6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R1: Aravindh and Praggnanandhaa make a peaceful start
Aravindh Chithambaram and R Praggnanandhaa made a peaceful start at 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2025 in Jermuk, Armenia. They had a relatively calm draw. Xiangyu Xu (CHN) scored the sole win of the round against Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM). The Armenian had a few good opportunities to win. However, he blundered in the queen and rook endgame, could not capitalize on his chances. The winner of the fourth edition, Samuel Sevian (USA) had the fastest draw of the round against Benjamin Gledura (HUN) in 17 moves. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia
Xiangyu swindles as Hovhannisyan misses a win
Aravindh - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5
GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2749) and GM R Praggnanandhaa (2758) played four Classical rated games against each other. The recent one was earlier this year in Prague, Czech Republic. All of them ended in draws.
Replay Round 1 live stream
Time Control
90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game (with 30 seconds increment starting from move one).
Prizes
The total prize fund is 7450000 AMD (≈ US$ 19325). The top three prizes are 3100000 AMD (≈ US$ 8041), 1 850 000 AMD (≈ US$ 4799) and 1500000 (≈ US$ 3891).
Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2635 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 0 - 1 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | 2623 | 10 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2749 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2758 | 9 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2641 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | ½ - ½ | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2620 | 8 | |||
| 4 | 4 | 2694 | GM | Sevian Samuel | ½ - ½ | GM | Gledura Benjamin | 2663 | 7 | |||
| 5 | 5 | 2665 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | ½ - ½ | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | 2625 | 6 |
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2623 | 1 | 0,00 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | GER | 2625 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | HUN | 2663 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 8 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2620 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2758 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 2 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2749 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | DEN | 2641 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | GM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2694 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2665 | 0,5 | 0,25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 10 | 1 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2635 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2623 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | 2625 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 7 | 2663 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2665 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | 2620 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | GM | Sevian Samuel | 2694 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | 9 | 2758 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | 2641 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 2635 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2749 | 2 |
Schedule
| Wednesday | 28 May at 19:00 | Opening Ceremony |
| Thursday | 29 May at 15:00 | Round 1 |
| Friday | 30 May at 15:00 | Round 2 |
| Saturday | 31 May at 15:00 | Round 3 |
| Sunday | 1 June at 15:00 | Round 4 |
| Monday | 2 June at 15:00 | Round 5 |
| Tuesday | 3 June at 15:00 | Round 6 |
| Wednesday | 4 June at 15:00 | Round 7 |
| Thursday | 5 June at 15:00 | Round 8 |
| Friday | 6 June at 11:00 | Round 9 |
| Friday | 6 June at 18:00 | Closing Ceremony |
