko and Donchenko ends in a draw or Kovalenko loses as Narayanan's tie-breaks is better than the German but not against the Latvian. Round 9 starts today at 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Top seed Donchenko back in the title fray

The penultimate round witnessed only three decisive games among the top ten boards, which resulted in three leaders and ten pursuers at a half point behind. Among them, Arjun Erigaisi, Arjun Kalyan, D Gukesh and Karthikeyan Murali are the four Indian players.

GM Narayanan S L must win the last round and hope for the top board result to be in his favor | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Narayanan - Kovalenko: 0.5-0.5

Narayanan S L made a short draw with Latvia no.1 Igor Kovalenko.

Budisavljevic - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Nihal survived a massive scare against GM Luka Budisavljevic (SRB).

Position after 13..c5

13...c5 is a big mistake. Find out what Black should have done instead. Nihal managed to escape eventually in the endgame and salvage a draw.

Gukesh - Stukan: 1-0

GM Gukesh could have been in deep trouble which his opponent FM Martin Stukan (RUS) compeltely overlooked.

Position after 27.Qb1

Find out the best continuation for Black in the above position.

Highlights

Here is an interesting finish from Round 8:

GM Harshit Raja defeated IM Roland Berzinsh (LAT)

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
16
GMNarayanan.S.L26246½ - ½6GMKovalenko Igor2644
3
21
GMDonchenko Alexander26571 - 0GMSanal Vahap2557
16
37
GMHakobyan Aram2612½ - ½IMLaurusas Tomas2549
18
415
GMMeshkovs Nikita2568½ - ½GMSmirin Ilia2610
8
511
GMErigaisi Arjun2597½ - ½GMKantor Gergely2533
20
624
IMArjun Kalyan2503½ - ½GMIvic Velimir2571
14
727
GMBudisavljevic Luka24955½ - ½5GMNihal Sarin2655
2
85
GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr.26415½ - ½5IMGokerkan Cem Kaan2466
34
936
IMDmitrenko Viktor244450 - 15GMKarthikeyan Murali2606
10
1013
GMGukesh D257851 - 05FMStukan Martin2443
38
1117
GMYuffa Daniil25565½ - ½5IMPranav Anand2417
46
1223
GMGrigorov Grigor25075½ - ½5FMChukavin Kirill2370
54
1337
IMPetkov Momchil24430 - 1GMSethuraman S.P.2644
4
149
GMPraggnanandhaa R26081 - 0IMRaja Rithvik R2433
41
1543
IMVignesh N R2428½ - ½GMPuranik Abhimanyu2580
12

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
13
GMKovalenko Igor2644GMDonchenko Alexander2657
1
28
GMSmirin Ilia26106GMNarayanan.S.L2624
6
314
GMIvic Velimir257166GMHakobyan Aram2612
7
410
GMKarthikeyan Murali260666GMMeshkovs Nikita2568
15
518
IMLaurusas Tomas254966GMErigaisi Arjun2597
11
620
GMKantor Gergely253366GMGukesh D2578
13
72
GMNihal Sarin26556IMArjun Kalyan2503
24
84
GMSethuraman S.P.2644IMRaja Harshit2486
29
927
GMBudisavljevic Luka2495GMAravindh Chithambaram Vr.2641
5
1054
FMChukavin Kirill2370GMPraggnanandhaa R2608
9
1116
GMSanal Vahap2557IMRoshka Yevgeniy2476
31
1234
IMGokerkan Cem Kaan2466GMYuffa Daniil2556
17
1322
GMVisakh N R2516GMMiezis Normunds2468
33
1446
IMPranav Anand2417GMGrigorov Grigor2507
23
1530
IMPavlov Sergey24815FMDudin Gleb2422
45

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details



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