Swayams, Ravi, Arghyadip and Shardul are in the title fray of XLV Seville Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 16/01/2020

Four Indians GM Swayams Mishra, IM Ravi Teja S, IM Arghyadip Das and GM Shardul Gagare are trailing behind half a point at 5.0/7 in XLV Abierto Internacional "Ciudad de Sevilla". Currently five players are leading the tournament at 5.5/6 each, they are Karen Grigoryan, Kirill Shevchenko, Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Di Li and Shanglei Lu. Among the Indian women, Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan, Shalmali Gagare, Nisha Mohota and Pratyusha Bodda are at 4.0/6 each. With three rounds left, a lot of ups and downs are expected to happen. First prize 2000 Euros is up for grabs. The report contains selected games, key moments and photos from the tournament. Photo: Ismael Nieto

Four Indians are trailing by a half point

Five players Karen Grigoryan, Kirill Shevchenko, Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Di Li and Shanglei Lu, are leading at 5.5 points at the conclusion of the seventh round in XLV Abierto Internacional "Ciudad de Sevilla". Four Indians are trailing behind them by a half point at 5.0/7. They are - GM Swayams Mishra, IM Ravi Teja S, IM Arghyadip Das and GM Shardul Gagare.

Swayams, Ravi, Arghyadip and Shardul are poised to make a podium finish | Photo: Ismael Nieto

In the sixth round, Swayams scored a fine win over FM Daniel Rengel (2269) of Brazil.

Swayams in action at the tournament | Photo: Ismael Nieto

Swayams - Rengel, Round 6

Find out why 16...Neg4 is a mistake

IM Ravi Teja S has managed to remain unbeaten so far in the tournament. Despite being in a worse position, Ravi provided strong resistance and managed to salvage a draw against GM Andrey Shariyazdanov (2519) of Russia in the fifth round.

Ravi Teja is having a good tournament so far | Photo: Ismale Nieto

IM Arghyadip Das made a short work of CM Pablo Munoz Martin in just 28 moves in the sixth round.

IM Arghyadip Das could become India's next GM | Photo: Ismale Nieto

GM Shardul Gagare showed true grit as he overturned a completely lost position after his opponent FM Nikoloz Chkhaidze (2288) of Georgia blundered in a completely winning position.

GM Shardul Gagare showed his never give up attitude | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Chkaidze - Shardul, Round 6

White blundered here with 45.Rd8+

White had a winning position for a long time and even after 44...Rxg6, white is still winning. However, white blundered here with 45.Rd8+. That is why you should never give up, play till the end and who knows what kind of opportunity you opponent present yourself?

IM Padmini Rout is at 4.0/6. She lost two games, in the first one she misplayed in the opening against Bernadskiy and in the second one, she just blundered a piece for not enough compensation.

Padmini is at 4.0/6 | Photo: Ismael Nieto

Bernadskiy - Padmini, Round 4

Position after 6.a4

Although 6...Ba6+ is a tempting move but it doesn't lead to much as the bishop stays blocked there and the pin is not that harmful for white. Instead Black could have gone with 6...Qh5+ 7.Nf3 g5 and that would have made white's life a bit more difficult.

Soumya, Nisha, Shalmali and Pratyusha all are at 4.0/6 | Photo: Ismael Nieto

The nine-round Swiss League tournament XLV Abierto Internacional "Ciudad de Sevilla" takes place from 10th to 18th January 2020, everyday at 5:30 p.m. local time, 9 p.m. IST. Only final round on 18th January 2020 will take place at 9:30 a.m. local time, 2 p.m. IST.

