6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R5: Aravindh maintains his sole lead, now World no.10
Aravindh Chithambaram drew against Samuel Sevian (USA) in Round 5 of 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial. In a double rook and minor piece endgame, Sevian could have made a break which would have given him substantial advantage. It is not clear whether it would have been enough for him, but surely it is better than what he opted in the game. Aravindh maintained his sole lead 3.5/5. He is now World no.10 with a live rating 2753.5. This is also the first time when four Indians are in World Top ten in live ratings. R Praggnanandhaa drew his third game in less than 25 moves. This time against Dmitrij Kollars (GER). Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN) and Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) are the only two victors of the round. Praggnanandhaa, Kollars and Aram Hakobyan (ARM) are trailing the sole leader by a half point at 3/5 each. Round 6 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia
Praggnanandhaa, Kollars and Hakobyan in pursuit
Sevian - Aravindh: 0.5-0.5
Samuel Sevian (USA, 2687) faced Aravindh Chithambaram (2749) only once in a Classical rated game over 1.5 years ago. It ended in a draw. Their second game also had the same result with the same color.
According to the computer, White needed to go for a 35.f4 break exf4 36.Nxf4 Bxf4 37.Bxf4 Kg7 38.Kg2. However, the game continued 35.c3 g5 36.Ne3 Kg6 37.Ke2 Bxe3 38.Kxe3 f6 39.Rfb1 Rd8 40.Rxb6!? Nxb6 41.Rxb6 Rd6 the exchange sacrifice did not work out as Black managed to defend correctly and the game ended in a draw.
Replay Round 5 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 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2641 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | 1 - 0 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | 2623 | 10 | |||
| 2 | 4 | 2694 | GM | Sevian Samuel | ½ - ½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2749 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 5 | 2665 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 1 - 0 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2635 | 1 | |||
| 4 | 6 | 2625 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2758 | 9 | |||
| 5 | 7 | 2663 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | ½ - ½ | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2620 | 8 |
Standings after Round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2749 | 3,5 | 8,00 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2758 | 3 | 7,75 | 3 | 0 | |
| 3 | 6 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | GER | 2625 | 3 | 7,00 | 3 | 0 | |
| 8 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2620 | 3 | 7,00 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 4 | GM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2694 | 2,5 | 6,50 | 2 | 0 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | DEN | 2641 | 2,5 | 5,75 | 2 | 0 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | HUN | 2663 | 2 | 4,75 | 3 | 0 | |
| 8 | 10 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2623 | 2 | 4,00 | 3 | 0 | |
| 9 | 5 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2665 | 2 | 4,00 | 2 | 0 | |
| 10 | 1 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2635 | 1,5 | 4,25 | 2 | 0 |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2623 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2620 | 8 | ||||
| 2 | 9 | 2758 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | GM | Gledura Benjamin | 2663 | 7 | ||||
| 3 | 1 | 2635 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | 2625 | 6 | ||||
| 4 | 2 | 2749 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2665 | 5 | ||||
| 5 | 3 | 2641 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | GM | Sevian Samuel | 2694 | 4 |
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 |
