Aravindh Chithambaram leads with four others at the Sunway Sitges 2017

by Avathanshu Bhat - 21/12/2017

The Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival is just over it's halfway point. 5 players are now tied at 5.0/6, including two youngsters GMs Aravindh Chithambaram and Awonder Liang. The other three players are experienced GM Hrant Melkumyan, IM Matthias Dann and IM Aman Hambleton. In this report by our 12-year-old author we not only tell you all about the main event, but also take you to all the other events that are taking place in Sitges. We also have an interview with the man behind the Sunway Chess Festival. Enjoy our report from Barcelona, Spain.

What previously consisted of many players in the lead is now taking a definite shape as the tournament is surging ahead. We have five leaders on 5.0/6 at the Sunway Sitges International 2017. They are:

Rank after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	14	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.				IND	2586	0		5,0	21,5	24,5	19,0
2	4	GM	Melkumyan Hrant				ARM	2633	0		5,0	21,0	23,5	19,5
3	16	GM	Liang Awonder	16			USA	2573	0	Wisconsin	5,0	19,0	21,5	18,5
4	21	IM	Dann Matthias	H			GER	2517	0		5,0	19,0	21,5	18,0
5	29	IM	Hambleton Aman	H			CAN	2474	0		5,0	19,0	21,0	18,5
6	2	GM	Shankland Samuel				USA	2662	0		4,5	22,0	25,5	17,5
7	8	GM	Kozul Zdenko				CRO	2607	0		4,5	21,0	23,5	17,5
8	31	IM	Saduakassova Dinara	H	w		KAZ	2460	0		4,5	21,0	23,0	17,5
9	1	GM	Motylev Alexander				RUS	2675	0		4,5	20,0	23,0	17,0
10	6	GM	Edouard Romain				FRA	2621	0	Club de Ajedrez Sestao	4,5	20,0	23,0	16,5

Aravindh Chithambaram finished joint runner-up in National Premier 2017, he won the bronze at World Junior 2017. The first place has been eluding him for quite some time. Will it be at the Sunway Sitges International 2017.

Aravindh until now has four wins and two draws. He has drawn with GM Alexander Predke and IM Matthias Dann. Apart from this he has beaten all his other opponents, the best one being Dinara Sadduakassova in round five.

The other youngster who has impressed one and all with his play is GM Awonder Liang. He is also in the lead with 5.0/6. Awonder is just 14 years old. He beat the experienced Spanish GM Marc Narciso Dublan in round five.

Awonder's got this!

You could say they are all in the same boat!

Hrant Melkumyan had a 4.0/4 start including a win over GM Fernando Peralta. Now he scored two draws against Sam Shakland and Awonder Liang.

IM Akshat Khamparia, the only IM from Madhya Pradesh, is on 3.5/6 at the event. Akshat will miss the Bhopal Grandmasters event, the biggest tournament in his state which begins from today.

M. Mahalakshmi is already gaining 40 Elo points from this event. She has a rating performance of 2400+

Rishab Shah (who is rated just 1973), beat Michel Bifulco (2344) in the first round. Rishab has sent us an annotated game!

The B category, after the fifth round had a sole leader...

...Valbona Domingo Joan (left) who is on 4.5/5 after his win against Saheb Kamel

The leader drew his sixth round game and was joined by Nadal Fajardo Ricard and Vargas Drechsler Carlos at the top.

Rank after Round 6

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7	Nadal Fajardo Ricard			D	ESP	1946	2126	Barcelona, Club Escacs	5,0	21,0	24,5	18,0
2	16	Vallbona Domingo Joan	65 H		D	ESP	1918	2073	Tres Peons C.E.	5,0	20,0	23,0	18,5
3	9	Vargas Drechsler Carlos	H		D	ESP	1935	2107	Tres Peons C.E.	5,0	18,0	20,5	18,5
4	8	Magallanes Gustavo Javier			D	ARG	1935	2113	Peon Doblado	4,5	22,0	25,0	18,0
5	6	Amellal Sofiane Anis			D	ALG	1947	0	Nadi Riadhi Malki	4,5	20,5	24,0	17,5
6	11	Flores Mendoza Jose Antonio			D	ESP	1932	2127	Viladecans C.E.	4,5	20,5	23,0	17,5
7	15	Taylor Robert Graham	65		D	WLS	1919	0		4,5	19,0	21,5	16,5
8	4	Gil Vega Marcel				ESP	1978	2144	Colmena, La C.E.	4,5	18,0	19,5	14,5
9	17	Gurel Ahmet Unal	H		D	TUR	1918	0		4,5	17,5	20,0	15,5
10	38	Costa Trave Jaume			E	ESP	1792	2041	Granollers-Canovelles	4,5	17,5	19,5	14,5

Sunway Sitges International Chess festival also hosted a Night Blitz which went on till 2:00 am! The victor was Victor Bologan with a full score of 9.0/9!

GM Victor Bologan stormed the Night Blitz with a full score!

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	GM	Bologan Victor	Ex		MDA	2609	0		9,0	47,0	50,5	45,0
2	1	GM	Munoz Miguel	pag		ESP	2655	2617	Sant Andreu C.E.	8,0	51,0	55,5	40,0
3	4	IM	Bilguun Sumiya			MGL	2492	0		6,5	47,5	51,5	32,0
4	12	FM	Liu Yi	pag		AUS	2287	0		6,0	49,5	54,5	32,5
5	3	IM	Santos Latasa Jaime			ESP	2516	2536		6,0	49,5	52,5	32,5
6	15	IM	Raja Harshit			IND	2230	2227		6,0	48,5	51,5	33,0
7	6	GM	Manolache Marius	pag		ROU	2413	2401		6,0	46,5	48,5	34,5
8	28	FM	Dardha Daniel	309		BEL	2027	2319		6,0	45,0	48,5	33,0
9	18		Ashwath R.			IND	2214	2239		6,0	42,5	45,5	31,0
10	9	IM	Gascon Del Nogal Jose Rafael	Ex		VEN	2364	2517		6,0	42,0	45,5	28,0

As preparation for the rounds, GMs Ivan Sokolov and Romain Edouard held a conference explaining about material from the books that they have written for Thinkers Publishing.

GM Ivan Sokolov's conference attracted a good audience

A lot must be said about the Organizer, Mr Oskar. He has truly done a great job with the whole event. The event is over its halfway point and is slowly nearing its end, but by then, you really don't want it to end. As promised, here is a short interview with Mr Oskar.

While we complained about the cold, people dived and swam and surfed in the water!

Ahh, there's nothing like dal-rice meal when you're so far away from home!

The crucial stages in the tournament will follow in the next few days. Catch all the action in our next article on the Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival 2017!