6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R6: Praggnanandhaa joins the lead with Aravindh
R Praggnanandhaa defeated Benjamin Gledura (HUN) in the sixth round of 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial. Praggnanandhaa seized his advantage when his opponent dropped pawn in the middlegame and got himself in a worse position. Aravindh Chithambaram made a quick draw in ten moves against Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB). Both Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh are now coleaders 4/6 each. The remaining three games ended in draws. Aram Hakobyan (ARM) and Dmitrij Kollars (GER) are the only two players trailing by a half point at 3.5/6 each. Round 7 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia
Hakobyan and Kollars in the fray
Praggnanandhaa - Gledura: 1-0
R Praggnanandhaa (2767) faced Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 2668) three times in Classical rated games. He drew once and lost the remaining two. Their last Classical battle was over six years ago. Praggnanandhaa has gotten much stronger than his opponent over time.
In an already difficult position, Black decided to give up the c7-pawn 20...Rb8? 21.Qxc7 Rxb1 22.Rxb1 cxd4 23.cxd4 Qxa3 24.Qc8+ Nd8 25.Qc2 and White went on to convert his advantage comfortably.
Replay Round 6 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 6 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2623 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | ½ - ½ | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2620 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 9 | 2758 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 1 - 0 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | 2663 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 2635 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ½ - ½ | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | 2625 | 6 | |||
| 4 | 2 | 2749 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | ½ - ½ | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2665 | 5 | |||
| 5 | 3 | 2641 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | ½ - ½ | GM | Sevian Samuel | 2694 | 4 |
Standings after Round 6
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2758 | 4 | 11,25 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2749 | 4 | 11,25 | 2 | 0 | |
| 3 | 8 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2620 | 3,5 | 9,50 | 4 | 0 | |
| 4 | 6 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | GER | 2625 | 3,5 | 9,25 | 4 | 0 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2694 | 3 | 9,25 | 3 | 0 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | DEN | 2641 | 3 | 8,75 | 2 | 0 | |
| 7 | 5 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2665 | 2,5 | 6,75 | 3 | 0 | |
| 8 | 10 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2623 | 2,5 | 6,50 | 3 | 0 | |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2635 | 2 | 6,75 | 2 | 0 | |
| 10 | 7 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | HUN | 2663 | 2 | 5,75 | 4 | 0 |
Round 7 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2694 | GM | Sevian Samuel | GM | Xu Xiangyu | 2623 | 10 | ||||
| 2 | 5 | 2665 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | GM | Bjerre Jonas Buhl | 2641 | 3 | ||||
| 3 | 6 | 2625 | GM | Kollars Dmitrij | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2749 | 2 | ||||
| 4 | 7 | 2663 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2635 | 1 | ||||
| 5 | 8 | 2620 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2758 | 9 |
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 |
