Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R6-7: Aravindh defeats Esipenko

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/12/2022

GM Aravindh Chithambaram defeated GM Andrey Esipenko to move to 6/7 at Chessable Sunway Sitges Open 2022 Group A. He is now at shared second position with GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI). They are at a full point behind the sole leader, GM Kirill Alekseenko 7/7. Aravindh outplayed Esipenko in queen, rook and knight vs queen, rook and bishop endgame. GM Karthikeyan Murali, GM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM Adhiban B are at 5.5/7 each. IM Aditya S Samant drew with Bulgaria no.2 GM Ivan Cheparinov to cross 2500 in the live ratings, 2502.3 to be exact. The teenager is now final GM-norm away from becoming India's next Grandmaster. Round 8 starts tonight at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Aditya Samant crosses 2500

IM Ajay Karthikeyan, IM Prraneeth Vuppala, FM Kashish Manoj Jain, IM Sidhant Mohapatra, FM Harshad S and WGM Nandhidhaa P V drew with GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER), GM Vahap Sanal (TUR), GM Martin Kraemer (GER), GM Frederik Svane (GER), GM Aditya Mittal and IM Matthew J Wadsworth (ENG) respectively.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram reduced the gap between him and the tournament leader | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Round 7: Esipenko - Aravindh: 0-1

Generally, the Schliemann/Jaenisch variation in the Ruy Lopez is not seen much at the top level rated games. GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2607) had no trouble equalizing with the black pieces against GM Andrey Esipenko (2678).

Position after 55.Qf8

The queen, rook and knight vs queen, rook and bishop lasted for 33 moves. It was relatively easier to play the endgame for Black as the position was open. White's queen venturing to f8 landed him in more trouble as 55.Qf8 Qc7 forced White to exchange queens to avoid the pinned f4-knight from getting lost. 56.Kg1/h1 does not work either due to Re8 57.Nd5 Qb7 and now White cannot save both his knight and queen. 56.Rd1 Rxe3 57.Qd6 Qxd6 58.Rxd6 c4 and the passed c-pawn earned Aravindh a victory.

Abhimanyu - Rithvik: 1-0

GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2616) defeated the Chessable Sunway Sitges Blitz 18/12 winner - GM Raja Rithvik R (2453) in a sharp battle.

Position after 16...Nxg3

16...Nxg3 is a sound sacrifice. However, Black needed to find the correct continuation. 17.hxg3 Bxg3 18.Rxe6 Rxe6 19.Nxf5 and now Bf4 would have been a better choice than Qg5 which allowed White to gain the upper hand 20.Ne4! A nice double attack on the queen. White not only recovered material but also diminished Black's attacking prospects.

Replay Chessable Sunway Chess Festival Round 6 Live commentary with GM Jan Gustafsson and GM Peter Svidler | Video: chess24

Replay Chessable Sunway Chess Festival Round 7 Live commentary with GM Jan Gustafsson and GM Peter Svidler | Video: chess24

The Chessable Sunway Sitges Chess Festival 2022 has four playing halls this year.

Replay Round 6-7 games

Round 7 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	3	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2698	2
7	4	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2678	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	23
7	7	40	IM	Samant Aditya S	2470	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2688	4
7	11	49	IM	Woodward Andy	2457	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618	16
7	12	18	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2453	50
7	15	21	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	2428	62
7	16	60	IM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2430	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2610	22
7	17	25	GM	Sanal Vahap	2597	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2427	63
7	18	27	GM	Kraemer Martin	2583	4½	½ - ½	4½	FM	Jain Kashish Manoj	2334	108
7	19	28	GM	Svane Frederik	2568	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2337	104

Details

Round 8 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	2	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2698	5½		6	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	23
8	4	5	GM	Moussard Jules	2684	5½		5½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616	18
8	6	21	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	5½		5½	GM	Demchenko Anton	2632	11
8	8	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620	5½		5½	IM	Gokerkan Cem Kaan	2470	39
8	10	40	IM	Samant Aditya S	2470	5		5	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2678	6
8	13	16	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618	5		5	IM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2430	60
8	15	63	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2427	5		5	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2616	19
8	16	22	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2610	5		5	FM	Jubin Jimmy	2376	84
8	21	108	FM	Jain Kashish Manoj	2334	5		5	GM	Tin Jingyao	2562	29
8	23	104	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2337	5		5	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2505	32

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	8	GM	Alekseenko Kirill		FID	2672		7	30	33	33,00
2	23	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		IND	2607	Chess Gurukul	6	28,5	31	26,00
3	10	GM	Tabatabaei Mohammad Amin		IRI	2660		6	26	29	25,00
4	15	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.		ARM	2619	Benalmadena	5,5	32,5	36	26,25
5	1	GM	Yu Yangyi		CHN	2728		5,5	30,5	33,5	25,25
6	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke		USA	2698		5,5	30	33,5	25,25
7	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali		IND	2620		5,5	30	33,5	23,75
8	18	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu		IND	2616		5,5	29,5	33,5	24,00
9	13	GM	Petrosyan Manuel		ARM	2621		5,5	29,5	33	25,50
10	11	GM	Demchenko Anton		FID	2632		5,5	28,5	31	23,25
11	21	GM	Adhiban B.		IND	2611		5,5	28	31,5	24,00
12	20	GM	Durarbayli Vasif		AZE	2612		5,5	27,5	31,5	24,25
13	9	GM	Korobov Anton		UKR	2662	Beskydská Šachová Škola	5,5	27	30	23,50
14	31	GM	Sumets Andrey		UKR	2506		5,5	26,5	29,5	21,25
15	39	IM	Gokerkan Cem Kaan		TUR	2470		5,5	24	27	21,00
16	5	GM	Moussard Jules		FRA	2684	Asnières - Le Grand Echiquier	5,5	24	27	20,75
17	19	GM	Safarli Eltaj		AZE	2616		5	29,5	32,5	22,00
18	40	IM	Samant Aditya S		IND	2470		5	29,5	31,5	21,00
19	22	GM	Kollars Dmitrij		GER	2610		5	28,5	32	21,75
20	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey		FID	2678		5	28,5	32	21,25

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27775. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

12th - 21st December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

22nd December - 2 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

Related news:

	Kirill Alekseenko wins Chessable Sunway Sitges Open 2022 @ 24/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Kirill Alekseenko inches away from clinching Chessable Sunway Sitges Open 2022 @ 22/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R8: Andrey Esipenko grinds a Knight endgame for 66 moves @ 21/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Raja Rithvik decimates 9th Chessable Sunway Sitges Blitz 18/12, Adhiban third @ 20/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R5: Alekseenko and Karthikeyan Murali share the lead @ 17/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R4: Aditya Samant sensational against Adhiban @ 16/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R1-3: 17-year-old Kushal makes a superb start @ 15/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)