Making the most out of the opportunity
The final standings was decided based on tie-breaks. However, the prize money was shared between the players of the same point group. The top three prizes were - ₹1500000 (US$18000), ₹1000000 (US$12000) and ₹800000 (US$9,600) along with a trophy each respectively.
Arjun - Sanan: 1-0
Arjun Erigaisi (2727) had never beaten Sanan Sjugirov (HUN, 2703) until today. He was determined to score the full point and that's what he played for.
9.Ra2 followed by 10.Kf2 certainly showed Arjun's intent early in the game.
Here Arjun missed 32.f6 and played 32.Rb2 instead. While f6 in the above position would have ended things a bit earlier, nevertheless he executed it three moves later and the outcome went in his favor.
Predke - Parham: 0-1
GM Alexandr Predke (SRB, 2689) played only one rated game against GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 2742) few months ago. Predke won that game. It was time for Parham to deliver the equalizer.
White made a wild decision to go for 14.0-0 despite his kingside being quite exposed. Perhaps the idea was to exploit the f-file which did not work out. 14...Nb6 15.e4 Bg4 16.Ne2 dxe4 17.Bxe4 c6 18.Ne5 Qh4 19.Rf4 f5 20.Bxc6+
White was determined to score his first victory of the event, so he went all-in 20.Bxc6+ bxc6 21.Qxc6+ Kd8 22.Qb7?? Rh7 and it's over.
For more Round 7 photos, please click here.
Photo gallery
The banter between Anish Giri, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana about Aronian's score is the funniest set of chess tweets you can read today
twitter.com/i/status/1737782160873189666
For more prize distribution ceremony photos, please click here.
Replay Round 7 live stream
Replay Round 7 games
Round 7 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2696 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | ½ - ½ | GM | Gukesh, D | 2720 | 8 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 5 | 2727 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 1 - 0 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | 2703 | 3 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 6 | 2689 | GM | Predke, Alexandr | 0 - 1 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2742 | 2 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 7 | 2691 | GM | Eljanov, Pavel | ½ - ½ | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2723 | 1 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2720 | 4,5 | 0,5 | 13,75 | 2 | 1 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2727 | 4,5 | 0,5 | 13,50 | 3 | 1 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | IND | 2696 | 4 | 0,5 | 14,25 | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Eljanov, Pavel | UKR | 2691 | 4 | 0,5 | 13,25 | 2 | 2 | |
| 5 | 1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | USA | 2723 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 12,25 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | IRI | 2742 | 3,5 | 0,5 | 10,00 | 2 | 1 | |
| 7 | 3 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | HUN | 2703 | 2,5 | 0 | 8,50 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | Predke, Alexandr | SRB | 2689 | 1,5 | 0 | 5,00 | 0 | 0 |
