Shevchenko takes sole lead, Arghyadip stays ahead in XLV Seville Open 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 18/01/2020

Kirill Shevchenko beat Lu Shanglei to take sole at 7.5/8 heading into the final round of the tournament. IM Arghyadip Das slipped a bit in the middle game against GM Andrey Shariyazdanov. However his opponent was unable to spot the intermediate move which allowed Arghyadip to regroup and equalize, leading to a draw. Both GM Swayams Mishra and IM Ravi Teja S scored comfortable draws. GM Shardul Gagare perhaps played one of the best game of the round, however he was unable to capitalize on his chances and eventually lost the game against GM Di Li. Both IM Padmini Rout and WIM Pratyusha Bodda won their respective matches to setup an All-Indian clash in the final round of the tournament. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Arghyadip continues his chase for a top finish

GM Kirill Shevchenko (UKR) beat GM Lu Shanglei (CHN) to take sole lead at 7.5/8 followed by three players at 7.0/8. IM Arghyadip Das is the only Indian who is at 6.5/8. He can still make a top finish.

Kirill Shevchenko is the sole leader at 7.5/8 | Photo: Ismael Nieto

IM Arghyadip Das got into trouble in the middle game after missing a correct continuation. Then he somehow managed to equalize after his opponent GM Andrey Shariyazdanov (RUS, 2519) missed an intermediate move thus the winning opportunity.

Arghyadip - Shariyazdanov, Round 8

Find out the best continuation white after 28...Qh5

White continued with 29.Qd3 instead of eliminating the threat on h4 and pinning his own knight at c3.

Black went with 29...Bf5, what was the intermediate move he missed?

Time scramble could be one of the reason why black missed the intermediate move and went with straight 29...Bf5

Shardul made a very interesting sacrifice on Di's king side but he was unable to follow through.

Shardul - Di, Round 8

Black just played 17...Qa6, what should White do here?

Find out the correct continuation for white after 20...Rg8

Shardul misplayed here with 21.d5 which allowed black to regroup his pieces until black made an incorrect sacrifice.

Find out the best continuation for black after 23.Qc3

Black made an incorrect sacrifice with 23...Bxf2+ which allowed white to get back into the game.

White needs to defend well to maintain the advantage. How?

White continued with 28.Qf5+ instead white should have gone with 28.Rc3 Rb4 29.Qf3 and consolidate the position. After some further inaccuracies, white landed in a lost Queen ending.

IM Ravi Teja S held GM Alexei Pridorozhni (RUS, 2601) to a comfortable draw.

GM Swayams Mishra was held to a draw by FM Daniel Barrish (RSA, 2352) when neither side gave any chance to their opponent.

IM Nisha Mohota lost to IM Vladimir Bukal Jr. (CRO, 2385) after the former misplayed in the middle game.

IM Padmini Rout scored a beautiful win by sacrificing an exchange against FM Alisa Melekhine (USA, 2192)

Alisa - Padmini, Round 8

White recovered the lost pawn with 20.Nxb7, what should Black do?

Among other Indian women, WIM Pratyusha Bodda defeated Sebastian Romero and she setup a final round clash against Padmini. FM Nikoloz Chkhaidze defeated WIM Shalmali Gagare and WGM Soumya Swaminathan defeated Danilo Jose Guevara Rocha.

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, 1 p.m. IST.

