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2nd elllobregat Open R6: Arjun Erigaisi and Aditya Mittal in a five-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 06/12/2021

IM Aditya Mittal drew with GM Sethuraman S P in the sixth round of 2nd elllobregat Open 2021 to maintain his lead. Arjun Erigaisi beat Marcin Krzyzanowski (POL) to join the leaders at 5.0/6. Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP), Eltaj Safarli (AZE) and Nikita Meshkovs (LAT) are the remaining three players who are at 5.0/6 each. Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman and Karthik Venkataraman are the Indians at just a half point behind 4.5/6 each. Arjun Erigaisi and Aditya Mittal will face each other in the seventh round. It starts today at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Karthikeyan, Sethuraman and Karthik in the hunt

The number of decisive games and draws among the top ten boards is exactly 50-50. IM Arghyadip Das, FM Aditya S Samant, IM Sidhant Mohapatra and Sharan Rao drew with former Venezuela no.1 GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (ESP), GM Harsha Bharathakoti, GM Helgi Gretarsson (ISL) and IM Lucian-Ioan Filip (ROU) to a draw each respectively.

IM Aditya Mittal now shares the lead with four other players | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Aditya Mittal - Sethuraman: 0.5-0.5

IM Aditya Mittal tried to create something for himself by launching an attack on the kingside 17.g4

Position after 17.g4

17.g4 Be4 18.g5 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Nd7 suddenly gave Black a slight edge as White overstretched the g-pawn.

Position after 25...Nf3+

Although Black has done a family fork 25...Nf3+, the checkmate threat at g7 prevents him from gaining huge material advantage. Perhaps 26...Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Nxh2+ 28.Qxh2 Qxd4 was a better practical continuation for Black as he not only gets a pawn but the king at f1 is more vulnerable to attack than his own. Black almost reached the same position, however the key difference was the pawn moved to g6 which gave White a leverage to make threats across the seventh rank and exchange f6-pawn with c4. The game soon liquidated into a drawn rook ending.

Arjun Erigaisi - Marcin: 1-0

Arjun Erigaisi got an initiative early in the middlegame when he did what needed to be done against Marcin Krzyzanowski (POL).

Position after 15.g4

White defended the c4-pawn tactically after 15.g4 Bc8 16.a5. Now c4-pawn cannot be taken because of Ra4 traps the queen.

Position after 37.h4

Sometimes when we get a good position, we try to quickly convert it into a win. That was not the case with Arjun. He waited patiently, trying to improve his position slowly without making any major pieces. Eventually, his opponent made a break 60...a4. While that almost worked for Black as he managed to get back in the game.

Position after 68.Rc1

68...fxe4 69.Nxe4 Rxc3+ 70.Rxc3 Qg7+ allows Black to save the game. However, he missed this probably due to time trouble and played 68...f4+ which once again gave the upper hand to White who won the game in another ten moves.

Arjun Erigaisi is one of the five leaders 5.0/6 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Karthik Venkataraman drew with Alexandr Fier (BRA) | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Nikita - Sankalp: 1-0

Sankalp got a good opportunity against Nikita Meshkovs (LAT). However, it was not easy to calculate, especially if he was low on time.

Position after 24.Nxe8

White has just taken Black's rook 24.Nxe8. Black should have also done the same 24...Nxd2. It's easier said than done, as White has some threats on g7. 25.Qe5 is met by 25...Kf8 which not only saves the day for Black but also maintains his decisive advantage. 25...Kf8 is a computer move which is not easy to spot for humans. Black got another subtle opportunity after a few moves, however that was also missed and White eventually won the game.

GM Harsha Bharathakoti - FM Aditya S Samant (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

GM Helgi Gretarsson (ISL) - IM Sidhant Mohapatra (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Sharan Rao (pictured) - IM Lucian-Ioan Filip (ROU): 0.5-0.5

12th World Champion in the history of chess - Anatoly Karpov observes the games | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

The tournament hall | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Replay Round 6 games

The tournament is taking place at Hotel Playafels, at Castelldefels, Barcelona in Spain from 30th November to 8th December 2021. Every day game starts at 9:30 p.m. IST, except the last round, which starts at 2:30 p.m. IST. Time control is 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes/end + 30 seconds increment per move starting from move 1.

Round 6 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
143
IMAditya Mittal2459½ - ½4GMSethuraman S.P.2620
6
21
GMAbdusattorov Nodirbek26464½ - ½4GMVan Foreest Lucas2532
20
33
GMSantos Latasa Jaime263341 - 04GMVisakh N R2515
24
45
GMErigaisi Arjun262741 - 04GMKrzyzanowski Marcin2510
25
517
IMSosa Tomas254240 - 14GMSafarli Eltaj2579
11
612
GMYuffa Daniil25674½ - ½4IMBeerdsen Thomas2484
33
729
GMKarthik Venkataraman24914½ - ½4GMFier Alexandr2563
13
814
GMMeshkovs Nikita255741 - 04IMSankalp Gupta2468
41
92
GMPonomariov Ruslan2633½ - ½GMVasquez Schroeder Rodrigo2485
32
1035
IMBharath Subramaniyam H24790 - 1GMKarthikeyan Murali2630
4
1146
IMDas Arghyadip2453½ - ½GMIturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo2606
7
1275
IMSuarez Uriel Adrian2343½ - ½GMStocek Jiri2557
15
1321
GMVetoshko Volodymyr2525½ - ½IMVignesh N R2450
48
1423
GMNarciso Dublan Marc25190 - 1IMPantzar Milton2441
53
1589
CMLiyanage Ranindu Dilshan2282½ - ½GMAsis Gargatagli Hipolito2502
26

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
111
GMSafarli Eltaj257955GMSantos Latasa Jaime2633
3
25
GMErigaisi Arjun262755IMAditya Mittal2459
43
34
GMKarthikeyan Murali26305GMMeshkovs Nikita2557
14
433
IMBeerdsen Thomas2484GMAbdusattorov Nodirbek2646
1
56
GMSethuraman S.P.2620GMKarthik Venkataraman2491
29
620
GMVan Foreest Lucas2532GMYuffa Daniil2567
12
713
GMFier Alexandr2563IMMuradli Mahammad2501
27
853
IMPantzar Milton24414GMFedorchuk Sergey A.2594
9
948
IMVignesh N R245044GMPonomariov Ruslan2633
2
107
GMIturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo260644IMKacharava Nikolozi2469
39
118
GMPuranik Abhimanyu260444IMSankalp Gupta2468
41
1250
IMAyats Llobera Gerard244844GMBernadskiy Vitaliy2592
10
1315
GMStocek Jiri255744IMDas Arghyadip2453
46
1474
IMValenzuela Gomez Fernando234444IMSosa Tomas2542
17
1586
FMSamant Aditya S229744GMVetoshko Volodymyr2525
21

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Details