Replay all games

Round 6 results

Brd.	White	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.	Res.	Black	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.
1	GM Grigoryan, Karen H.	5.0	2632	ARM	½-½	GM Shevchenko, Kirill	5.0	2553	UKR
2	GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy	5.0	2588	UKR	½-½	GM Lu, Shanglei	5.0	2611	CHN
3	GM Li, Di	5.0	2562	CHN	½-½	GM Shariyazdanov, Andrey	4.5	2519	RUS
4	GM Harutyunian, Tigran K.	4.5	2533	ARM	1-0	GM Pridorozhni, Aleksei	4.5	2601	RUS
5	IM Ravi, Teja S.	4.5	2464	IND	½-½	IM Chen, Qi B	4.5	2432	CHN
6	GM Matamoros Franco, Carlos S.	4.0	2487	ECU	1-0	FM Montero Melendez, Rafael	4.0	2288	ESP
7	FM Chkhaidze, Nikoloz	4.0	2288	GEO	0-1	GM Gagare, Shardul	4.0	2481	IND
8	GM Swayams, Mishra	4.0	2479	IND	1-0	FM Rangel, Daniel	4.0	2269	BRA
9	WIM Pratyusha, Bodda	4.0	2267	IND	0-1	GM Alsina Leal, Daniel	4.0	2465	ESP
10	CM Munoz Martin, Pablo	4.0	2264	ESP	0-1	IM Das, Arghyadip	4.0	2451	IND
11	IM Panjwani, Raja	4.0	2444	CAN	½-½	WIM Gu, Tianlu	4.0	2255	CHN
12	Gutierrez Valero, Mario	4.0	2260	ESP	0-1	GM Campora, Daniel H.	4.0	2420	ARG
13	IM Polivanov, Anatoliy	4.0	2420	UKR	1-0	Dubreuil, Nicolas	4.0	2200	FRA
14	IM Bukal, Vladimir Jr.	4.0	2385	CRO	1-0	CM Uribe, Jhonny Alberto	4.0	2149	VEN
15	Corbalan Gomez, Juan Jose	4.0	2243	ESP	1-0	WGM Soumya, Swaminathan	4.0	2384	IND
16	GM Pogorelov, Ruslan	4.0	2377	UKR	½-½	CM Pingin, Artem	4.0	2143	RUS
17	IM Henni, Mohamed	4.0	2202	ALG	1-0	IM Padmini, Rout	4.0	2369	IND
18	FM Gutierrez Olivares, Daniel	4.0	2358	ESP	1-0	Romero Romero, Sebastian	4.0	2122	ESP
19	FM Krockenberger, Martin	4.0	2200	GER	0-1	FM Pecnik, Leo	4.0	2357	CRO
20	FM Melekhina, Alisa	4.0	2192	USA	0-1	FM Barrish, Daniel	4.0	2352	RSA

Complete results

Round 7 pairings

Brd.	White	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.	Black	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.
1	GM Li, Di	5.5	2562	CHN	GM Grigoryan, Karen H.	5.5	2632	ARM
2	GM Lu, Shanglei	5.5	2611	CHN	GM Harutyunian, Tigran K.	5.5	2533	ARM
3	GM Shevchenko, Kirill	5.5	2553	UKR	GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy	5.5	2588	UKR
4	GM Shariyazdanov, Andrey	5.0	2519	RUS	IM Polivanov, Anatoliy	5.0	2420	UKR
5	GM Campora, Daniel H.	5.0	2420	ARG	GM Matamoros Franco, Carlos S.	5.0	2487	ECU
6	GM Gagare, Shardul	5.0	2481	IND	IM Bukal, Vladimir Jr.	5.0	2385	CRO
7	FM Pecnik, Leo	5.0	2357	CRO	GM Swayams, Mishra	5.0	2479	IND
8	GM Alsina Leal, Daniel	5.0	2465	ESP	FM Gutierrez Olivares, Daniel	5.0	2358	ESP
9	FM Barrish, Daniel	5.0	2352	RSA	IM Ravi, Teja S.	5.0	2464	IND
10	IM Das, Arghyadip	5.0	2451	IND	Corbalan Gomez, Juan Jose	5.0	2243	ESP
11	IM Chen, Qi B	5.0	2432	CHN	IM Henni, Mohamed	5.0	2202	ALG
12	IM Estremera Panos, Sergio	5.0	2307	ESP	IM Panjwani, Raja	4.5	2444	CAN
13	GM Pridorozhni, Aleksei	4.5	2601	RUS	Draghici Flutur, Gavril **	4.5	2125	ESP
14	FM Oragwu, Chukwunonso	4.5	2220	NGR	GM Pap, Misa	4.5	2427	SRB
15	Soldo, Robert	4.5	2180	CRO	GM Pogorelov, Ruslan	4.5	2377	UKR
16	WIM Gu, Tianlu	4.5	2255	CHN	Pozo Prior, Jose Antonio	4.5	2016	ESP
17	CM Pingin, Artem	4.5	2143	RUS	WGM Soumya, Swaminathan	4.0	2384	IND
18	IM Padmini, Rout	4.0	2369	IND	Xu, Yang	4.0	2047	CHN
19	FM Montero Melendez, Rafael	4.0	2288	ESP	Vela Ignacio, Jose Manuel **	4.0	2038	ESP
20	Filipovich, David	4.0	1995	CAN	FM Chkhaidze, Nikoloz	4.0	2288	GCEO

Complete pairings

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