Replay all games

Round 8 results

Brd.	White	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.	Res.	Black	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.
1	GM Shevchenko, Kirill	6.5	2553	UKR	1-0	GM Lu, Shanglei	6.5	2611	CHN
2	GM Grigoryan, Karen H.	6.0	2632	ARM	1-0	GM Alsina Leal, Daniel	6.0	2465	ESP
3	GM Gagare, Shardul	6.0	2481	IND	0-1	GM Li, Di	6.0	2562	CHN
4	IM Das, Arghyadip	6.0	2451	IND	½-½	GM Shariyazdanov, Andrey	6.0	2519	RUS
5	GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy	5.5	2588	UKR	0-1	IM Chen, Qi B	6.0	2432	CHN
6	IM Ravi, Teja S.	5.5	2464	IND	½-½	GM Pridorozhni, Aleksei	5.5	2601	RUS
7	GM Harutyunian, Tigran K.	5.5	2533	ARM	0-1	GM Campora, Daniel H.	5.5	2420	ARG
8	GM Matamoros Franco, Carlos S.	5.5	2487	ECU	1-0	FM Pecnik, Leo	5.5	2357	CRO
9	GM Swayams, Mishra	5.5	2479	IND	½-½	FM Barrish, Daniel	5.5	2352	RSA
10	IM Panjwani, Raja	5.5	2444	CAN	0-1	CM Pingin, Artem	5.5	2143	RUS
11	IM Polivanov, Anatoliy	5.0	2420	UKR	½-½	WIM Gu, Tianlu	5.5	2255	CHN
12	GM Pap, Misa	5.0	2427	SRB	1-0	IM Borsos, Bogdan	5.0	2214	UKR
13	IM Bukal, Vladimir Jr.	5.0	2385	CRO	1-0	IM Mohota, Nisha	5.0	2201	IND
14	GM Pogorelov, Ruslan	5.0	2377	UKR	1-0	Dubreuil, Nicolas	5.0	2200	FRA
15	FM Melekhina, Alisa	5.0	2192	USA	0-1	IM Padmini, Rout	5.0	2369	IND
16	FM Gutierrez Olivares, Daniel	5.0	2358	ESP	1-0	Soldo, Robert	5.0	2180	CRO
17	IM Henni, Mohamed	5.0	2202	ALG	½-½	IM Estremera Panos, Sergio	5.0	2307	ESP
18	FM Montero Melendez, Rafael	5.0	2288	ESP	0-1	CM Uribe, Jhonny Alberto	5.0	2149	VEN
19	FM Simon Padros, Emili	5.0	2119	ESP	0-1	FM Rangel, Daniel	5.0	2269	BRA
20	WIM Pratyusha, Bodda	5.0	2267	IND	1-0	Romero Romero, Sebastian	5.0	2122	ESP
21	Olivera Gutierrez, Albert **	5.0	2069	ESP	½-½	CM Munoz Martin, Pablo	5.0	2264	ESP
22	Corbalan Gomez, Juan Jose	5.0	2243	ESP	½-½	Morales Araujo, Francisco Javier	5.0	2103	ESP
23	Perez Garcia, Roberto	5.0	2057	ESP	½-½	FM Oragwu, Chukwunonso	5.0	2220	NGR
24	Morais, Vitor	5.0	1864	POR	0-1	IM Piasetski, Leon	5.0	2219	CAN
25	FM Chkhaidze, Nikoloz	4.5	2288	GEO	1-0	WIM Gagare, Shalmali	5.0	2099	IND

Complete results

Round 9 pairings

Brd.	White	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.	Black	Pts.	FIDE	Fed.
1	GM Li, Di	7.0	2562	CHN	GM Shevchenko, Kirill	7.5	2553	UKR
2	IM Chen, Qi B	7.0	2432	CHN	GM Grigoryan, Karen H.	7.0	2632	ARM
3	GM Lu, Shanglei	6.5	2611	CHN	IM Das, Arghyadip	6.5	2451	IND
4	GM Shariyazdanov, Andrey	6.5	2519	RUS	GM Campora, Daniel H.	6.5	2420	ARG
5	CM Pingin, Artem	6.5	2143	RUS	GM Matamoros Franco, Carlos S.	6.5	2487	ECU
6	GM Pridorozhni, Aleksei	6.0	2601	RUS	FM Gutierrez Olivares, Daniel	6.0	2358	ESP
7	FM Barrish, Daniel	6.0	2352	RSA	GM Gagare, Shardul	6.0	2481	IND
8	IM Piasetski, Leon	6.0	2219	CAN	GM Swayams, Mishra	6.0	2479	IND
9	GM Alsina Leal, Daniel	6.0	2465	ESP	GM Pogorelov, Ruslan	6.0	2377	UKR
10	FM Rangel, Daniel	6.0	2269	BRA	IM Ravi, Teja S.	6.0	2464	IND
11	CM Uribe, Jhonny Alberto	6.0	2149	VEN	GM Pap, Misa	6.0	2427	SRB
12	WIM Gu, Tianlu	6.0	2255	CHN	IM Bukal, Vladimir Jr.	6.0	2385	CRO
13	IM Padmini, Rout	6.0	2369	IND	WIM Pratyusha, Bodda	6.0	2267	IND
14	Morales Araujo, Francisco Javier	5.5	2103	ESP	GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy	5.5	2588	UKR
15	Pindado Campos, Raul	5.5	2103	ESP	GM Harutyunian, Tigran K.	5.5	2533	ARM
16	Ordonez Torres, Maria Del Carmen	5.5	2061	ESP	IM Polivanov, Anatoliy	5.5	2420	UKR
17	IM Carrasco Martinez, Juan M.	5.5	2391	ESP	FM Silva Lucena, Cristian	5.5	2217	ESP
18	FM Pecnik, Leo	5.5	2357	CRO	IM Henni, Mohamed	5.5	2202	ALG
19	IM Estremera Panos, Sergio	5.5	2307	ESP	FM Krockenberger, Martin	5.5	2200	GER
20	Herrera Oliva, Enrique	5.5	1961	ESP	FM Chkhaidze, Nikoloz	5.5	2288	GEO
21	CM Munoz Martin, Pablo	5.5	2264	ESP	Perez Garcia, Roberto	5.5	2057	ESP
22	Gutierrez Valero, Mario	5.5	2260	ESP	Olivera Gutierrez, Albert **	5.5	2069	ESP
23	Manukonda Arun	5.5	1959	IND	Corbalan Gomez, Juan Jose	5.5	2243	ESP
24	FM Oragwu, Chukwunonso	5.5	2220	NGR	FM Van Hoolandt, Patrick	5.5	2034	MNC
25	WGM Soumya, Swaminathan	5.0	2384	IND	Linan Molina, Daniel	5.0	2001	ESP

Complete pairings

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