Chessable Sunway Sitges Open R8: Andrey Esipenko grinds a Knight endgame for 66 moves

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/12/2022

GM Andrey Esipenko grinded a relatively equal Knight endgame for 66 moves against IM Aditya Samant. Obviously this is something straight out of the world champion Carlsen's wheelhouse. It is well-known that Esipenko became the first teenager to beat Carlsen and caused him a lot of trouble at the World Cup 2021. Thus, Esipenko certainly has assimilated the Viking's endgame grinding skills. GM Kirill Alekseenko drew with GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) to maintain his sole lead 7.5/8 by a full point at Chessable Sunway Sitges Open 2022. Five players are in pursuits at 6.5/8, followed by 20 players including seven Indians at 6/8 each. Round 9 starts tonight at 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Isabel Garcia de la Cruz/Chessable

Alekseenko still in sole lead

IM Jubin Jimmy defeated GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER). IM Ajay Karthikeyan, IM Prraneeth Vuppala, FM Shantanu Bhambure, Nawin Jayaprakash Jayavalli and Ilamparthi A R drew with GM Aryan Chopra, GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE), GM Vladislav Nevednichy (ROU), IM Matthew J Wadsworth (ENG) and IM Saidakbar Saydaliev (UZB) respectively.

GM Andrey Esipenko showed that equal knight endgame does not necessarily mean it will end in a draw | Photo: Isabel Garcia de la Cruz/Chessable

Niemann - Aravindh: 1-0

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2607) made a bold decision to sacrifice his knight to take advantage of his opponent GM Hans Niemann's (USA, 2698) vulnerable king, stranded at the middle of the board.

Position after 15.Bg2

15...N7b6 16.Qc2 f5 was a more pragmatic approach than 15...e5 16.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 17.Kxd2 exd4 18.Ke2 d3+ 19.Kd2. Black never got enough compensation for the sacrificed knight.

Aditya Samant - Esipenko: 0-1

GM Andrey Esipenko (2678) grinded a knight endgame for 67 moves before his opponent IM Aditya Samant (2470) lost his knight and the game.

Position after 66...Kd6

The only break available for Black is e4. White just needs to ensure that Black does not get to do that easily. Finding 67.Na2 is no easy task. The reason behind it is 67...Kd5 68.Nc3+ Kc6 69.Ne4 Ne6 70.Nc3 Nc5 71.Ke2 and now Black cannot provide enough support to play e4. Black eventually managed to get 94...e4. Still the win was not easy for him. It's just that defending after the breakthrough became that much difficult for White. The fatigue eventually caught up and White trapped his own knight to lose it and the game too.

Replay Chessable Sunway Chess Festival Round 8 Live commentary with GM Jan Gustafsson and GM Peter Svidler | Video: chess24

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	2	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2698	5½	1 - 0	6	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	23
8	4	5	GM	Moussard Jules	2684	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616	18
8	6	21	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Demchenko Anton	2632	11
8	8	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Gokerkan Cem Kaan	2470	39
8	10	40	IM	Samant Aditya S	2470	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2678	6
8	13	16	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2430	60
8	15	63	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2427	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2616	19
8	16	22	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2610	5	0 - 1	5	FM	Jubin Jimmy	2376	84
8	21	108	FM	Jain Kashish Manoj	2334	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Tin Jingyao	2562	29
8	23	104	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2337	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2505	32

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	4	23	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	6		6	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2688	4
9	7	9	GM	Korobov Anton	2662	6		6	IM	Aditya Mittal	2479	37
9	8	11	GM	Demchenko Anton	2632	6		6	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2485	35
9	11	18	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616	6		6	IM	Willow Jonah B	2409	72
9	12	32	GM	Arjun Kalyan	2505	6		6	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	2612	20
9	13	84	FM	Jubin Jimmy	2376	6		6	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	21
9	14	56	IM	Garcia Ramos Daniel	2439	5½		5½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620	14
9	15	60	IM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2430	5½		5½	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.	2619	15
9	16	61	IM	Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2430	5½		5½	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618	16
9	18	27	GM	Kraemer Martin	2583	5½		5½	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2427	63

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	8	GM	Alekseenko Kirill		FID	2672		7,5	39,5	42,5	39,00
2	1	GM	Yu Yangyi		CHN	2728		6,5	38	41,5	32,75
	2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke		USA	2698		6,5	38	41,5	32,75
4	13	GM	Petrosyan Manuel		ARM	2621		6,5	37,5	41	32,50
5	10	GM	Tabatabaei Mohammad Amin		IRI	2660		6,5	36,5	40	31,75
6	39	IM	Gokerkan Cem Kaan		TUR	2470		6,5	33	36,5	29,00
7	18	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu		IND	2616		6	40,5	44,5	31,00
8	23	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		IND	2607	Chess Gurukul	6	38,5	42	29,75
9	24	GM	Dardha Daniel		BEL	2606	SK Moretus Hoboken	6	37,5	41,5	29,25
10	11	GM	Demchenko Anton		FID	2632		6	37,5	41	30,00
11	20	GM	Durarbayli Vasif		AZE	2612		6	37	41,5	30,75
12	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey		FID	2678		6	37	40,5	29,00
13	4	GM	Cheparinov Ivan		BUL	2688		6	36,5	40	29,50
14	9	GM	Korobov Anton		UKR	2662	Beskydská Šachová Škola	6	36,5	39,5	29,00
15	21	GM	Adhiban B.		IND	2611		6	36	39,5	29,00
16	35	GM	Sankalp Gupta		IND	2485		6	36	39,5	28,75
17	12	GM	Jones Gawain C B		ENG	2630		6	36	39,5	28,50
18	32	GM	Arjun Kalyan		IND	2505	Chess Gurukul	6	35,5	39	28,50
19	29	GM	Tin Jingyao		SGP	2562		6	35	38,5	27,75
20	84	FM	Jubin Jimmy		IND	2376	All India Chess Federation	6	35	38	27,25

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

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